"Distinctive, stylish and maddening . Williams''s prose is fantastically elaborate, presenting itself in long, bricklike blocks of text. At its best, it reads as Faulknerian, sinuous and formal . [ The Doloriad ] just might be what your rotten little heart deserves." -- J. Robert Lennon, The New York Times Book Review "An apocalypse narrative of biblical proportions . In gorgeous, painful language that evanesces between the perspectives of the novel''s main characters, Williams''s novel boldly engages philosophical and theological questions about humanity''s will to live and right to survive and offers a shimmering glimpse of a world beyond our own." --Nolan Kelly, Bookforum "Williams''s book bears resemblances to William Faulkner in its conceit, in its wending sentences, and in its images .
what could be more Gothic, more suffocating and cloistered, than an apocalypse that left behind only you and your most overbearing family members?" -- Maddie Crum, Vulture "A striking dystopian debut . The tension between old and new ways of being unfolds like a kind of gothic Greek tragedy. The prose brilliantly suggests its world, full of sucking mud and tumbledown ruins: it is repellent but also sumptuous, shifting thickly through its main characters'' perspectives to create a dreamlike yet materially vivid world." --Jessie Lethaby, The Sunday Times (UK) "A brilliant, unsettling, gothic take on a Greek tragedy." -- i-D "Gothic, strange, provocative, but also incredibly moving and absolutely unforgettable, a powerful debut from a truly original new voice." -- Cosmopolitan (UK) "An almost grotesque superabundance of style, sentences that sprawl and swell along with [Williams''sbledown ruins: it is repellent but also sumptuous, shifting thickly through its main characters'' perspectives to create a dreamlike yet materially vivid world." --Jessie Lethaby, The Sunday Times (UK) "A brilliant, unsettling, gothic take on a Greek tragedy." -- i-D "Gothic, strange, provocative, but also incredibly moving and absolutely unforgettable, a powerful debut from a truly original new voice.
" -- Cosmopolitan (UK) "An almost grotesque superabundance of style, sentences that sprawl and swell along with [Williams''sbledown ruins: it is repellent but also sumptuous, shifting thickly through its main characters'' perspectives to create a dreamlike yet materially vivid world." --Jessie Lethaby, The Sunday Times (UK) "A brilliant, unsettling, gothic take on a Greek tragedy." -- i-D "Gothic, strange, provocative, but also incredibly moving and absolutely unforgettable, a powerful debut from a truly original new voice." -- Cosmopolitan (UK) "An almost grotesque superabundance of style, sentences that sprawl and swell along with [Williams''sbledown ruins: it is repellent but also sumptuous, shifting thickly through its main characters'' perspectives to create a dreamlike yet materially vivid world." --Jessie Lethaby, The Sunday Times (UK) "A brilliant, unsettling, gothic take on a Greek tragedy." -- i-D "Gothic, strange, provocative, but also incredibly moving and absolutely unforgettable, a powerful debut from a truly original new voice." -- Cosmopolitan (UK) "An almost grotesque superabundance of style, sentences that sprawl and swell along with [Williams''sew voice." -- Cosmopolitan (UK) "An almost grotesque superabundance of style, sentences that sprawl and swell along with [Williams''s] characters .
until you, the reader, can''t take it anymore, the turgidity of both form and forms, and so give up halfway through, throw the book away, and run screaming into the sanity of sunshine, away from the hebetude and decrepitude of indulgence, of too much--yet never enough--disgusting life." -- Jason Kehe, WIRED "Stick with The Doloriad and you may appreciate the delicate sentences that detail its indelicate ideas, and its darkly comic ambience. This is Missouri Williams'' first novel and I will follow her anywhere, reading through my fingers, grinning through gritted teeth." -- Patrick Rapa, The Philadelphia Inquirer "Williams is an intelligent stylist, deftly unfolding energetic prose reliant on her powerfully strange imagery . By the end of THE DOLORIAD , I was left not so much with the feeling of exhaustion you might expect from such a heavy work, but with one of awe. The creation may be dark, but the time spent in Williams''s Eremocene is exhilarating, if lonely." -- Shane Jones, The White Review "The sheer quality of Williams''s prose makes The Doloriad an extraordinary reading experience . Like Ottessa Moshfegh, Williams doesn''t shy away from the infirmities of the body or the acts of violence that punctuate the story.
But there are also these astonishing moments of profundity, beautifully rendered observations that speak to a deeper truth about humanity''s autonomic urge to survive at all costs . In a publishing environment where there''s a glut of post-apocalyptic fiction, it''s always surprising and gratifying to discover a novel, like The Doloriad, that is not only wholly original but also provides a unique, albeit grim, angle on the human condition." --Ian Mond, Locus "A macabre epic that interrogates the shadow cast by a family''s unyielding desire to persist. Maximal and thoroughly bizarre, The Doloriad marks Williams as a new voice that demands attention." -- Nathan Stormer, TriQuarterly "[ The Doloriad isocene is exhilarating, if lonely." -- Shane Jones, The White Review "The sheer quality of Williams''s prose makes The Doloriad an extraordinary reading experience . Like Ottessa Moshfegh, Williams doesn''t shy away from the infirmities of the body or the acts of violence that punctuate the story. But there are also these astonishing moments of profundity, beautifully rendered observations that speak to a deeper truth about humanity''s autonomic urge to survive at all costs .
In a publishing environment where there''s a glut of post-apocalyptic fiction, it''s always surprising and gratifying to discover a novel, like The Doloriad, that is not only wholly original but also provides a unique, albeit grim, angle on the human condition." --Ian Mond, Locus "A macabre epic that interrogates the shadow cast by a family''s unyielding desire to persist. Maximal and thoroughly bizarre, The Doloriad marks Williams as a new voice that demands attention." -- Nathan Stormer, TriQuarterly "[ The Doloriad is>TriQuarterly "[ The Doloriad isocene is exhilarating, if lonely." -- Shane Jones, The White Review "The sheer quality of Williams''s prose makes The Doloriad an extraordinary reading experience . Like Ottessa Moshfegh, Williams doesn''t shy away from the infirmities of the body or the acts of violence that punctuate the story. But there are also these astonishing moments of profundity, beautifully rendered observations that speak to a deeper truth about humanity''s autonomic urge to survive at all costs . In a publishing environment where there''s a glut of post-apocalyptic fiction, it''s always surprising and gratifying to discover a novel, like The Doloriad, that is not only wholly original but also provides a unique, albeit grim, angle on the human condition.
" --Ian Mond, Locus "A macabre epic that interrogates the shadow cast by a family''s unyielding desire to persist. Maximal and thoroughly bizarre, The Doloriad marks Williams as a new voice that demands attention." -- Nathan Stormer, TriQuarterly "[ The Doloriad isocene is exhilarating, if lonely." -- Shane Jones, The White Review "The sheer quality of Williams''s prose makes The Doloriad an extraordinary reading experience . Like Ottessa Moshfegh, Williams doesn''t shy away from the infirmities of the body or the acts of violence that punctuate the story. But there are also these astonishing moments of profundity, beautifully rendered observations that speak to a deeper truth about humanity''s autonomic urge to survive at all costs . In a publishing environment where there''s a glut of post-apocalyptic fiction, it''s always surprising and gratifying to discover a novel, like The Doloriad, that is not only wholly original but also provides a unique, albeit grim, angle on the human condition." --Ian Mond, Locus "A macabre epic that interrogates the shadow cast by a family''s unyielding desire to persist.
Maximal and thoroughly bizarre, The Doloriad marks Williams as a new voice that demands attention." -- Nathan Stormer, TriQuarterly "[ The Doloriad is>TriQuarterly "[ The Doloriad is>TriQuarterly "[ The Doloriad isocene is exhilarating, if lonely." -- Shane Jones, The White Review "The sheer quality of Williams''s prose makes The Doloriad an extraordinary reading experience . Like Ottessa Moshfegh, Williams doesn''t shy away from the infirmities of the body or the acts of violence that punctuate the story. But there are also these astonishing moments of profundity, beautifully rendered observations that speak to a deeper truth about humanity''s autonomic urge to survive at all costs . In a publishing environment wh.