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I liked the premise and I did manage to finish it, but the actual story itself is too ridiculous to take seriously. I don't think the epistolary format really works here; we're supposed to believe this guy is writing long letters to his niece in the middle of hiding from monsters? While huddling under a rock during a blizzard, where it's so cold it's all anyone can do just to survive? This dude still somehow has the physical dexterity in his fingers to hold a pen and write legibly with his frozen hands?
And I just didn't get the main character at all. From his brother's POV he's always been an aloof stranger, even when they were kids. In the main character's POV, he's just...basically a normal guy? Who is estranged from his family for Reasons? He doesn't even tell them when he gets married and adopts a kid. I never understood his weird reluctance to have anything to do with his family. He even asks himself that a couple times in the book but never has an answer. I'm also not sure why the narrative had him become a medical doctor before going into physics. Just to show that he's a super genius or something? I think being a world-renowned physicist shows that all by itself. No need to overdo it. Plus this guy doesn't actually do any physics OR medical stuff while on the mountain? The only thing he does is figure out the map. Oh, and I guess explain in small words what a tesseract is to a group of other really smart people who would probably already be familiar with the concept even if they aren't physicists.
I also like that this guy has all these revelations about the importance of human connection and not running away from his problems, when from the very beginning of the book we know he spent the last several decades of his life hiding in a nursing home and never talking to anyone ever again. He so completely disappeared that his family assumed he was dead and held a funeral for him! So that's great.
I'm just not sure what the point of this book is.
And I just didn't get the main character at all. From his brother's POV he's always been an aloof stranger, even when they were kids. In the main character's POV, he's just...basically a normal guy? Who is estranged from his family for Reasons? He doesn't even tell them when he gets married and adopts a kid. I never understood his weird reluctance to have anything to do with his family. He even asks himself that a couple times in the book but never has an answer. I'm also not sure why the narrative had him become a medical doctor before going into physics. Just to show that he's a super genius or something? I think being a world-renowned physicist shows that all by itself. No need to overdo it. Plus this guy doesn't actually do any physics OR medical stuff while on the mountain? The only thing he does is figure out the map. Oh, and I guess explain in small words what a tesseract is to a group of other really smart people who would probably already be familiar with the concept even if they aren't physicists.
I also like that this guy has all these revelations about the importance of human connection and not running away from his problems, when from the very beginning of the book we know he spent the last several decades of his life hiding in a nursing home and never talking to anyone ever again. He so completely disappeared that his family assumed he was dead and held a funeral for him! So that's great.
I'm just not sure what the point of this book is.