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A review by catbooking
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
5.0
Loved it!
At first I wasn't going to read the book, because the description of the protagonist said something about him being a detective, and I didn't care. Then I read the first chapter and knew I would finish the book. Then I came across the cat neighborhood and knew I would not only finish the book but also love it to the very end. That is exactly what happened! I was really sad to see it end, I got a little teary eyed, but it was a really good ending.
The beginning was really crazy and funny, like a Dali painting that you had to work to make heads or tails of. I mean, gravity changing machines and quiet neighborhoods and surgically removed need to sleep, crazy stuff!! I love the need to climb onto the desk to hold a meeting! Half the descriptions and the events made no sense and honestly they still don't make sense after I have finished the book.
By the time you reach the middle of the book you come to the conclusion that all the crazy things from the beginning are not really important. Just like Stark you realize there is more going on and the tone becomes more serious, more action packed. You also discover a new world, Jeamland, so all the rules and ideas you have learned in the beginning are kinda useless because there are new rules and ideas to learn.
Finally, the third section of the book all the crazy lightheartedness that you read about in the first section is forgotten. Things get dark and dramatic and heavy. Does the third section explain the confusion of the first? No. Does it explain the omissions of the second? It does but not in the way you think it would.
The conclusion on the third section is like a dark spiral that just get worse as you keep going. The break up with the love of his life, Rachel, because of a one night stand was sad, but her call to inform him of the abortion was a knife twist in the gut. It is not that she said/did something to hurt him it was that she wanted to hurt him. I am not saying she is entirely to blame for the situation but it is a sign of reality being much darker than Stark thought it was. We are told numerous times that his view of reality has colored Jeamland, if he had gone in with his innocence intact maybe Somethings wouldn't exist. Then again maybe they would not have been able to enter Jeamland. The door finally closes on the innocent time of Stark's young years when Rafe does the same thing Rachel did, hurt him for the sake of hurting him.
The conclusion of the third section casts a shadow on the rest of the book. If you accept that the moment Rafe twisted his knife Stark had entered a deep depression, then his inability to plan ahead and lack of hope for luck is easily explained. Stark cannot be bothered to do anything. Stark does not plan even while he is actively trying to achieve something. Stark is afloat in the sea of events handling them as they come to him and fighting off the big waves the best he can.
Even though I have said that the conclusion is a dark spiral that just gets worse and worse, the final scene is Stark's catharsis. In the end he is able to accept all the wrongs of the world, those deeply personal wrongs, and move on. I think the 'the emptiness is now a space that can be filled' is a very important line. Stark is no longer a shell. Things are not as bad as he thought they were. Stark can now move on and make a new home, not just a place to live, in the future.
PS: I would like to say that in this book Michael Marshall sounds a whole lot like Douglas Adams.
At first I wasn't going to read the book, because the description of the protagonist said something about him being a detective, and I didn't care. Then I read the first chapter and knew I would finish the book. Then I came across the cat neighborhood and knew I would not only finish the book but also love it to the very end. That is exactly what happened! I was really sad to see it end, I got a little teary eyed, but it was a really good ending.
Spoiler
The beginning was really crazy and funny, like a Dali painting that you had to work to make heads or tails of. I mean, gravity changing machines and quiet neighborhoods and surgically removed need to sleep, crazy stuff!! I love the need to climb onto the desk to hold a meeting! Half the descriptions and the events made no sense and honestly they still don't make sense after I have finished the book.
By the time you reach the middle of the book you come to the conclusion that all the crazy things from the beginning are not really important. Just like Stark you realize there is more going on and the tone becomes more serious, more action packed. You also discover a new world, Jeamland, so all the rules and ideas you have learned in the beginning are kinda useless because there are new rules and ideas to learn.
Finally, the third section of the book all the crazy lightheartedness that you read about in the first section is forgotten. Things get dark and dramatic and heavy. Does the third section explain the confusion of the first? No. Does it explain the omissions of the second? It does but not in the way you think it would.
The conclusion on the third section is like a dark spiral that just get worse as you keep going. The break up with the love of his life, Rachel, because of a one night stand was sad, but her call to inform him of the abortion was a knife twist in the gut. It is not that she said/did something to hurt him it was that she wanted to hurt him. I am not saying she is entirely to blame for the situation but it is a sign of reality being much darker than Stark thought it was. We are told numerous times that his view of reality has colored Jeamland, if he had gone in with his innocence intact maybe Somethings wouldn't exist. Then again maybe they would not have been able to enter Jeamland. The door finally closes on the innocent time of Stark's young years when Rafe does the same thing Rachel did, hurt him for the sake of hurting him.
The conclusion of the third section casts a shadow on the rest of the book. If you accept that the moment Rafe twisted his knife Stark had entered a deep depression, then his inability to plan ahead and lack of hope for luck is easily explained. Stark cannot be bothered to do anything. Stark does not plan even while he is actively trying to achieve something. Stark is afloat in the sea of events handling them as they come to him and fighting off the big waves the best he can.
Even though I have said that the conclusion is a dark spiral that just gets worse and worse, the final scene is Stark's catharsis. In the end he is able to accept all the wrongs of the world, those deeply personal wrongs, and move on. I think the 'the emptiness is now a space that can be filled' is a very important line. Stark is no longer a shell. Things are not as bad as he thought they were. Stark can now move on and make a new home, not just a place to live, in the future.
PS: I would like to say that in this book Michael Marshall sounds a whole lot like Douglas Adams.