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I was introduced to Nick Haraway during my final year at university doing my dissertation. He has a unique style: his world-building is always complex and his characters are six-dimensional, let alone three! Nothing is what it seems in his books.
I wanted to read Gnomon – I wanted to see where he wouldtake a reader next. I kept putting it off – this is a hefty book and I wantedto commit to it properly. I’m glad I did as it took a while!
I have really mixed feelings on this book.
On one hand, I had no idea what was going on for most of it! There are a lot of characters – whether they are real or not is up to you – and you get snippets of their stories in different orders before eventually seeing them blend together. But just as you get used to one character, everything changes and you’re back where you were – you think.
There is an intricate plot being twisted through the different narrations. There are times when I felt like I had a handle on it, and then times when I was totally lost. The parts set in ‘reality’ were the most confusing: the society set-up echoes ‘Big Brother’ and how the use of technology can undermine our freedom. While that seems simple, there’s a lot going on that left me bemused.
The switching of the characters worked…sort of. Each had their own story and you eventually see how they connect. But as the stories blend together, it felt the characters lost their individuality. Which is the point when you know the plot, but you get invested in these characters and it doesn’t feel like they have satisfying endings.
Despite the confusion, the writing quality is so strong that when I could figure out what was going on, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters are well-defined and the dialogue was natural and amusing. There are times when the tension increased and I was gripped: I wanted to see how each story arc played out.
This is a really hard review to write. I wanted to like the book, and I can’t say I disliked it. I just got so confused at times that I can’t look back and say it’s an enjoyable read. The length didn’t help either – it meant the pacing was steady to the point of slow, so you’d spend a day with one character, then flick to the next and by the time you got to the fourth, you couldn’t remember where in their story you were.
If you’ve enjoyed Harkaway’s complex world-building before, then I’d give this book a go: I’m ultimately glad to have read it. But if you want something you can get swept up in, this possibly isn’t the best choice; you have to concentrate throughout.
Am I glad to have stuck with it? Yes. Would I read it again? Possibly not. But I’d definitely be interested in his future books and it was fun being challenged.
I was introduced to Nick Haraway during my final year at university doing my dissertation. He has a unique style: his world-building is always complex and his characters are six-dimensional, let alone three! Nothing is what it seems in his books.
I wanted to read Gnomon – I wanted to see where he wouldtake a reader next. I kept putting it off – this is a hefty book and I wantedto commit to it properly. I’m glad I did as it took a while!
I have really mixed feelings on this book.
On one hand, I had no idea what was going on for most of it! There are a lot of characters – whether they are real or not is up to you – and you get snippets of their stories in different orders before eventually seeing them blend together. But just as you get used to one character, everything changes and you’re back where you were – you think.
There is an intricate plot being twisted through the different narrations. There are times when I felt like I had a handle on it, and then times when I was totally lost. The parts set in ‘reality’ were the most confusing: the society set-up echoes ‘Big Brother’ and how the use of technology can undermine our freedom. While that seems simple, there’s a lot going on that left me bemused.
The switching of the characters worked…sort of. Each had their own story and you eventually see how they connect. But as the stories blend together, it felt the characters lost their individuality. Which is the point when you know the plot, but you get invested in these characters and it doesn’t feel like they have satisfying endings.
Despite the confusion, the writing quality is so strong that when I could figure out what was going on, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters are well-defined and the dialogue was natural and amusing. There are times when the tension increased and I was gripped: I wanted to see how each story arc played out.
This is a really hard review to write. I wanted to like the book, and I can’t say I disliked it. I just got so confused at times that I can’t look back and say it’s an enjoyable read. The length didn’t help either – it meant the pacing was steady to the point of slow, so you’d spend a day with one character, then flick to the next and by the time you got to the fourth, you couldn’t remember where in their story you were.
If you’ve enjoyed Harkaway’s complex world-building before, then I’d give this book a go: I’m ultimately glad to have read it. But if you want something you can get swept up in, this possibly isn’t the best choice; you have to concentrate throughout.
Am I glad to have stuck with it? Yes. Would I read it again? Possibly not. But I’d definitely be interested in his future books and it was fun being challenged.