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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
A complex and mostly compelling thriller, taking its plot and world-building from theology, phenomenology, post-modernism, existentialism and quantum physics. Yep. All of that.
There are flaws abound in this novel and I really struggled with the first half but I have to appreciate the rather esoteric approach to fantasy adventure taken by the author and I did start to find myself turning the pages a little more enthusiastically towards the end. The ending however felt rushed considering the slow build-up of the first 200 pages, and it felt like there were a whole bunch of ideas and characters that needed a little longer in the metaphorical oven.
For a book primarily concerned, it seems, with thought experiments, it’s hard not to read it as a 500 page thought experiment itself, rather than a wholly satisfying novel. But maybe that’s the point? But maybe it’s not? What is life? Do I exist? What is the meaning of existence? Am I just asking deep philosophical questions in a rather banal way as a conclusion to this review? Yes. Yes, I am.
There are flaws abound in this novel and I really struggled with the first half but I have to appreciate the rather esoteric approach to fantasy adventure taken by the author and I did start to find myself turning the pages a little more enthusiastically towards the end. The ending however felt rushed considering the slow build-up of the first 200 pages, and it felt like there were a whole bunch of ideas and characters that needed a little longer in the metaphorical oven.
For a book primarily concerned, it seems, with thought experiments, it’s hard not to read it as a 500 page thought experiment itself, rather than a wholly satisfying novel. But maybe that’s the point? But maybe it’s not? What is life? Do I exist? What is the meaning of existence? Am I just asking deep philosophical questions in a rather banal way as a conclusion to this review? Yes. Yes, I am.
DNF 20%
I can’t read any more of this. Just no. NOPE. The concept at the start was interesting and I was intrigued. But it’s safe to say things started to fall apart for me on page 89 (the start of chapter 7). And it got worse from there.
I just don’t want to waste my time with it.
I come from a physics back ground so the theoretical quantum mechanics and particle physics intrigued me. I also love a good sci-fi, fantasy or something that makes you think.
This just... nope.
I even enjoy books that have a book within it and even on this part it failed.
I have skipped through to get a brief idea of the plot and I’m good. I don’t want to read anymore of this.
Whilst I’m sure this is for some people, I am certainly not one of them.
Not the worst book i’ve ever read... but certainly the worst i’ve read this year.
Let me treat you to some quotes that pretty much made me stop:
‘The sky is the colour of sad weddings.’
And this....
‘I want to be penetrated by the shrapnel of a million explosions.’ That, as Fat-Amy, would say? Is NOT a good enough reason to use the word penetrate.
I read this for a book club and I suspect our next meet up will Be interesting.
I can’t read any more of this. Just no. NOPE. The concept at the start was interesting and I was intrigued. But it’s safe to say things started to fall apart for me on page 89 (the start of chapter 7). And it got worse from there.
I just don’t want to waste my time with it.
I come from a physics back ground so the theoretical quantum mechanics and particle physics intrigued me. I also love a good sci-fi, fantasy or something that makes you think.
This just... nope.
I even enjoy books that have a book within it and even on this part it failed.
I have skipped through to get a brief idea of the plot and I’m good. I don’t want to read anymore of this.
Whilst I’m sure this is for some people, I am certainly not one of them.
Not the worst book i’ve ever read... but certainly the worst i’ve read this year.
Let me treat you to some quotes that pretty much made me stop:
‘The sky is the colour of sad weddings.’
And this....
‘I want to be penetrated by the shrapnel of a million explosions.’ That, as Fat-Amy, would say? Is NOT a good enough reason to use the word penetrate.
I read this for a book club and I suspect our next meet up will Be interesting.
Oh child, this book is ambitious- wildly ambitious and baggy and bloated with talk talk talk about Derrida and Baudrillard by a protagonist who inexplicably is both a neglected housing estate brat with no money and really bad personal coping skills born of trauma *and* an Oxford graduate now doing a PhD in English. I mean, awesome- but I kept being baffled there's not one word of how this penniless, unhappy person managed that leap. I'm pretty sure it's not that the playing field is that much more level in the UK. Anyway, but the rest of it is lowest common denominator post-structuralism at the crossroads with laypeople's quantum theory. THEREFORE, the book-about-a-book conceit turns out to be a super flimsy pretext for actually trying to imagine mind-control and body snatching via a computer interface/video game sort of conceit. And it also kinda wanted to be a romance. With an ex-priest (of course). I mean, I guess it can at least prove it came up with the miserable woman who falls in love with a priest a decade in advance of Fleabag. So good on you for that. People are gonna love that one.
Really, really hard to rate. Objectively there were lots of things in it I normally like (Big Ideas, time travel and sci-fi, esoteric genre-bendingness, mild pretension) but subjectively I'm not sure it gripped me that much. I think maybe the main issue was that the narrative is ultimately quite simple and straightforward when boiled down, and most of the complexity is introduced in a rather inorganic way, i.e. the characters talk to each other at length about big ideas, philosophers etc in a way that feels very disjointed and not necessarily in character (I've heard this is one of the author's hallmarks and I'm not sure I love it). To continue to computer game metaphor from the book, it's like the book suffers from ludo narrative dissonance, almost? (Cogno-narrative dissonance?). I've been spoiled by Ted Chiang, Egan etc, all those big sci fi authors who do a much better, more creative job of embedding their Big Ideas into the mechanics of plot and concept and character, rather than tacking them on like readers' notes through the mouths of characters.
3.5 stars maybe, except an extra 0.5 stars for the absolutely insane ending? I really am easy to please because Asimov pulled the same twist on me once before, it blew my mind then and it blew my mind now. Shame on me!
3.5 stars maybe, except an extra 0.5 stars for the absolutely insane ending? I really am easy to please because Asimov pulled the same twist on me once before, it blew my mind then and it blew my mind now. Shame on me!
I was unsure if I was enjoying the reading or not right until the end. It's very original and a different type of book: it's sci-fi, but it's also realistic. It contradicts itself a lots of times, but it seems to be aware of that paradoxal view and that approach makes it great.
At first, it made me a little bit uncomfortable to be written in the first person, but I did get used to it easily. The thing I disliked the most was the inumerous scientific references. It was boring sometimes because the idea it gave was that the author was just quoting other people's work.
But the context was, afterall, explained and by the end of it I was really involved. The end was unexpected and that is always a good thing.
At first, it made me a little bit uncomfortable to be written in the first person, but I did get used to it easily. The thing I disliked the most was the inumerous scientific references. It was boring sometimes because the idea it gave was that the author was just quoting other people's work.
But the context was, afterall, explained and by the end of it I was really involved. The end was unexpected and that is always a good thing.
The story was gripping and finished in a few sittings. Some of the philosophical discussion was lost on me but otherwise really interesting and thought provoking.
Interesting. Peculiar. It had most of the ingredients that would go into my favorite book, but somehow it felt like slightly less than the sum of its parts, which is why it's only 4 stars for me.
Title: The End of Mr Y
Author: Scarlett Thomas
Rating: 2.5/5(rounded up to 3)*
Pages: 502
I found this book at a second-hand book shop and was automatically drawn to it as it's also about a book that was found in a secondhand book shop. The description got me excited, and I couldn't wait to read it.
However, this nearly became a DNF. At 150 pages, I still couldn't get into it. Things were over described, and there was information overload on quantum physic theories and essays that my eyes just glazed over. There was also irrelevant information that, to me, felt unneeded, making the book unnecessarily wordy. By page 250, the book did a turnaround, and I am so glad I stuck with it. The troposphere was brilliant, and I liked the way you questioned everything. (Not great for those who suffer existential crises) I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, though.
I'm unsure if the over description was the authors way of writing or the way the whether it was a nod to Ariel's neurospicyness.
The book reminded me of the night circus, so I guess if you like that, you might enjoy this.
I have another book by this author which I'll give a go and will go from there. It's very different to my usual reads. That's for sure.
Have you read this book?
If not, will you?
What's your current read?
*Note from me: I never want to dim people's shine. It's brave for the author to put themselves out there in the public eye. Books/stories are personal preferences. What might be my cup of tea may not be yours. And vice Versa! Keep on creating!
Author: Scarlett Thomas
Rating: 2.5/5(rounded up to 3)*
Pages: 502
I found this book at a second-hand book shop and was automatically drawn to it as it's also about a book that was found in a secondhand book shop. The description got me excited, and I couldn't wait to read it.
However, this nearly became a DNF. At 150 pages, I still couldn't get into it. Things were over described, and there was information overload on quantum physic theories and essays that my eyes just glazed over. There was also irrelevant information that, to me, felt unneeded, making the book unnecessarily wordy. By page 250, the book did a turnaround, and I am so glad I stuck with it. The troposphere was brilliant, and I liked the way you questioned everything. (Not great for those who suffer existential crises) I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, though.
I'm unsure if the over description was the authors way of writing or the way the whether it was a nod to Ariel's neurospicyness.
The book reminded me of the night circus, so I guess if you like that, you might enjoy this.
I have another book by this author which I'll give a go and will go from there. It's very different to my usual reads. That's for sure.
Have you read this book?
If not, will you?
What's your current read?
*Note from me: I never want to dim people's shine. It's brave for the author to put themselves out there in the public eye. Books/stories are personal preferences. What might be my cup of tea may not be yours. And vice Versa! Keep on creating!
Meh. I should have read this book a decade ago. I'm too old now. I find it juvenile, immature and tedious. I agree with so many other reviewers that the character thinks she is deep and profound and really she's a typical undergrad who has discovered some of the cooler things in life and is happy to fling bits of ideas around in a somewhat erroneous way. The first conversation at the house of the one woman over dinner was so poorly written and trite and not well thought out. All I could think was "these three are GRADUATE students in their respective fields?" And reminded me of why I left graduate school.
Yes I was intrigued by the initial idea. But I just. couldn't. get. past. the. character. And I too couldn't see the point of all the side conversation and the sex? Oh right up there as 50 shags of grade. Or 50 shades of grad. Or how to write really awful smut.
I have such a large TBR. Time to move on.
Yes I was intrigued by the initial idea. But I just. couldn't. get. past. the. character. And I too couldn't see the point of all the side conversation and the sex? Oh right up there as 50 shags of grade. Or 50 shades of grad. Or how to write really awful smut.
I have such a large TBR. Time to move on.