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A review by liisp_cvr2cvr
Cold Fusion 2000 by Karl Drinkwater
4.0
Cold Fusion 2000 (CF2K) is a novel of incredible genius. Read it at face value and you will be left thinking that a LOT of things just don’t add up and how there are NO answers to anything; but, notice the hidden yet obvious clues, embrace the ambiguity and you will receive a complex internal conflict of a character. As such, it’s also very difficult to say anything detailed about the book because the slightest clue can spoiler it all…
Alex Kavanagh is not really enjoying his life. His job as a teacher is not at all rewarding (he’s simply too smart to teach youngsters who don’t give a flying), his relationships might start out well, but they fizzle out, and at home, he constantly argues with his sister. It seems like the routine he’s living is something he needs to satisfy his pedantic ways but this way of life is something that is also holding him back. His status quo is made even worse by the fact that he just seems to be drifting through the days, not enjoying anything much at all. Alex is a PhD dropout with sights firmly set back towards the past. The unwillingness to let go, the pit that causes loneliness…
And one day, everything truly goes to pot- the Glasgow Smile Man sits next to him on the bus (GSM is scary and creepy), the teenage bullies at the bus stop are relentless at making Alex feel intimidated and his girlfriend Anne has had enough. As Alex is already defeated by everything in his life, everything that has built up inside over the years, all his failures and hurts, you can only imagine that the next natural step would be for things to either get way-way worse or start moving towards the better. A surprise run-in with his ex GF, believe it or not, was exactly what Alex needed. A way to fix everything!
Now, you may think that this is going to be a straightforward lost loves romance story, but I would like to point out that this is not the case. Should you pick up this book, be ready to be surprised. And be vigilant. Every word in this book could be treated as an indicator of things to come, every chapter could hide the ‘a-ha!’ moment that helps you connect the dots! I would like to think that I had my theories about certain things but when at the end of the book I stumbled across the FAQ about the book, I was mind blown.
It’s funny, just the other day I was thinking that maybe I should try and find romance written by male authors and then I remembered I had CF2K on my Kindle. Fantastic! In I went and I truly received an interesting reading experience. Cold Fusion 2000 comes in a complete package filled with geeky smarts, feelings (good, bad, anxious and elated), surprises and a couple of wanks. Took you by surprise there, heh? Well, my point is, there’s no overly graphic sexy time content but still quite true to the relationships aspect when it comes to intimacy (even if it involved only one person).
Bottom line- a great contemporary novel with a complex main character I came to care about. I was 100% committed to the journey Alex had to undertake and thoroughly invested in seeing the destination… Reading this book felt real and at times sad, but also full of hope and with a promise of new beginnings… I really liked it…
Alex Kavanagh is not really enjoying his life. His job as a teacher is not at all rewarding (he’s simply too smart to teach youngsters who don’t give a flying), his relationships might start out well, but they fizzle out, and at home, he constantly argues with his sister. It seems like the routine he’s living is something he needs to satisfy his pedantic ways but this way of life is something that is also holding him back. His status quo is made even worse by the fact that he just seems to be drifting through the days, not enjoying anything much at all. Alex is a PhD dropout with sights firmly set back towards the past. The unwillingness to let go, the pit that causes loneliness…
He wondered where his mind had wandered this time, what life it had lived as a trail of neurons sped through networks of possibilities particle-fast, too rapid to catch without a hadron collider, causing super quarks of weirdness and leaving him with only a vague after-image like a melting dream. He had to accept that he couldn’t catch all his thoughts, all the things going on in his body, the processes which slipped by in the background just leaving a shadow, an itch, the grain of sand that probably wouldn’t become a pearl, a blazing after-trace that lives a second then is gone forever. All those possibilities occurring in a second of frantic life: it never ceased to amaze him. The world was an incredible and beautifully constructed thing.
And one day, everything truly goes to pot- the Glasgow Smile Man sits next to him on the bus (GSM is scary and creepy), the teenage bullies at the bus stop are relentless at making Alex feel intimidated and his girlfriend Anne has had enough. As Alex is already defeated by everything in his life, everything that has built up inside over the years, all his failures and hurts, you can only imagine that the next natural step would be for things to either get way-way worse or start moving towards the better. A surprise run-in with his ex GF, believe it or not, was exactly what Alex needed. A way to fix everything!
Now, you may think that this is going to be a straightforward lost loves romance story, but I would like to point out that this is not the case. Should you pick up this book, be ready to be surprised. And be vigilant. Every word in this book could be treated as an indicator of things to come, every chapter could hide the ‘a-ha!’ moment that helps you connect the dots! I would like to think that I had my theories about certain things but when at the end of the book I stumbled across the FAQ about the book, I was mind blown.
He felt that he perceived the shape within, just for a second. She had hope. It spread; he could almost witness electrons moving through the magnetic field between them, following lines of force, beautiful things everywhere, sharing, changing both of them in the process, the covalent bonding of life.
It’s funny, just the other day I was thinking that maybe I should try and find romance written by male authors and then I remembered I had CF2K on my Kindle. Fantastic! In I went and I truly received an interesting reading experience. Cold Fusion 2000 comes in a complete package filled with geeky smarts, feelings (good, bad, anxious and elated), surprises and a couple of wanks. Took you by surprise there, heh? Well, my point is, there’s no overly graphic sexy time content but still quite true to the relationships aspect when it comes to intimacy (even if it involved only one person).
Bottom line- a great contemporary novel with a complex main character I came to care about. I was 100% committed to the journey Alex had to undertake and thoroughly invested in seeing the destination… Reading this book felt real and at times sad, but also full of hope and with a promise of new beginnings… I really liked it…