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fotoverite's review against another edition
Unlike many one stars reviews I have read this book from cover to cover and regretted ever moment spent on its' overindulgent purple prose. Misogynistic / Islamophobic without apology, drowning in hubris and dull. Nothing of interest is raised. There is no true humanity in any of the characters and I feel lesser for having put up with this tome. The pomo nature of the novel adds very little besides of a veneer of cleverness and twee. Writing pie chart as πchart does not confer clarity or depth.
heylook's review against another edition
2.0
Is the author purposefully trying to write like a pretentious wannabe David Foster Wallace, or does he not just know any better? The first third of the book gets 0 stars. The middle half, ostensibly transcripts of a first-person narrative, gets 3. The second half gets two. Overall, skip it.
thebobsphere's review against another edition
3.0
In the vein of Don DeLillo, David Foster Wallace and Thomas Pynchon , The Book of Numbers is one of those weighty tomes which are complex in structure and in writing style (for the most part) In a case like this a plot summary is a bit difficult.
The Biblical Book of Numbers is about the Jews exile from Egypt and into the promised land. Joshua Cohen’s Book of Numbers traces upon Jewish history and ancestry as well. Also the characters in his books have modernised biblical names and play the same role.
However this is a book littered with puns and a lot of wordplay. The other numbers are 1 and 0. The binary ones for this is a book about technology and it’s dominance.
The superficial plot summary is about a writer called Joshua Cohen. He has written one book and on the launch date 9/11 happens, which leads to writers block. As things are, his wife is also divorcing him and he does not want to go through with it.
One day his agent tells him that there’s another Joshua Cohen (called Principal) who runs a mega computer company called Tetration – think of Google and Apple combined. Principal wants Cohen to ghost write his autobiography. After lots of stalling Chen accepts and is flown to UAE to write it. Hi-jinks ensue.
That’s the first part.
The second part is in the form of transcripts and first draft manuscripts. It’s about Principal’s origins and how he set up Tetration. Here lots of loose ends and clues in the first part are tied up plus there’s the introduction of Moe, the Hindu who creates a universal remote controller who then morphs into a guru.
The third part is Cohen solving his problems.
What is the book really about? there’s too many things to mention: philosophy of language, the strength of words, Jewish history, the importance of acknowledging your past, the power of writing, this simplification of language, technology’s similarities to religion (that urge to seek out the truth), conspiracy theories. I did say this is a complex book.
Needless to say that The Book of Numbers’ writing style is just as brain boggling. Alongside the meta-wordplay, polysyllabic language, neologisms and shortened words there’s TONS of computer jargon, which proves to be a bit frustrating at times (thank goodness for Google). Saying that Principal’s section is a relatively easy read and has the funniest moments.
As I feared the novel is not consistent. I felt the third section to be a pure slog and it was testing my patience for quite a while. Generally experimental novels click with me after 20 or so pages but this one had it in waves: moments of pure brilliance mixed with moments of pure boredom or irritation.
The Book of Numbers is definitely inventive and groundbreaking however it is more a book that I can admire rather than embrace.
The Biblical Book of Numbers is about the Jews exile from Egypt and into the promised land. Joshua Cohen’s Book of Numbers traces upon Jewish history and ancestry as well. Also the characters in his books have modernised biblical names and play the same role.
However this is a book littered with puns and a lot of wordplay. The other numbers are 1 and 0. The binary ones for this is a book about technology and it’s dominance.
The superficial plot summary is about a writer called Joshua Cohen. He has written one book and on the launch date 9/11 happens, which leads to writers block. As things are, his wife is also divorcing him and he does not want to go through with it.
One day his agent tells him that there’s another Joshua Cohen (called Principal) who runs a mega computer company called Tetration – think of Google and Apple combined. Principal wants Cohen to ghost write his autobiography. After lots of stalling Chen accepts and is flown to UAE to write it. Hi-jinks ensue.
That’s the first part.
The second part is in the form of transcripts and first draft manuscripts. It’s about Principal’s origins and how he set up Tetration. Here lots of loose ends and clues in the first part are tied up plus there’s the introduction of Moe, the Hindu who creates a universal remote controller who then morphs into a guru.
The third part is Cohen solving his problems.
What is the book really about? there’s too many things to mention: philosophy of language, the strength of words, Jewish history, the importance of acknowledging your past, the power of writing, this simplification of language, technology’s similarities to religion (that urge to seek out the truth), conspiracy theories. I did say this is a complex book.
Needless to say that The Book of Numbers’ writing style is just as brain boggling. Alongside the meta-wordplay, polysyllabic language, neologisms and shortened words there’s TONS of computer jargon, which proves to be a bit frustrating at times (thank goodness for Google). Saying that Principal’s section is a relatively easy read and has the funniest moments.
As I feared the novel is not consistent. I felt the third section to be a pure slog and it was testing my patience for quite a while. Generally experimental novels click with me after 20 or so pages but this one had it in waves: moments of pure brilliance mixed with moments of pure boredom or irritation.
The Book of Numbers is definitely inventive and groundbreaking however it is more a book that I can admire rather than embrace.
carrieleaharris's review against another edition
3.0
I'm stuck wondering whether this book is truly as pretentious as it feels, or it's just not the right time for me to read this book.
All I know is that all the extra descriptive words and run on and on and on sentences are sending my ADHD into overdrive and sending my brain into a frenzy.
I CANNOT TAKE IT!
3 stars for drawing me in, but only three for driving me away at the same time.
I don't know whether I'm disgusted with this book or with myself.
All I know is that all the extra descriptive words and run on and on and on sentences are sending my ADHD into overdrive and sending my brain into a frenzy.
I CANNOT TAKE IT!
3 stars for drawing me in, but only three for driving me away at the same time.
I don't know whether I'm disgusted with this book or with myself.
katha_'s review against another edition
Just couldn‘t get into it, one reason probably being that my at least C1-English still left me with 2 unknown words per sentence…
michael5000's review against another edition
3.0
Book of Numbers is going to disappoint most folks who, like me, were told it was going to be a towering masterpiece of literature. It certainly isn't that, but then very, very few books are. It certainly doesn't deserve the savagely-low-by-GR-standards rating it has here (not that I'm helping it out any, numerically, but then I give most books three stars: "liked it"). Contrary to an imposing reputation, it's not an particularly difficult read, either.
The book-within-a-book is the best part. The framing narrative is, if not quite "bad," also not especially "great," and it's fairly unpleasant going. A writer needs to consider the way a reader encounters their story, and getting to the good stuff after 200+ tiresome and arguably tangential pages doesn't exactly throw out the welcome mat. The most enthusiastic friends of the book will have seen an artistic justification for this structural setup, or may just admire its audacity, but the craftsmanship that would make it work for a wide audience isn't there. The story and the thinking is, finally, bound fairly tightly to the news of its day; six years out, it's not aging especially well.
Mind you, there's some really good stuff here if you can get over the hump. But it's quite a hump.
The book-within-a-book is the best part. The framing narrative is, if not quite "bad," also not especially "great," and it's fairly unpleasant going. A writer needs to consider the way a reader encounters their story, and getting to the good stuff after 200+ tiresome and arguably tangential pages doesn't exactly throw out the welcome mat. The most enthusiastic friends of the book will have seen an artistic justification for this structural setup, or may just admire its audacity, but the craftsmanship that would make it work for a wide audience isn't there. The story and the thinking is, finally, bound fairly tightly to the news of its day; six years out, it's not aging especially well.
Mind you, there's some really good stuff here if you can get over the hump. But it's quite a hump.
jasperitis's review against another edition
1.0
There needs to be a new shelf called "Do not want to read"
I don't think I'm smart enough for this book.
I don't think I'm smart enough for this book.
gayantagonist's review against another edition
Under other circumstances I probably would’ve quit by page 50. Was it worth pushing through to the end? I don’t know, but I think I can see through time now.