Animal Money by Michael Cisco

Every time that we read, we create a specific moment, an experience that is immediate, forcing us to take in that which is directly in front of us, made up of all things from our past, allowing for interpretation while also being anticipatory, where we theorize about what is ahead and start to desire certain outcomes. Each session is different from the one before. This compounds as we read further and rely on our memory of what we’ve read, so that our understanding of the object in front of us is interpretive at best, made up of our past, present, and future desire, our memory and its problematic retellings. Which is all to say that this review is going to be imprecise and inaccurate, this first paragraph inspired by the final part of Animal Money and the ideas it presents, which, along with its surreal, sci-fi mystery backdrop might just be the maximalist beach read (if such a thing exists) that you’ve been looking for.