The Cloud Notebook

The intriguing debut from Smailbegović is a conceptual kaleidoscope of minute observations and reflections that, despite their scholarly prowess and syntactical elegance, will leave some readers alienated by its opacity. The author disregards narrative, leaning into a subconscious ether. Yet, her work maintains anchoring motifs, revisiting ostensible non-sequiturs and offering theoretical depth as a trade-off for transparency. She calls for participation as she demonstrates the potency of imagination: “Something sits in this small pile, this ravine of thought, the waves/ of it and the passengers who imagine the waves as interiors.” She meditates on the liminality of perception and “the time between knowing and thinking,” asserting that the “lining of the world is supple soft.” As she reckons with the intricacies of the surrounding world, she deconstructs sensation: “while a wave cannot be cut into a thousand tiny/ waves, the sound of a wave is a summation of the sounds made/ by a thousand waves.” With electric momentum and piercing imagery, Smailbegović’s writing is a lush vessel for literary analysis for those with the stamina. (Mar.)