His second novel, Only Revolutions, was released in 2006. He later served as an assistant editor and worked on sound for Derrida, a documentary based on the life of the Algerian-born French literary critic and philosopher Jacques Derrida. In the early 1990s, he pursued graduate studies at the USC School of Cinema-Television. He also spent time in Paris, preoccupied mostly with writing. He then decided to move to Berkeley, California, where he took a summer program in Latin at the University of California, Berkeley. Danielewski is an American author best known for his books House of Leaves, Only Revolutions, The Fifty Year Sword, The Little Blue Kite, and The Familiar series.ĭanielewski studied English Literature at Yale. And though it can often be baffling and tiresome, it also has enough flashes of expressionistic brilliance and sustained deliriums of invention to justify the reach.' In contrast, Sean O'Hagan criticized the book as being 'dense and overly-complicated' and commented that 'There is enough experimentation here to keep academics and cyber-geeks satisfied for years to come, but long before the end - wherever that is - I was left longing for the lull and sway of a classic tale well told.Mark Z. In a review for The Guardian, Steven Poole praised Only Revolutions and wrote 'The book is to be admired for its sheer zest for invention, the kind of faith in ambitious literature so rare among contemporary novelists. Both Hailey and Sam depict their feelings as well as ideas and thoughts towards one another.Ĭritical reception for Only Revolutions has been divided, with many reviewers commenting that the book's appeal would greatly depend on the reader. The words written are a vague mix of poetry and stream of consciousness prose.

By reading both stories some sense can be made from this poetic styled puzzle. With an evolving stable of cars, the teenagers move through various places and moments in time as they try to outrace history.Īs the story proceeds, one can note that many events are perceptual and not certain.

The story alternates between two different narratives: Sam and Hailey, and Hailey and Sam, wild and wayward teenagers who never grow old. It was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction. It was released in the United States on Septemby Pantheon Books.

Only Revolutions is an American road novel by writer Mark Z. The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May

Danielewski mark z