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trudilibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Even though this is my first Tony Burgess read, I'm not exactly a Burgess virgin. He's a bit of a cult figure in Canada, thanks largely in part to the iconic zombie flick Pontypool, based on his novel [b:Pontypool Changes Everything|1740125|Pontypool Changes Everything|Tony Burgess|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328761762s/1740125.jpg|1737733]. Confession time: I've seen the movie (it's brilliant), but I never got around to reading Burgess's book. Or anything else by him either. Until now.
Sweet Jebus. I was dimly aware of his reputation as a gore master, a mad splatter genius who frequently pushes boundaries of decency and sanity every chance he gets. It's a reputation well-deserved. Reminiscent of another iconic Canadian's early work -- David Cronenberg -- Burgess delves into body horror in such a way to disarm the reader and distress the shit out of you.
It's not a mere gross out that's easily dismissed as senseless pulp either, but an exercise in relentless brutality that leaves you mentally and emotionally floundering. In a lot of ways, reading The n-Body Problem reminded me of Kafka's [b:The Metamorphosis|485894|The Metamorphosis|Franz Kafka|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1359061917s/485894.jpg|2373750] because I was left feeling similarly shuddering and sad.
Spoiler
The narrator's fate as an armless, legless torso mummy wrapped and encased in glass is a metamorphosis that leads to much the same kind of alienation and dehumanization experienced by Gregor Samsa. Except the ultimate fate of the narrator here is so much worse, if such horrors can indeed be quantified.This isn't a book I would easily recommend. It's Grade A disturbing, and very much not nice. I repeat: This is not a nice book. It doesn't want to hold your hand, or stroke your hair. Or make you laugh and feel better about life's absurdities. It wants to show you something very dark and nasty, about humans, about death, about our fear of death and extinction. Approach with caution -- and a very strong stomach.
penguingin's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
qdony's review
4.0
He dudado mucho entre las 4 y las 5 estrellas, la verdad. Al final he sido avaro y le he escatimado una por que creo que tensa la verosimilitud hasta el límite, pero es una queja pequeña. Lo he pasado MAL. Burgess tiene un cerebro ENFERMO. Además, sale la escena de sexo más desagradable que he leído en mucho tiempo.
Pero que bien escribe el jodío. El referente claro es Cormac McCarthy.
Pero que bien escribe el jodío. El referente claro es Cormac McCarthy.
apatrick's review against another edition
1.0
This was so terrible! It's sort of supposed to be a zombie book, in which the premise is that zombies have been jettisoned into orbit. Sounded like a good idea, terrible execution. Reads like it was written for a 16-year-old boy, complete with disgusting bodily functions and perverted sex scenes.
lillahexan's review against another edition
2.0
Bummer. Reading the blurb there is so much potential here that I feel Burgess wasted on a story that didn't make sense, a world that didn't make sense, characters you don't like, and a nonexistent plot. Let's look at the blurb shall we?:
"In the end, the zombie apocalypse was nothing more than a waste disposal problem. Burn them in giant ovens? Bad optics. Bury them in landfill sites? The first attempt created acres of twitching, roiling mud. The acceptable answer is to jettison the millions of immortal automatons into orbit. Room enough and a view. Soon, earth's near space is a mesh of bodies interfering with the sunlight, having an effect on our minds that we never saw coming. Aggressive hypochondria, rampant depressive disorders, irresistible suicidal thoughts. Life on earth slowly became not worth living. Heaven had moved in too close. We all knew where we were going and it was just up there, just far enough to never, ever leave."
You can tell by the summary here there is potential. But instead, Burgess creates a story filled with shock value and gimmick (including a chapter that's "encoded" for no apparent reason). A maniac "Seller" running around with an obsession with attaching people to other people's genitalia (and about 3 pages of description of what body parts he's attaching to another's testicles) and having sex with all of his creations (as long as they aren't alive).
So we get 200 pages of mutilations, sexual deviancy, necrophilia, mass suicide, murder...
I am just not young enough anymore to care about trying to seem this damn edgy.
"In the end, the zombie apocalypse was nothing more than a waste disposal problem. Burn them in giant ovens? Bad optics. Bury them in landfill sites? The first attempt created acres of twitching, roiling mud. The acceptable answer is to jettison the millions of immortal automatons into orbit. Room enough and a view. Soon, earth's near space is a mesh of bodies interfering with the sunlight, having an effect on our minds that we never saw coming. Aggressive hypochondria, rampant depressive disorders, irresistible suicidal thoughts. Life on earth slowly became not worth living. Heaven had moved in too close. We all knew where we were going and it was just up there, just far enough to never, ever leave."
You can tell by the summary here there is potential. But instead, Burgess creates a story filled with shock value and gimmick (including a chapter that's "encoded" for no apparent reason). A maniac "Seller" running around with an obsession with attaching people to other people's genitalia (and about 3 pages of description of what body parts he's attaching to another's testicles) and having sex with all of his creations (as long as they aren't alive).
So we get 200 pages of mutilations, sexual deviancy, necrophilia, mass suicide, murder...
I am just not young enough anymore to care about trying to seem this damn edgy.
maheswaranm's review against another edition
3.0
Tough read.
Interesting storyline. Vulgar.
Started very slow. Put down many times after starting. Got interesting once I reached 40-50 pages.
Something between 3 and 4.
Interesting storyline. Vulgar.
Started very slow. Put down many times after starting. Got interesting once I reached 40-50 pages.
Something between 3 and 4.
etienne02's review against another edition
2.0
Comme l'a si bien dit Patrick Senécal en entrevue un jour. lorsque l'on pousse l'horreur trop loin, cela peut devenir grotesque. C'est ce qui arrive ici. On dirait que c'est écrit pour choquer, pour provoquer, cela m'a plutôt laissé indifférent tellement c'est absurde. L'écriture est belle, mais encore une fois, Acte Sud, nous offre un livre surécrit, probablement devant un miroir d'ailleurs, tellement l'auteur semble aimer se voir écrire. Je crois sincèrement (ce n'est pas la première fois que je le dis, mais bon...) que je lis un livre de cette maison d'édition. Je donne quand même deux étoiles, car il est évident que l'auteur à un talent, mais il devrait le mettre au service d'une bonne histoire, et ne pas trop pousser sur la stylistique.