A review by sonofthunder
253 by Geoff Ryman

4.0

This book was a fascinating and quirky book! Got to say it upfront, this was an absolutely fantastic book to read on the airplane. I guess the best word to describe this book would be "experimental"? It's a book about a certain subway train in London. A train with 252 passengers and 1 driver, 253 people total. Each person on the train is given their own mini-chapter and each of these chapters contains 253 words. Each of these chapters describes the outward appearance and actions of the character, then tells us who they are and their background, as well as giving us their inner thoughts at the time when they're on the train. In one way, this book made me think it would be a fantastic writing exercise. Imagine writing a book about 253 different characters, describing their backgrounds, motivations, feelings, thoughts, fears and dreams! And furthermore, imagine then interweaving these characters together - so that multiple of them know each other or work together or have had relationships with each other or hate/love each other. And furthermore, imagine the interactions of these characters with other random people they don't know during this one seven minute train ride. Well, I know I certainly couldn't write a book like this but, but Geoff Ryman totally did that here! And he executed the concept flawlessly. I must confess, reading this felt a bit voyeuristic, peering into the innermost thoughts and dreams of these people. But was that not part of the point? Look and see that each of these people on the train (who at first glance may appear boring or weird or cringe) have their own story, their own heart-cry, their own drama playing out! I did eventually slide into a bit of a dream state reading this on the plane - if you read it quickly enough, all the peoples' stories start to slide into each other, which is an interesting experience. Also, reading it on a plane...you start to look at the people around you and see and imagine their own lives and wonder what they're thinking and feeling. Cannot recommend this book enough for a travel book. Parts of this book made me a bit uneasy, seeing the weird and not entirely appropriate thoughts and feelings of different characters...but again - part of the point, is it not? I know I would greatly blush if others could see and visualize my inner thoughts. The horror. This book was very well written - full of comedy and horror and making me laugh and cry. Not sure if I'd recommend it to everyone, but it was certainly a wonderful experience to read it and consider the more full experience of what it means to be human, of what it means to dream, of what it means to walk through this life with eyes partially veiled while also slightly seeing and wondering about what is beyond.