A review by monsterful_alex
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas

3.0

This is a thought experiment book about the entire world as a thought experiment (it does not get more meta than this). Think Inception meets American Gods, with a touch of Fleabag added to it.I remember really enjoying the story the first time I read it, especially as it’s probably one of the few books that create a successful narrative based on a poststructuralist hypothesis: what would happen in a world made of language? The things that drive us exist in a realm of consciousness that could only be explained by language - by the way we give meaning to everything that surrounds us. But obviously, for poststructuralists that meaning is not set, it changes with every single person, every single culture, every single situation - there are meanings within meanings, even in one language. However, when listening to the audiobook, I was far less engaged with Ariel’s anxious mind-travelling than I remembered. The world building is fascinating and the philosophical debates, which remind me a lot of my years in Uni, are an entertaining rabbit hole of thought experiments. However, Ariel and her over-analysing anguish can get a bit tiresome and take away from the insane adventure she embarks on. As in the first reading, the thing that stuck most in my mind was the fantastic character that is Apollo Smintheus and how his existence came to be.