Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Oh my. Well, I started this with REALLY low expectations based on the other reviewers' accounts, and sortof begrudgingly waded in in an effort to be a good book club member.
I agree that the philosophical and scientific discussions between characters were grueling, and I ended up skimming a lot of those. But...maybe academics really have discussions like that?
Otherwise, I was entertained and thought this was a good distraction of a book. There was something cozy about the college setting and ever-flowing coffee.
Whether the book club ends up ridiculing it or breaking down the thought-travel logistics, I do suspect we'll have plenty to say.
I agree that the philosophical and scientific discussions between characters were grueling, and I ended up skimming a lot of those. But...maybe academics really have discussions like that?
Otherwise, I was entertained and thought this was a good distraction of a book. There was something cozy about the college setting and ever-flowing coffee.
Whether the book club ends up ridiculing it or breaking down the thought-travel logistics, I do suspect we'll have plenty to say.
It’s fair to say that Ariel is a little obsessed with the novel The End of Mr Y, She is doing a PhD, sharing an office with Professor Burlem who shares her obsession, although he has gone missing and nobody knows where he’s gone and whether or when he’ll be back. When she finds the novel in a second-hand book store she has to read it even though it is allegedly cursed. After reading it, she embarks on a strange adventure and her life will never been the same again.
Ariel has no self-respect. We never quite get to the bottom of why, apart from the fact that she had an alcoholic father and a mother who largely ignored her. This makes Ariel a person who seems to wish to punish herself by having meaningless sex with people who she will never get close to and who has few real solid friendships.
Anyone uncomfortable with reading storylines of a sexual nature will not want to read this book because at times it leaves little to the imagination! This does not particularly make it offensive - or at least, I wasn't offended by it.
The book is a little bit like the Time Traveler’s wife in that it took me a while to get my head around the time-travel aspect, and the book does contain lots of physics/science elements, some of which I just didn’t understand. That said, I thought it was a cracking read!
Ariel has no self-respect. We never quite get to the bottom of why, apart from the fact that she had an alcoholic father and a mother who largely ignored her. This makes Ariel a person who seems to wish to punish herself by having meaningless sex with people who she will never get close to and who has few real solid friendships.
Anyone uncomfortable with reading storylines of a sexual nature will not want to read this book because at times it leaves little to the imagination! This does not particularly make it offensive - or at least, I wasn't offended by it.
The book is a little bit like the Time Traveler’s wife in that it took me a while to get my head around the time-travel aspect, and the book does contain lots of physics/science elements, some of which I just didn’t understand. That said, I thought it was a cracking read!
When graduate student Ariel Manto finds a copy of the legendary and accursed The End of Mr. Y in a used bookshop, she spends her rent money to buy it. It isn't long before she's caught up in the mysterious secret the book holds to life, the universe, and all consciousness. A few thoughts:
- Thomas navigates the tricky waters of a philosophy-heavy book cleverly, blending some thriller elements and sex into a book that's otherwise about the nature of knowledge and meaning.
- The book operates in three distinct phases -- the first involves the enigma of the book and Ariel's early exploration of it. The second invites some thriller elements into the story at exactly the right time -- just when the book was starting to look like it was going to be a bit mundane. Finally, the last section explores the ideas that underlie the notion of connected consciousness, particularly thinking toward a notion of reality as thought.
- Thomas weaves Ariel as a complicated character, and introduces a male counterpart with whom she has an engaging, complicated relationship. This aspect of the novel works very well.
- The mysterious world to which Ariel gains access reminds me quite a bit of Robert Sawyer's Factoring Humanity, which imagines a network connecting all human minds together, a collective consciousness into which we can become aware.
The End of Mr. Y is a well-written, thoughtful book, but its stress on the philosophical questions underpinning the story overwhelm the narrative in the last part of the book. It seems like a blend of the philosophical in Paul Coelho with bits of Philip K. Dick and a touch of Paul Auster.
- Thomas navigates the tricky waters of a philosophy-heavy book cleverly, blending some thriller elements and sex into a book that's otherwise about the nature of knowledge and meaning.
- The book operates in three distinct phases -- the first involves the enigma of the book and Ariel's early exploration of it. The second invites some thriller elements into the story at exactly the right time -- just when the book was starting to look like it was going to be a bit mundane. Finally, the last section explores the ideas that underlie the notion of connected consciousness, particularly thinking toward a notion of reality as thought.
- Thomas weaves Ariel as a complicated character, and introduces a male counterpart with whom she has an engaging, complicated relationship. This aspect of the novel works very well.
- The mysterious world to which Ariel gains access reminds me quite a bit of Robert Sawyer's Factoring Humanity, which imagines a network connecting all human minds together, a collective consciousness into which we can become aware.
The End of Mr. Y is a well-written, thoughtful book, but its stress on the philosophical questions underpinning the story overwhelm the narrative in the last part of the book. It seems like a blend of the philosophical in Paul Coelho with bits of Philip K. Dick and a touch of Paul Auster.
The Raw Shark texts took less acid and finished its MA.
I don't think I can describe this in a way that does it justice. What it reminded me of most of all was a cyberpunk novel but the virtual-reality world the characters run around in isn't computer-generated, it's... oh, something to do with post-structuralist philosophy, and explained with just enough superficial plausibility to hold the plot together.
It's littered with name-dropping references to various intellectual figures and the protagonist never misses an opportunity to go off on one about some pet topic or other, but that doesn't matter - it sticks with its principles and ends up being a cracking good read. You'll want to read "Intellectual Impostures" by Sokal and Bricmont afterwards though, just to cleanse yourself!
It's littered with name-dropping references to various intellectual figures and the protagonist never misses an opportunity to go off on one about some pet topic or other, but that doesn't matter - it sticks with its principles and ends up being a cracking good read. You'll want to read "Intellectual Impostures" by Sokal and Bricmont afterwards though, just to cleanse yourself!
2.5/5
The book contained some really cool ideas but I could have done without the mention of Heidegger and Derrida every few pages.
Also there was this strange obsession with sex especially mice sex?!! Gross
The book contained some really cool ideas but I could have done without the mention of Heidegger and Derrida every few pages.
Also there was this strange obsession with sex especially mice sex?!! Gross
I ended this book on a drawn out sigh of exasperation. In fact I'm still sighing.
While The End of Mr. Y starts out with a promising premise, plot, and style, the middle and end of this book completely lost me. As the book traveled further and further into the fantastical, surreal, and ultimately silliest realms of fiction that I have ever read, my attention and desire to read the story steadily deteriorated. It was all just too ridiculous for me (and I like and read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy...aka I am not new to the genre and it's inherent quirks). This book just took it's concepts, which like I said previously, were promising, and drives them off the proverbial cliff (think Thelma and Louise suicide and you basically get an idea of what the author did to the plot of her story).
The story also started to feel somewhat labored and tedious as it progressed, and I don't find physics, quantum mechanics or philosophy boring. Yet, the author somehow took these fascinating source materials and sucked all the meaty weighty bits out of them, leaving behind the bare bones of what could have been excellent anecdotal material. Truly a disappointment.
Not to beat a dead horse (is that the expression? If it is, then it's a real winner! Yikes!) but even the characters of this book sucked. The main character is supposedly supposed to be some sort of genius, which if you figure in all the stupid shit she does throughout the novel, you know can't possibly true. As one of the most unevolved characters I have ever had the misfortune of reading, I can't believe that the author really thinks that we should be taking this woman seriously.
The emphasis on sex in this book also doesn't add up and ends up feeling out of place. Now, I don't mind a well placed sex scene or two or even more in a book, but they have to make sense. Scarlett Thomas, has every single one of her characters obsessing about sex, even if they are minor characters or animals or people whose character is in no way developed by the introduction of the subject. It basically ends up feeling like sex is put in the novel to only add shock value, but all that it really does is once again distract from what could have been a really great story, that is, if the author hadn't constantly gotten in her own way.
And don't even get me started on the ending! UGHHH!
While The End of Mr. Y starts out with a promising premise, plot, and style, the middle and end of this book completely lost me. As the book traveled further and further into the fantastical, surreal, and ultimately silliest realms of fiction that I have ever read, my attention and desire to read the story steadily deteriorated. It was all just too ridiculous for me (and I like and read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy...aka I am not new to the genre and it's inherent quirks). This book just took it's concepts, which like I said previously, were promising, and drives them off the proverbial cliff (think Thelma and Louise suicide and you basically get an idea of what the author did to the plot of her story).
The story also started to feel somewhat labored and tedious as it progressed, and I don't find physics, quantum mechanics or philosophy boring. Yet, the author somehow took these fascinating source materials and sucked all the meaty weighty bits out of them, leaving behind the bare bones of what could have been excellent anecdotal material. Truly a disappointment.
Not to beat a dead horse (is that the expression? If it is, then it's a real winner! Yikes!) but even the characters of this book sucked. The main character is supposedly supposed to be some sort of genius, which if you figure in all the stupid shit she does throughout the novel, you know can't possibly true. As one of the most unevolved characters I have ever had the misfortune of reading, I can't believe that the author really thinks that we should be taking this woman seriously.
The emphasis on sex in this book also doesn't add up and ends up feeling out of place. Now, I don't mind a well placed sex scene or two or even more in a book, but they have to make sense. Scarlett Thomas, has every single one of her characters obsessing about sex, even if they are minor characters or animals or people whose character is in no way developed by the introduction of the subject. It basically ends up feeling like sex is put in the novel to only add shock value, but all that it really does is once again distract from what could have been a really great story, that is, if the author hadn't constantly gotten in her own way.
And don't even get me started on the ending! UGHHH!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
Eh. The End of Mr. Y wasn't bad at all, but I didn't love it. I thought Thomas was trying too hard to make Ariel's character unemotional, bad-ass, and masculine (having traits that are the opposite of traditionally feminine traits) which is a reactionary character type in sci-fi and speculative fiction that just drives me up the wall. And there was a pretty big logic hole* in the final act that I couldn't stop thinking about.
But! This was an enjoyable train read anyway.
*Spoiler: destroying the book wouldn't make the MindSpace cease to exist, since the doctor knew about it before Mr Y did, right? It wasn't Lumas' creation, so it existed before he did and would exist after. Or did I misunderstand something? Also, I've got big problems with the whole "thoughts are made of the same stuff as matter" argument.
But! This was an enjoyable train read anyway.
*Spoiler: destroying the book wouldn't make the MindSpace cease to exist, since the doctor knew about it before Mr Y did, right? It wasn't Lumas' creation, so it existed before he did and would exist after. Or did I misunderstand something? Also, I've got big problems with the whole "thoughts are made of the same stuff as matter" argument.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated