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2.64 AVERAGE
2.64 AVERAGE
The concept of a man who starts receiving anonymously delivered boxes of his own internet and telephone records seems like a winner. Then there is a dark stranger who keeps appearing in unlikely locations and convinces this man that they know one another yet the man has no memory of that relationship. It all sounds terribly appealing and yet, for me, it somehow goes wrong in the writing. Perhaps the story is supposed to read like an academic treatise since the man in question is indeed an Oxford academic. But to have a whole paragraph about whether mother or son make the best coffee or half a page about the differences between elderly men and elderly women (none of which moves the story forward) just bogged me down. And that's just two examples of many throughout this book.
I get the overall concept of a "no one" losing his privacy to the whims of a government gone out of control and with the technology to completely invade one's world. I actually quite liked this aspect of the story but it kind of got overwhelmed by other story lines that didn't all come together.
I'm so sorry that this one didn't live up to hype. I really was expecting to like it and love the psychological thriller aspects of it but I didn't.
I get the overall concept of a "no one" losing his privacy to the whims of a government gone out of control and with the technology to completely invade one's world. I actually quite liked this aspect of the story but it kind of got overwhelmed by other story lines that didn't all come together.
I'm so sorry that this one didn't live up to hype. I really was expecting to like it and love the psychological thriller aspects of it but I didn't.
I tried. I did. But the tone was so pretentious and awful I can't push through. Moving on.
Drawn in by an intriguing blurb and a rather nicely designed cover, I was looking forward to this "literary thriller" as Sam Sacks of The Wall Street Journal called it. While the Times Literary Supplement called said "The tension is delicious..." I'm going to have to disagree with them. This latest novel from author Patrick Flanery, while entertaining and interesting, was not a tasty morsel for me. The "delicious tension" felt rather drawn out. I found myself putting it down for other books instead of being encapsulated in the book's world. I was often left wondering if the main character was simply loosing his mind, and I was following an unreliable narrator.
The argument that I feel was presented about security seemed to be the author's main focus. Though the characters were all fleshed out in a brilliant manner, I didn't find myself connecting with Jeremy O'Keefe, our American with English manners professor. If anything I found his wallowing rather annoying rather than sympathetic. While I usually prefer books to films because I can find out more about what the characters are thinking, in this case I found myself wishing for less introspection and more action to move the story along.
Another reader might find this entertaining and it may simply be that the story was not what I was expecting. In which case that is on me not the author. I would simply leave this review as a warning to take this book up with no expectations and let it mold your experience rather than try to fit it into the mold the back blurb promised.
The argument that I feel was presented about security seemed to be the author's main focus. Though the characters were all fleshed out in a brilliant manner, I didn't find myself connecting with Jeremy O'Keefe, our American with English manners professor. If anything I found his wallowing rather annoying rather than sympathetic. While I usually prefer books to films because I can find out more about what the characters are thinking, in this case I found myself wishing for less introspection and more action to move the story along.
Another reader might find this entertaining and it may simply be that the story was not what I was expecting. In which case that is on me not the author. I would simply leave this review as a warning to take this book up with no expectations and let it mold your experience rather than try to fit it into the mold the back blurb promised.
Find all my reviews on my blog: https://thesuspenseisthrillingme.com
Date Read: 07/24/16
Pub Day: 07/05/2016
3 STARS
After a decade living in England, Jeremy O’Keefe returns to New York, where he has been hired as a professor of German history at New York University. Though comfortable in his new life, and happy to be near his daughter once again, Jeremy continues to feel the quiet pangs of loneliness. Walking through the city at night, it’s as though he could disappear and no one would even notice.
But soon, Jeremy’s life begins taking strange turns: boxes containing records of his online activity are delivered to his apartment, a young man seems to be following him, and his elderly mother receives anonymous phone calls slandering her son. Why, he wonders, would anyone want to watch him so closely, and, even more upsetting, why would they alert him to the fact that he was being watched?
As Jeremy takes stock of the entanglements that marked his years abroad, he wonders if he has unwittingly committed a crime so serious that he might soon be faced with his own denaturalization. Moving towards a shattering reassessment of what it means to be free in a time of ever more intrusive surveillance, Jeremy is forced to ask himself whether he is ‘no one’, as he believes, or a traitor not just to his country but to everyone around him.
Patrick Flanery is a new author for me; I actually don’t have many acquaintances who have read his books and only found it through the Blogging For Books website. After reading the description, it sounded right up my alley and I requested it immediately. A 3 star review is the hardest to write in my opinion, because while I enjoyed the book, there were some issues I had with it. It’s not a glowing review, but it’s not a negative one either. I just felt the need to clarify as I’ve received many messages recently regarding my 3 star reviews.
Jeremy was a tricky character for me; I didn’t particularly like him as a person, but I did feel sorry for him and sympathetic to his plight. His character was written in an extremely believable voice; you can clearly relate that he is an academic who has experience residing outside the United States. This degree of precision was a huge pro to me, as I questioned everything going on while simultaneously feeling completely at ease with the narrator, as he appeared 100% reliable and trustworthy, or as much as one can while slowly losing his mind. His thoughts would sometimes go into these run on sentences and jumbled phrases that were compulsive but not confusing. I never once felt lost along the story as a reader.
I think my only negative feelings toward this book stem from the fact that, for a novel of suspense, it lacked the pacing and grip that I’ve come to expect from a thriller. After I reached the half way mark, it did seem to speed up a bit, and the ending, while not especially memorable, was satisfactory. Overall I enjoyed the read, it just wasn’t anything to write home about. I would like to mention that the cover is WAY more gorgeous in person than in pictures. The little specks are colored glitter that glisten in the light; truly remarkable against the otherwise bleak art.
I’ve read many reviews debating whether the author’s research and take on surveillance -state is accurate; I really can’t add anything as I know very little about it myself outside of fiction. My conclusion is that I felt he did a fine job writing a fictional novel regarding the subject and that we should keep in mind that it is just that, fiction. This book was not intended to educate its readers on the accuracy of big brother, it was solely meant to entertain the reader, which in my case I would count a success. I think those who like their suspense novels more character than action driven will enjoy this. An intelligent read that I am grateful to have received.
*Many thanks to Penguin Random House for my copy in exchange for an honest review. I’d like to note they sent an additional copy for a giveaway which I’m extremely grateful for as well!
Date Read: 07/24/16
Pub Day: 07/05/2016
3 STARS
After a decade living in England, Jeremy O’Keefe returns to New York, where he has been hired as a professor of German history at New York University. Though comfortable in his new life, and happy to be near his daughter once again, Jeremy continues to feel the quiet pangs of loneliness. Walking through the city at night, it’s as though he could disappear and no one would even notice.
But soon, Jeremy’s life begins taking strange turns: boxes containing records of his online activity are delivered to his apartment, a young man seems to be following him, and his elderly mother receives anonymous phone calls slandering her son. Why, he wonders, would anyone want to watch him so closely, and, even more upsetting, why would they alert him to the fact that he was being watched?
As Jeremy takes stock of the entanglements that marked his years abroad, he wonders if he has unwittingly committed a crime so serious that he might soon be faced with his own denaturalization. Moving towards a shattering reassessment of what it means to be free in a time of ever more intrusive surveillance, Jeremy is forced to ask himself whether he is ‘no one’, as he believes, or a traitor not just to his country but to everyone around him.
Patrick Flanery is a new author for me; I actually don’t have many acquaintances who have read his books and only found it through the Blogging For Books website. After reading the description, it sounded right up my alley and I requested it immediately. A 3 star review is the hardest to write in my opinion, because while I enjoyed the book, there were some issues I had with it. It’s not a glowing review, but it’s not a negative one either. I just felt the need to clarify as I’ve received many messages recently regarding my 3 star reviews.
Jeremy was a tricky character for me; I didn’t particularly like him as a person, but I did feel sorry for him and sympathetic to his plight. His character was written in an extremely believable voice; you can clearly relate that he is an academic who has experience residing outside the United States. This degree of precision was a huge pro to me, as I questioned everything going on while simultaneously feeling completely at ease with the narrator, as he appeared 100% reliable and trustworthy, or as much as one can while slowly losing his mind. His thoughts would sometimes go into these run on sentences and jumbled phrases that were compulsive but not confusing. I never once felt lost along the story as a reader.
I think my only negative feelings toward this book stem from the fact that, for a novel of suspense, it lacked the pacing and grip that I’ve come to expect from a thriller. After I reached the half way mark, it did seem to speed up a bit, and the ending, while not especially memorable, was satisfactory. Overall I enjoyed the read, it just wasn’t anything to write home about. I would like to mention that the cover is WAY more gorgeous in person than in pictures. The little specks are colored glitter that glisten in the light; truly remarkable against the otherwise bleak art.
I’ve read many reviews debating whether the author’s research and take on surveillance -state is accurate; I really can’t add anything as I know very little about it myself outside of fiction. My conclusion is that I felt he did a fine job writing a fictional novel regarding the subject and that we should keep in mind that it is just that, fiction. This book was not intended to educate its readers on the accuracy of big brother, it was solely meant to entertain the reader, which in my case I would count a success. I think those who like their suspense novels more character than action driven will enjoy this. An intelligent read that I am grateful to have received.
*Many thanks to Penguin Random House for my copy in exchange for an honest review. I’d like to note they sent an additional copy for a giveaway which I’m extremely grateful for as well!
When I started reading this, it was feeling A LOT like James Lasdun's The Horned Man: one of my favourite novels, and a gold standard for unreliable narrator stories. But while Lasdun kept me on edge for the entire story, Flanery's I Am No One just made me bored after about 30 pages.
But I kept reading! Hoping against hope that there was some radical plot twist around the corner, some grand reveal that would redeem this meandering tale and make me want to re-read it so I could pick out all the clues on a second read. But nothing ever really happened, least of all some sort of payoff that would make a first read worth it.
Overall, far too many run-on sentences for my liking (a stylistic choice, realize, but at least one was LITERALLY an entire page long), and the constant flashbacks to the MC's time spent in Oxford became tiresome and only slowed the story down. And I guess it was never an unreliable narrator after all? Honestly, I'm not even sure.
But I kept reading! Hoping against hope that there was some radical plot twist around the corner, some grand reveal that would redeem this meandering tale and make me want to re-read it so I could pick out all the clues on a second read. But nothing ever really happened, least of all some sort of payoff that would make a first read worth it.
Overall, far too many run-on sentences for my liking (a stylistic choice, realize, but at least one was LITERALLY an entire page long), and the constant flashbacks to the MC's time spent in Oxford became tiresome and only slowed the story down. And I guess it was never an unreliable narrator after all? Honestly, I'm not even sure.
An intellectual novel about paranoia. Or perhaps it is about the small, innocent things we do that can grab the attention of government agencies and make us look like terrorists. By the time you've finished the book you might be quite paranoid yourself.
My initial reaction to picking up a novel about an American academic living in England, written by an American academic living in England, was that it definitely wasn't for me. I generally don't like fiction involving academia, not do I generally care for fiction where the protagonist and author's biographies overlap too much. But once I cracked the spine and read a few pages, the writing swept me up. It's hard to put a finger on the particulars, but this is writing that manages the odd trick of feeling both highly considered and effortless. A degree or two in either direction would have pushed it into being either too showy, or too restrained.
As for the plot? Well... that was less engaging. The academic returns to Manhattan and soon feels like he's under some kind of surveillance. But, by whom, or why, are unknown. And since his academic focus is on essentially that topic in East German history, it could all just be in his head. Then there are strange deliveries, strange encounters with a man who claims to be a former student, and so forth. It's sort of just interesting enough to keep one reading, but also quite repetitive at times -- and it just barely sustains narrative momentum. By the end, when things have become a good deal clearer for both hero and reader, I'm not sure any great truth has been revealed about our modern security state. Kind of felt like a modern riff on a '70s paranoia thriller.
As for the plot? Well... that was less engaging. The academic returns to Manhattan and soon feels like he's under some kind of surveillance. But, by whom, or why, are unknown. And since his academic focus is on essentially that topic in East German history, it could all just be in his head. Then there are strange deliveries, strange encounters with a man who claims to be a former student, and so forth. It's sort of just interesting enough to keep one reading, but also quite repetitive at times -- and it just barely sustains narrative momentum. By the end, when things have become a good deal clearer for both hero and reader, I'm not sure any great truth has been revealed about our modern security state. Kind of felt like a modern riff on a '70s paranoia thriller.
3 1/2 stars. Note: I received an advance reader copy of this book from LibraryThing.
“I Am No One”, the latest novel from Patrick Flanery, is constructed with introspective, carefully detailed writing develop a mysterious, literate thriller and create slow-burning menace.
The story is narrated in first person by Jeremy O'Keefe, a professor of history (with a specialization in East Germany's secret police). After failing to receive tenure at Columbia, he moved to Oxford, England for over a decade but returned to America because he never felt completely at home overseas. He is now closer to his daughter who is a successful New York gallery owner and is married to a powerful media figure. But New York is not a comfortable landing place as he struggles with cultural and personal reorientation. And then his so-called quiet, “I am no one important” life turns into a series of puzzling intrusions.
Flanery's themes include the illusion of true privacy and the dangers of mass surveillance, the personal disorientation of expatriates, and the frailty of individual identity and impact of past histories. He is familiar with the life of the expat. He was raised in the United States and earned a B.F.A. in film before moving to the U.K. He completed a literature doctorate at the University of Oxford and is currently based in London. An aside – Flanery’s interest in film is evident by brief comments about various films by the protagonist interspersed in the story.
“I Am No One”, the latest novel from Patrick Flanery, is constructed with introspective, carefully detailed writing develop a mysterious, literate thriller and create slow-burning menace.
The story is narrated in first person by Jeremy O'Keefe, a professor of history (with a specialization in East Germany's secret police). After failing to receive tenure at Columbia, he moved to Oxford, England for over a decade but returned to America because he never felt completely at home overseas. He is now closer to his daughter who is a successful New York gallery owner and is married to a powerful media figure. But New York is not a comfortable landing place as he struggles with cultural and personal reorientation. And then his so-called quiet, “I am no one important” life turns into a series of puzzling intrusions.
Flanery's themes include the illusion of true privacy and the dangers of mass surveillance, the personal disorientation of expatriates, and the frailty of individual identity and impact of past histories. He is familiar with the life of the expat. He was raised in the United States and earned a B.F.A. in film before moving to the U.K. He completed a literature doctorate at the University of Oxford and is currently based in London. An aside – Flanery’s interest in film is evident by brief comments about various films by the protagonist interspersed in the story.
I received this book as an Early Reviewer's copy from Library Thing. I really enjoyed the book, kind of a very suspenseful look at how the Patriot Act and the NSA can go down a wrong path with nothing in their way as a check and balance. This book definitely kept me on the edge of my seat - I found the characters likeable, rooted for them, while being captivated by the suspense of the mystery. A great blending of character study, current events and suspense.
It seems that Flanery couldn't decide what type of story he wanted to tell. He couldn't or wouldn't commit to deciding on the character's identity and character. Instead it left it open and ambiguous, which is close to "reality" but for a book that is questioning identity, it seems that he should come down definitively one way or another on the issue.