The Fifty Year Sword

Oh, The Fifty Year Sword, this is was an interesting read; and I know, it is another Mark Z. Danielewski as well.

Something that I never talked about when reviewing The Little Blue Kite was how Danielewski writes his books. He is a pioneer for his alternative way of laying out text, called ergodic, or signiconic; for The Fifty Year Sword, this is not so dominating compared to others that he has written except for The Little Blue Kite, but I think if you are going to start anywhere with Danielewski book, either of the two are a good place to start. The Fifty Year Sword is also greatly similar to The Familiar because of the color coded text, which I had also said is a good starting point. I just would not start with House of Leaves.

The Fifty Year Sword is about a woman named Chintana who brings some children into her care; there is a man who reads them a ghost story at a birthday party where a black box is also present and if opened will bring doom. I do not like to give too much away, but there is a little bit of cattiness between Chintana and this other chick who serves/ed as “the other woman”; she gets her comeuppance, though.

I really enjoyed how engaging The Fifty Year Sword became, even if it was on the smaller side. Admittedly, I did not follow the action happening outside of the man’s ghost story, I guess I was more into following the impending doom.

Another thing that I did not bring up in the other Mark Z. Danielewski reviews was his intent to write each book as a form of media. With The Familiar, it was written to be like a TV series, where each volume is an episode in the season. The Little Blue Kite is written to be like a nurse rhyme, and The Fifty Year Sword was written to be like a children’s story.

I would recommend reading The Fifty Year Sword if you are looking at continuing the Mark Z. Danielewski binge. Outside of that, I am a little torn to recommendation, even if that was his first work. The Fifty Year Sword is not as well-known, that is for sure. If you are interested, you will be able to find it here.

7/10