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2.64 AVERAGE
2.64 AVERAGE
Did not finish. I just was not connected to the characters and the story. May try again in future.
I had expected this book to be some sort of psychological thriller, but it's much too slow-going and aloof to really be an exciting read. instead, I plowed through, waiting for the "twist" or the surprising reason why Jeremy O'Keefe is being followed and sent mysterious packages. Surprise:
Other readers have commented that Jeremy is an perhaps an imperfect example of a person being monitored -- that his relations were slightly shady -- but I'm not sure it matters. The author's point is so obviously a commentary on the current surveillance state. Surely the first 150 or 200 pages of long, liberal sentences, with their many, many commas would've made clear that the reason for the writing of this book is an idea rather than a story.
Spoiler
He has an intimate relationship with a French-Egyptian student who has ties to Mubarak, and she has his child, after which, he sets up a direct deposit to her account.Other readers have commented that Jeremy is an perhaps an imperfect example of a person being monitored -- that his relations were slightly shady -- but I'm not sure it matters. The author's point is so obviously a commentary on the current surveillance state. Surely the first 150 or 200 pages of long, liberal sentences, with their many, many commas would've made clear that the reason for the writing of this book is an idea rather than a story.
The premise is interesting, and in the hands of a different writer, this story could’ve been a lot better. The protagonist, despite being a professor, might be one of the dumber characters in a book I have read. Flanery also indulges in some of the worst cliches as a modern literary writer (do we really need another story with a professor that gets sexually involved with his student?) and his twist, hidden until near the end, takes you out of the story, and actually makes you side with the government agency spying on him. It’s actually completely justifiable.
Avoid this story.
Avoid this story.
If I could give I AM NO ONE more stars, I would. A marvel of a literary thriller about our modern surveillance era.
I do not use the word 'literary' lightly. If one is expecting car chases and rock-'em-sock'-'em action, one will be highly disappointed. No, this is a psychological book full of quiet terrors, surrounded by incidents so mundane that the average person can't help but identify. This is of course the point. Your life? Mine? Opened up and spread across the cold metal dissection table? What would one find, if one looked closely enough? In this world of six-degrees-of-separation, who can say they have not met someone at a party, sat next to someone on a bus, bought cheese from someone, had their hair styled by someone, even perhaps been friendly to, even perhaps loved, a person with whom the shadowy offices of global surveillance would take exception. A file would be started. I shouldn't be at all surprised if there's one on me.
Consider the irony if one had dedicated one's life to the research of East Germany's Stasi as has Jeremy, our narrator. It's that sort of a puzzle-book.
The narrator's first person voice is perfect (I'm quite baffled by reviews here that say otherwise) -- in part because it has exactly the right tone for an academic who's spent a long time in Britain, but also because Jeremy is someone a tad bland, and deeply flawed. He's prone to long moments of introspection, passages I adored for their thoughtfulness and Jamesian interiority. It's a risky choice in a world where readers are accustomed to narrators more prone to action, and written with a high 'likability factor' in order to please their publishing house's sales team. I applaud Flanery for making it.
There is a great review in the Guardian of this book, which in part reads: "One of the pleasures of reading Flanery is the tussle between ways of understanding the shapes of stories and language. He mixes, to quote an interview he gave, “expressionism, symbolism, surrealism” into what he calls “critical realism” – he writes realist novels which show their awareness that realism is a self-conscious form like others. Reviewers have described his novels as thrillers, which is never quite right – but there are parts of the story that stand out as thrilling, next to other parts that are meditative, and others that are psychologically baffling. Readers are constantly seeking to work out what sort of writing they are reading. For instance, many of the chapters end with the kind of statement – 'As you will see, I had things to find out … ' – that suggests the construction of a thriller and doesn’t quite fit with what has gone on before."
Approach this book not as a thriller, although as the Guardian says, there are certainly thrilling moments, but as a compelling psychological exploration of privacy and what the imposed lack of it, might mean to a life. Any life. Even yours.
I received this book from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.
I do not use the word 'literary' lightly. If one is expecting car chases and rock-'em-sock'-'em action, one will be highly disappointed. No, this is a psychological book full of quiet terrors, surrounded by incidents so mundane that the average person can't help but identify. This is of course the point. Your life? Mine? Opened up and spread across the cold metal dissection table? What would one find, if one looked closely enough? In this world of six-degrees-of-separation, who can say they have not met someone at a party, sat next to someone on a bus, bought cheese from someone, had their hair styled by someone, even perhaps been friendly to, even perhaps loved, a person with whom the shadowy offices of global surveillance would take exception. A file would be started. I shouldn't be at all surprised if there's one on me.
Consider the irony if one had dedicated one's life to the research of East Germany's Stasi as has Jeremy, our narrator. It's that sort of a puzzle-book.
The narrator's first person voice is perfect (I'm quite baffled by reviews here that say otherwise) -- in part because it has exactly the right tone for an academic who's spent a long time in Britain, but also because Jeremy is someone a tad bland, and deeply flawed. He's prone to long moments of introspection, passages I adored for their thoughtfulness and Jamesian interiority. It's a risky choice in a world where readers are accustomed to narrators more prone to action, and written with a high 'likability factor' in order to please their publishing house's sales team. I applaud Flanery for making it.
There is a great review in the Guardian of this book, which in part reads: "One of the pleasures of reading Flanery is the tussle between ways of understanding the shapes of stories and language. He mixes, to quote an interview he gave, “expressionism, symbolism, surrealism” into what he calls “critical realism” – he writes realist novels which show their awareness that realism is a self-conscious form like others. Reviewers have described his novels as thrillers, which is never quite right – but there are parts of the story that stand out as thrilling, next to other parts that are meditative, and others that are psychologically baffling. Readers are constantly seeking to work out what sort of writing they are reading. For instance, many of the chapters end with the kind of statement – 'As you will see, I had things to find out … ' – that suggests the construction of a thriller and doesn’t quite fit with what has gone on before."
Approach this book not as a thriller, although as the Guardian says, there are certainly thrilling moments, but as a compelling psychological exploration of privacy and what the imposed lack of it, might mean to a life. Any life. Even yours.
I received this book from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.
Tracking your every interaction and move is quite easy with all the conveniences available to us today. In Patrick Flanery's I Am No One, one individual is targeted for tracking, throwing his otherwise tidy life into disarray.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
After a decade teaching abroad in Oxford, England, Professor Jeremy O'Keefe is back in his native New York in a more lucrative position and nearer his daughter and mother. Upon his return, which was precipitated by suspect circumstances seemingly coordinated by an Oxford colleague, Jeremy receives deliveries of some chilling boxes filled with printouts of all his computer activity and correspondences and notices that there seems to be a young man following him throughout the city. In try to figure out who is behind these mysteriously delivered boxes, Jeremy reveals more about his past to the reader, offering a rationale as to why he might be the subject of governmental surveillance.
With an interesting and startlingly realistic premise within contemporary culture regarding privacy and identity, and some strong and highly educated writing, I did not enjoy the story as much as I thought I would. Perhaps the quick transitioning between current and past events was a tad disorienting, or perhaps I found it difficult to connect with and trust our unreliable narrator Jeremy and his extremely self-assured, self-interested behavior, despite finding aspects of his character I could identify with. While the introspective aspect to the narrative offered periods of thought provocation, the area of the story that would be of most interest, the exposure and potential fall out of Jeremy to the public, is left to exist only in the imagination of the reader and isn't addressed, ending without any sort of tangible resolution or conclusion.
*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
After a decade teaching abroad in Oxford, England, Professor Jeremy O'Keefe is back in his native New York in a more lucrative position and nearer his daughter and mother. Upon his return, which was precipitated by suspect circumstances seemingly coordinated by an Oxford colleague, Jeremy receives deliveries of some chilling boxes filled with printouts of all his computer activity and correspondences and notices that there seems to be a young man following him throughout the city. In try to figure out who is behind these mysteriously delivered boxes, Jeremy reveals more about his past to the reader, offering a rationale as to why he might be the subject of governmental surveillance.
With an interesting and startlingly realistic premise within contemporary culture regarding privacy and identity, and some strong and highly educated writing, I did not enjoy the story as much as I thought I would. Perhaps the quick transitioning between current and past events was a tad disorienting, or perhaps I found it difficult to connect with and trust our unreliable narrator Jeremy and his extremely self-assured, self-interested behavior, despite finding aspects of his character I could identify with. While the introspective aspect to the narrative offered periods of thought provocation, the area of the story that would be of most interest, the exposure and potential fall out of Jeremy to the public, is left to exist only in the imagination of the reader and isn't addressed, ending without any sort of tangible resolution or conclusion.
*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
So horribly written that I couldn't finish. Don't understand how this got published, sorry.
I think 1 star is a bit harsh, but 2 would have been too kind. I mean, it was interesting enough, but... WTF was with the way it ended?
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
An interesting novel - although a bit rambling. But, it is a curious look at what might happen if the government is watching your every move.
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes