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the_sunken_library's review against another edition
5.0
For all the political mayhem, conspiracy theories, hidden messages and codes and riddles, turns out this ingenious book is just a straight forward love story in the end. And you know what? I don't mind one damn bit. I loved it.
This is a story within a story within a story etc:
1) The book itself
2) The book is autobiographical (VM Straka)
3) The secret conversation with the translator and the author (Straka and FXC)
4) The convesation the owner of the book has on its pages (Eric)
5) The first converation Eric has with Jen
6) And then the next
7) And then the next
8) And the final conversation
Absolutely brilliant. Wonderfully executed, and simple in its message. What is important is not always what you do but the relationships that form along the path leading to your choices. More often than not, those relationships are more important.
Are there unanswered questions? Yes! But who cares. It was never about the mystery but about the chance Eric and Jen had to learn from the mistakes of others. Pursuing a quest together rather than seperately and knowing that the experience of being together is more important than actually finding an answer to their questions.
This is a story within a story within a story etc:
1) The book itself
2) The book is autobiographical (VM Straka)
3) The secret conversation with the translator and the author (Straka and FXC)
4) The convesation the owner of the book has on its pages (Eric)
5) The first converation Eric has with Jen
6) And then the next
7) And then the next
8) And the final conversation
Absolutely brilliant. Wonderfully executed, and simple in its message. What is important is not always what you do but the relationships that form along the path leading to your choices. More often than not, those relationships are more important.
Are there unanswered questions? Yes! But who cares. It was never about the mystery but about the chance Eric and Jen had to learn from the mistakes of others. Pursuing a quest together rather than seperately and knowing that the experience of being together is more important than actually finding an answer to their questions.
mmajer's review against another edition
2.0
The concept of this book is wildly creative. It’s absolutely stunning to look at- like an old, worn library book. It was fun to follow along with the mystery, including fun little inserts... until it wasn’t. I don’t mind working a little for the reading experience, but this became downright tedious and quite a feat to finish (it took me years)! After a while I found it difficult to follow along with the story and margin notes, so I kept putting it down. I do think it’s special and I’ve never encountered a book quite like this before, but I just didn’t get along with it as well as others might.
pseyeyy's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I have mixed feelings about this one. The book *feels* satisfying to flip through. It even smells like an older library book. I opted to read through the entire thing (annotations included) in one go and didn’t find it too overwhelming given that each “pass” by Jen and Eric is color coded. They break this pattern in a few places (mentions of Eric’s hurt leg in the red/purple pass don’t occur in order, nor does the fallout of Jen’s parents’ visit), but using these events as landmarks helps to ground you as you read.
The “Ship of Theseus” text takes a back seat to the marginalia. It is primarily a vehicle for the meta narrative and wouldn’t stand well alone. I found its themes of identity and choice (etc.) to be on the nose. The surreal elements were fun- especially the implications of time distortion and alternate “realities” for S. and Sola. Despite this, it remains unfortunately plain. I kept trying to find meaningful excerpts to highlight, hoping they’d be relevant to some greater mystery or symbolism, and coming up short. Everything important was already highlighted by Eric or Jen- or laid out directly in the text.
By the mid-late half, Eric and Jen’s discussions of love and the meaning of life become cloying and repetitive. The stalker/arson side plot never goes anywhere. In fact- nothing much goes anywhere at all. You could read the book backwards and the experience would stay the same. I’m left not buying that the stakes were ever really high for Jen and Eric.
As a final side note- I wish that the ciphers solved by Jen were written out away from the footnotes. It’s really hard to ignore the answer spelled out in bold text when you’re trying to collect info from the footnotes before giving it a go yourself.
All that being said- I do recommend reading it if this kind of fiction is your thing! If only for the experience, not necessarily the substance.
I can’t tell if I’m annoyed or not that a genuine answer to this mystery could be “the real V.M. Stratka was the friends we made along the way.”
The “Ship of Theseus” text takes a back seat to the marginalia. It is primarily a vehicle for the meta narrative and wouldn’t stand well alone. I found its themes of identity and choice (etc.) to be on the nose. The surreal elements were fun- especially the implications of time distortion and alternate “realities” for S. and Sola. Despite this, it remains unfortunately plain. I kept trying to find meaningful excerpts to highlight, hoping they’d be relevant to some greater mystery or symbolism, and coming up short. Everything important was already highlighted by Eric or Jen- or laid out directly in the text.
By the mid-late half, Eric and Jen’s discussions of love and the meaning of life become cloying and repetitive. The stalker/arson side plot never goes anywhere. In fact- nothing much goes anywhere at all. You could read the book backwards and the experience would stay the same. I’m left not buying that the stakes were ever really high for Jen and Eric.
As a final side note- I wish that the ciphers solved by Jen were written out away from the footnotes. It’s really hard to ignore the answer spelled out in bold text when you’re trying to collect info from the footnotes before giving it a go yourself.
All that being said- I do recommend reading it if this kind of fiction is your thing! If only for the experience, not necessarily the substance.
okogul's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-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? No
3.0
confusing as fuck but i love experimental writing
kintsugiulia's review against another edition
5.0
Potrei provare a scrivere una recensione ordinata ma qualunque cosa possa dire non renderà mai abbastanza giustizia al capolavoro che è questo libro. Si vede che dietro a questo lavoro c’è anche l’opera di un regista; non ho mai letto niente di altrettanto complesso o strutturato su più, e così tanti, livelli. S. riesce ad intrecciare bene sia l’aspetto più tradizionalmente scritto che quello visivo: sembra di assistere in tutto e per tutto ad un film, di avere tra le mani il copione di un film… e che film!! Eric e Jen, grazie di avermi accompagnato in questo viaggio. E posso solo che provare ammirazione e un po’ di soggezione nei confronti degli editor e traduttori di questo libro, siete dei mostri (/affect)
oxnard_montalvo's review against another edition
For fans of House of Leaves and gothic detective mysteries. Enjoyed the snaking tale, but I remember feeling like not all the elements worked. Been a long time since I read it though; I'll try to revisit it this year (2022).
zoepol's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
fresh_guy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
carolinekysela's review against another edition
5.0
this is not a book. it's an experience.
i'll admit it was a little bit hard to read, given how many ways you can go about it. i ended up just reading it. cover to cover with the annotations and slips where they were placed.
i fell in love with the characters of the book itself and the annotators. very good commentary on the fear of the unknown.
im not a puzzle person so i just let the characters decipher the codes for me, but i could see major appeal for anyone big on that kind of thing.
was a behemoth of a book, took me AGES because of the annotations i think, and forgetting which author was who. but all in all i really enjoyed it. def good conversation piece
i'll admit it was a little bit hard to read, given how many ways you can go about it. i ended up just reading it. cover to cover with the annotations and slips where they were placed.
i fell in love with the characters of the book itself and the annotators. very good commentary on the fear of the unknown.
im not a puzzle person so i just let the characters decipher the codes for me, but i could see major appeal for anyone big on that kind of thing.
was a behemoth of a book, took me AGES because of the annotations i think, and forgetting which author was who. but all in all i really enjoyed it. def good conversation piece