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A review by libellum_aphrodite
S. by Doug Dorst, J.J. Abrams
3.0
***spoilers in the third paragraph***
My reading strategy was to first tackle The Ship of Theseus in entirety, and then go back for the margin notes. I initially tried to do everything at once, but there were just too many threads going on for me to keep things straight, remember everything that was happening, and enjoy the process.
Ship of Theseus on its own was an excellent read. It felt very Kafka-esque, specifically [b:The Trial|17690|The Trial|Franz Kafka|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320399438s/17690.jpg|2965832], in style, tone, and theme (not to mention rhyming author names). Like K., S. is trying to figure out how to react to inexplicable events befalling him in a universe of about which he has no previous knowledge. The story of S. is littered with many thought-provoking motifs, including identity, political power, revolution, secrecy, and capitalism.
The tale inside the margins contains the enticing mystery about the identity of VM Straka, the fictional author of The Ship of Theseus, tracing the author's other publications, memberships in secret societies, and links to historical events. I really liked the process of unraveling Straka's identity, but I was not a fan of our guides in that search, Jen and Eric. While Jen takes the majority of my contempt as I found her notes needy and self-absorbed, I thought both their back stories were weak. Their big life story reveals, meant to give them more depth and explain their respective hang-ups, I presume, were stupid distractions from the bigger plot movers S. and Straka. No offense, Jen, but your 10-year-old self running-away for a few days in response to a significant family tragedy, while sad and understandable, is no reason for you to start flunking all your classes senior year when you are questioning what you want to do with your life. If you want to grow up and become a different person, just do it and stop distracting me from more important thoughts on the nature of power and the political-economic machine. It would have been amazing if their identity-shaping life events had tied into the themes running through S.'s and Straka's lives, but, alas, we did not achieve that trifecta of intertwined and intellectual story lines.
But despite not liking this particular couple, I do love the idea of meeting someone inside a library book.
My reading strategy was to first tackle The Ship of Theseus in entirety, and then go back for the margin notes. I initially tried to do everything at once, but there were just too many threads going on for me to keep things straight, remember everything that was happening, and enjoy the process.
Ship of Theseus on its own was an excellent read. It felt very Kafka-esque, specifically [b:The Trial|17690|The Trial|Franz Kafka|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320399438s/17690.jpg|2965832], in style, tone, and theme (not to mention rhyming author names). Like K., S. is trying to figure out how to react to inexplicable events befalling him in a universe of about which he has no previous knowledge. The story of S. is littered with many thought-provoking motifs, including identity, political power, revolution, secrecy, and capitalism.
The tale inside the margins contains the enticing mystery about the identity of VM Straka, the fictional author of The Ship of Theseus, tracing the author's other publications, memberships in secret societies, and links to historical events. I really liked the process of unraveling Straka's identity, but I was not a fan of our guides in that search, Jen and Eric. While Jen takes the majority of my contempt as I found her notes needy and self-absorbed, I thought both their back stories were weak. Their big life story reveals, meant to give them more depth and explain their respective hang-ups, I presume, were stupid distractions from the bigger plot movers S. and Straka. No offense, Jen, but your 10-year-old self running-away for a few days in response to a significant family tragedy, while sad and understandable, is no reason for you to start flunking all your classes senior year when you are questioning what you want to do with your life. If you want to grow up and become a different person, just do it and stop distracting me from more important thoughts on the nature of power and the political-economic machine. It would have been amazing if their identity-shaping life events had tied into the themes running through S.'s and Straka's lives, but, alas, we did not achieve that trifecta of intertwined and intellectual story lines.
But despite not liking this particular couple, I do love the idea of meeting someone inside a library book.