Reviews

S. by J.J. Abrams, Doug Dorst

dima_in_flowers's review against another edition

This book is a fantastic first-hand experience! Worth trying once. Don’t Google what it is about, just experience it blindly. 
But, my quick impression is that as a book, not as an experience, it is a mediocre book.

I read it at the library. It was not possible to take it home, only to read at the library, so I had very little time to actually read it. 

joshuaray's review against another edition

4.0

An incredibly ambitious meta-novel that works on every level. The book within the book, "The Ship of Theseus," is a novel in the style and tradition of Coleridges' "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and would be an excellent work in its own right. The history of its fictional author, V.M. Straka, and the question of his identity and potential involvement with a shadowy cadre of writer/secret agents is similarly intriguing and well-conceived. And the story of Jen and Eric's in-the-margins relationship adds yet another compelling and exciting layer to it all.

S. is a one-of-a-kind story of identity, change, struggle, and love. The most fun I've had reading a book in a long time.

moonxeph's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

emma_vinkenoog's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed this a lot, especially because of the cool and unique concept, but towards the end I found it increasingly difficult to follow. Even if you read the annotations per color set, they're still not entirely chronological, so like a note on page 100 may refer to something written on page 150, which makes the conversations hard to follow. Also, once Eric and Jen meet up in real life and start talking outside of the book, the annotations are even more difficult to understand. The confusion made it less fun for me to read, but overall I still liked it.

brokenqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark

4.0

danni_durao's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

dburke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

4.0

I will probably need to re-read this at some point. I read the novel and footnotes and marginalia all straight through, start-to-finish. I wonder if I should go back and read just the marginalia in the implied color-coded timeline of events.

If nothing else, I've never read another book quite like this, but would like to find something similar again.

huckabees222's review against another edition

4.0

I liked it a lot, but holy hell, I think I have to read this again three more times to get all the intricacies of the plot.

rayekp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

3.75

katherinehurlin's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5