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aimeedarsreads 's review for:
Gnomon
by Nick Harkaway
In the future UK, society is ruled by the System, a truly representative democracy, and policed by the Witness, an institution with total powers of surveillance, the citizenry completely sacrificing privacy for the promise of security.
Diana Hunter was brought in by the Witness for interrogation but died, the first time a suspect died in government custody. Assigned to the case, Inspector Nieth reviews neural recordings of Hunter’s memory. Instead of finding Hunter, Nieth encounters three personas: a financier from Greece who had a mystical encounter with a shark, an alchemist from ancient Carthage who discovered the universal solvent, and an ex-painter from Ethiopia living in London working on a video game. Untangling the disparate narrative strands, Nieth learns truths about the System—and herself.
Some reviews I’ve read criticize the length of the book (~700 pages) is too long and the book would have been tighter and more effective if it had been edited for length. Additionally, more than one talked about the author using obscure and obfuscating vocabulary. I agree with these criticisms. Furthermore, there are too many long sections in which characters list a litany of questions.
I honestly didn’t think I would be able to finish this book. I was downright bored at times and had to force myself to continue partly because I am obsessive about finishing books I begin and finding out what happened but also because I hoped there would be some big payoff. The last fifteen percent of the book was more interesting (though confusing) but it didn’t have the big denouement I had hoped for (and expected).
Diana Hunter was brought in by the Witness for interrogation but died, the first time a suspect died in government custody. Assigned to the case, Inspector Nieth reviews neural recordings of Hunter’s memory. Instead of finding Hunter, Nieth encounters three personas: a financier from Greece who had a mystical encounter with a shark, an alchemist from ancient Carthage who discovered the universal solvent, and an ex-painter from Ethiopia living in London working on a video game. Untangling the disparate narrative strands, Nieth learns truths about the System—and herself.
Some reviews I’ve read criticize the length of the book (~700 pages) is too long and the book would have been tighter and more effective if it had been edited for length. Additionally, more than one talked about the author using obscure and obfuscating vocabulary. I agree with these criticisms. Furthermore, there are too many long sections in which characters list a litany of questions.
I honestly didn’t think I would be able to finish this book. I was downright bored at times and had to force myself to continue partly because I am obsessive about finishing books I begin and finding out what happened but also because I hoped there would be some big payoff. The last fifteen percent of the book was more interesting (though confusing) but it didn’t have the big denouement I had hoped for (and expected).