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賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷
丨賷賳 鬲噩丿 丌乇賷賷賱 賲丕賳鬲賵 賳爻禺丞 賲賳 乇賵丕賷丞 賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷賾丿 賵丕賷 賮賷 賲鬲噩乇 賱賱賰鬲亘 丕賱賯丿賷賲丞貙 賱丕 鬲氐丿賯 毓賷賳賷賴丕貙 賱兀賳賴丕 鬲毓乇賮 毓賳 賰丕鬲亘賴丕貙 丕賱毓丕賱賽賲 丕賱賮賷賰鬲賵乇賷 丕賱睾乇丕卅亘賷 鬲賵賲丕爻 賱賵賲丕爻貙 賲丕 賷賰賮賷賴丕 賱鬲丨丿賾丿 兀賳 丕賱賳爻禺丞 丕賱鬲賷 賵噩丿鬲賴丕 賴賷 丕賱賳爻禺丞 丕賱賳丕丿乇丞 丕賱鬲賷 賷賯賵賱 丕賱亘毓囟 廿賳賴丕 鬲丨賲賱 賱毓賳丞.
賮鬲噩丿 賳賮爻賴丕貙 賵丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷 鬲丨鬲 匕乇丕毓賴丕貙 賮賷 丿賵丕賲丞 賮丕鬲賳丞 賲賳 丕賱丨亘貙 賵丕賱噩賳爻貙 賵丕賱賲賵鬲 賵丕賱爻賮乇 毓亘乇 丕賱夭賲賳 賵毓亘乇 胤亘賯丕鬲 賵毓賷賴丕貙 賵丕賱鬲賳賯賱 亘賷賳 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 賵丕賱賴賵丕噩爻.
賮鬲噩丿 賳賮爻賴丕貙 賵丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷 鬲丨鬲 匕乇丕毓賴丕貙 賮賷 丿賵丕賲丞 賮丕鬲賳丞 賲賳 丕賱丨亘貙 賵丕賱噩賳爻貙 賵丕賱賲賵鬲 賵丕賱爻賮乇 毓亘乇 丕賱夭賲賳 賵毓亘乇 胤亘賯丕鬲 賵毓賷賴丕貙 賵丕賱鬲賳賯賱 亘賷賳 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 賵丕賱賴賵丕噩爻.
463 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2006
514 people are currently reading
12309 people want to read
About the author
Scarlett Thomas
31听books1,801听followersScarlett Thomas was born in London in 1972. Her widely-acclaimed novels include PopCo, The End of Mr Y and The Seed Collectors. As well as writing literary fiction for adults, she has also written a literary fantasy series for children and a book about writing called Monkeys with Typewriters. Her work has been translated into more than 25 languages.
She has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, shortlisted for the South African Boeke Prize and was once the proud recipient of an Elle Style Award. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing & Contemporary Fiction at the University of Kent in the UK. She lives in a Victorian house near the sea and spends a lot of time reading Chekhov and Katherine Mansfield.
She is currently working on a new novel and various projects for TV.
She has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, shortlisted for the South African Boeke Prize and was once the proud recipient of an Elle Style Award. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing & Contemporary Fiction at the University of Kent in the UK. She lives in a Victorian house near the sea and spends a lot of time reading Chekhov and Katherine Mansfield.
She is currently working on a new novel and various projects for TV.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,950 reviews
June 17, 2008
Oh my, I think I am cursed. Today at least I am under a spell. The day starts normally: waking up, checking the alarmclock, seeing the stack of books next to my bed. One book especially grabs my attention. I decide to read one more chapter, as I still have plenty of time before work.
I read and read, one chapter, two chapter, three chapters...
- I can start later, I will work longer -
...Words, letters, paragraphs...
- I am ill, I need to stay in bed, I will work over the weekend -
...Plots, subplots, twists...
- I might develop a fever, I have a fever-
...I must read, must read, must read, read, read...
So I stay in bed the whole day, only getting up to get a bowl of cereal and later a bag of raisins. Lying in bed, at four in the afternoon I fall asleep again. It is hard to separate dream from reality. When the phone rings I expect the main character to be calling.
At six I finish the book, and instantly regret it. I am so bad at postponing gratification. I just have to eat the whole chocolate bar at once instead of just one square at a time.
So I envy you.
You can still read this cursed book square by square.
But it will have you aching for more.
See you in the Troposphere.
I read and read, one chapter, two chapter, three chapters...
- I can start later, I will work longer -
...Words, letters, paragraphs...
- I am ill, I need to stay in bed, I will work over the weekend -
...Plots, subplots, twists...
- I might develop a fever, I have a fever-
...I must read, must read, must read, read, read...
So I stay in bed the whole day, only getting up to get a bowl of cereal and later a bag of raisins. Lying in bed, at four in the afternoon I fall asleep again. It is hard to separate dream from reality. When the phone rings I expect the main character to be calling.
At six I finish the book, and instantly regret it. I am so bad at postponing gratification. I just have to eat the whole chocolate bar at once instead of just one square at a time.
So I envy you.
You can still read this cursed book square by square.
But it will have you aching for more.
See you in the Troposphere.
November 4, 2022
Original and entertaining metafiction with philosophy and quantum physics. When you've finished the book, read the very beginning again 馃槈
April 24, 2019
Transferance
Several years ago I was passing a charity shop and through the window, I spotted a number of books for sale, so I ventured inside. This book really stood out so I bought it. I was absolutely intrigued when I realised that the main protagonist (Ariel Manto) bought her copy of The End of Mr Y in a second-hand bookshop. I opened the cover and started reading hoping that my expectation of a fantasy adventure wasn鈥檛 just about to be smashed.
From the first page, I was hooked, an immediate recognition that this was going to be highly original and I鈥檇 better be prepared for new perceptions and twists through Ariel鈥檚 pursuit of Thomas Lumas (the fictional author of the 鈥淓nd of Mr Y鈥�). It is a very clever plot where the reader is taken on a journey through the Troposphere, a place where you can travel through time and other people鈥檚 thoughts. There was definitely a risk that this could just get too unbelievable and silly but I continued to remain connected to the characters and their complexity. The plot moved at a great pace and remained fascinating. The science wasn't a big issue for me but Scarlett Thomas does seem to put some weight behind it. I found it interesting but not compelling and if it鈥檚 not your thing, you can leave to the side without affecting the story.
I bought all Scarlett Thomas鈥� books on the basis of this novel but none have had the same impact as this one. I have a fantasy connection to this book (even if fabricated in only my own mind). While I feel I have contributed significantly to Amazon鈥檚 success :) I will keep trying to find books in unexpected places hoping to be rewarded with another experience like this.
I would recommend this book and would rate it 4.5 stars.
Several years ago I was passing a charity shop and through the window, I spotted a number of books for sale, so I ventured inside. This book really stood out so I bought it. I was absolutely intrigued when I realised that the main protagonist (Ariel Manto) bought her copy of The End of Mr Y in a second-hand bookshop. I opened the cover and started reading hoping that my expectation of a fantasy adventure wasn鈥檛 just about to be smashed.
From the first page, I was hooked, an immediate recognition that this was going to be highly original and I鈥檇 better be prepared for new perceptions and twists through Ariel鈥檚 pursuit of Thomas Lumas (the fictional author of the 鈥淓nd of Mr Y鈥�). It is a very clever plot where the reader is taken on a journey through the Troposphere, a place where you can travel through time and other people鈥檚 thoughts. There was definitely a risk that this could just get too unbelievable and silly but I continued to remain connected to the characters and their complexity. The plot moved at a great pace and remained fascinating. The science wasn't a big issue for me but Scarlett Thomas does seem to put some weight behind it. I found it interesting but not compelling and if it鈥檚 not your thing, you can leave to the side without affecting the story.
I bought all Scarlett Thomas鈥� books on the basis of this novel but none have had the same impact as this one. I have a fantasy connection to this book (even if fabricated in only my own mind). While I feel I have contributed significantly to Amazon鈥檚 success :) I will keep trying to find books in unexpected places hoping to be rewarded with another experience like this.
I would recommend this book and would rate it 4.5 stars.
June 2, 2024
Crazy unexpected mixture of quantum physics, existential philosophy and religion.
The story revolves around mysterious book that gives access to the so-called Troposphere - a place where you can enter people's minds and memories and basically live inside their heads. And that was the most repelling part of the plot for me. Characters became so obsessed with it that they were ready to sacrifice everything just to experience Troposphere again. And I couldn't relate to it at all. It wasn't just disgusting invasion of privacy. I can't get it why anyone would want to live as a mouse, a cat or a sad alcoholic. Also, despite good psychological description of the characters I couldn't sympathize any of them.
In general, interesting literary experiment that uses dozens existing scientific, philosophic and theological theories to try to answer of meaning of life, consciousness and death. But sometimes it may seem overwhelming, like author tries to grab too much in one book.
The story revolves around mysterious book that gives access to the so-called Troposphere - a place where you can enter people's minds and memories and basically live inside their heads. And that was the most repelling part of the plot for me. Characters became so obsessed with it that they were ready to sacrifice everything just to experience Troposphere again. And I couldn't relate to it at all. It wasn't just disgusting invasion of privacy. I can't get it why anyone would want to live as a mouse, a cat or a sad alcoholic. Also, despite good psychological description of the characters I couldn't sympathize any of them.
In general, interesting literary experiment that uses dozens existing scientific, philosophic and theological theories to try to answer of meaning of life, consciousness and death. But sometimes it may seem overwhelming, like author tries to grab too much in one book.
August 27, 2021
乇賵丕賷丞 毓噩賷亘丞 賱賱賰丕鬲亘丞 丕賱亘乇賷胤丕賳賷丞 爻賰丕乇賱賷鬲 鬲賵賲丕爻
爻乇丿 賷賲夭噩 亘賷賳 丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 賵丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍, 丕賱禺賷丕賱 賵丕賱丨賯賷賯丞, 丕賱毓賱賲 賵丕賱禺乇丕賮丞
亘胤賱丞 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 卮禺氐賷丞 賮賵囟賵賷丞 鬲亘丨孬 賮賷 丨賷丕丞 賰丕鬲亘 賲賳 丕賱賯乇賳 丕賱鬲丕爻毓 毓卮乇
賵亘毓丿 賯乇丕亍丞 丌禺乇 乇賵丕賷丕鬲賴 "賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷" 鬲丿禺賱 賮賷 賲睾丕賲乇丞 賮賰乇賷丞 賲孬賷乇丞
鬲噩乇亘丞 丕賱丕賳鬲賯丕賱 賱毓丕賱賲 賲賵丕夭賷 賱賴 兀亘毓丕丿 賲賰丕賳賷丞 賵夭賲丕賳賷丞 賲禺鬲賱賮丞
丕賱丕賳丿賲丕噩 亘丕賱丌禺乇 賵賲毓乇賮丞 賲丕 賷丿賵乇 賮賷 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳 賲賳 兀賮賰丕乇 賵乇睾亘丕鬲 賵匕賰乇賷丕鬲
賲丨丕賵賱丞 鬲睾賷賷乇 兀丨丿丕孬 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賵丌孬丕乇賴丕 丕賱爻賷卅丞 賵廿毓丕丿丞 賰鬲丕亘丞 鬲丕乇賷禺 丕賱毓丕賱賲
賵賲毓 禺胤賵乇丞 丕賱鬲噩賵丕賱 賮賷 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳 賵丕賱毓亘孬 亘賲丕 賮賷賴丕 賲賳 賲賮丕賴賷賲 賵兀賮賰丕乇 賵賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲
賷亘賯賶 賱賴丕 丕賱禺賷丕乇 亘賷賳 丕賱毓賵丿丞 賱賱賵丕賯毓 兀賵 丕賱丕爻鬲賲乇丕乇 賮賷 丕賱爻賮乇 賱賱賲丕囟賷 賵丕賱賵氐賵賱 賱賱亘丿丕賷丞
丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 兀胤丕賱鬲 賮賷 丕賱丨賰賷 毓賳 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 賵丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賵丕賱賮賱爻賮賷丞
賵丕賱丌乇丕亍 賵賵噩賴丕鬲 丕賱賳馗乇 丕賱賲禺鬲賱賮丞 賮賷 鬲丕乇賷禺 丕賱賰賵賳 賵丕賱丿賷賳 賵丕賱毓賱賵賲
賵賲毓 匕賱賰 丕賱賮賰乇丞 賲亘鬲賰乇丞 賵丕賱爻乇丿 賲卮賵賯 賵禺丕氐丞 賮賷 丕賱賳氐賮 丕賱兀賵賱 賱賱乇賵丕賷丞
爻乇丿 賷賲夭噩 亘賷賳 丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 賵丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍, 丕賱禺賷丕賱 賵丕賱丨賯賷賯丞, 丕賱毓賱賲 賵丕賱禺乇丕賮丞
亘胤賱丞 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 卮禺氐賷丞 賮賵囟賵賷丞 鬲亘丨孬 賮賷 丨賷丕丞 賰丕鬲亘 賲賳 丕賱賯乇賳 丕賱鬲丕爻毓 毓卮乇
賵亘毓丿 賯乇丕亍丞 丌禺乇 乇賵丕賷丕鬲賴 "賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷" 鬲丿禺賱 賮賷 賲睾丕賲乇丞 賮賰乇賷丞 賲孬賷乇丞
鬲噩乇亘丞 丕賱丕賳鬲賯丕賱 賱毓丕賱賲 賲賵丕夭賷 賱賴 兀亘毓丕丿 賲賰丕賳賷丞 賵夭賲丕賳賷丞 賲禺鬲賱賮丞
丕賱丕賳丿賲丕噩 亘丕賱丌禺乇 賵賲毓乇賮丞 賲丕 賷丿賵乇 賮賷 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳 賲賳 兀賮賰丕乇 賵乇睾亘丕鬲 賵匕賰乇賷丕鬲
賲丨丕賵賱丞 鬲睾賷賷乇 兀丨丿丕孬 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賵丌孬丕乇賴丕 丕賱爻賷卅丞 賵廿毓丕丿丞 賰鬲丕亘丞 鬲丕乇賷禺 丕賱毓丕賱賲
賵賲毓 禺胤賵乇丞 丕賱鬲噩賵丕賱 賮賷 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳 賵丕賱毓亘孬 亘賲丕 賮賷賴丕 賲賳 賲賮丕賴賷賲 賵兀賮賰丕乇 賵賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲
賷亘賯賶 賱賴丕 丕賱禺賷丕乇 亘賷賳 丕賱毓賵丿丞 賱賱賵丕賯毓 兀賵 丕賱丕爻鬲賲乇丕乇 賮賷 丕賱爻賮乇 賱賱賲丕囟賷 賵丕賱賵氐賵賱 賱賱亘丿丕賷丞
丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 兀胤丕賱鬲 賮賷 丕賱丨賰賷 毓賳 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 賵丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賵丕賱賮賱爻賮賷丞
賵丕賱丌乇丕亍 賵賵噩賴丕鬲 丕賱賳馗乇 丕賱賲禺鬲賱賮丞 賮賷 鬲丕乇賷禺 丕賱賰賵賳 賵丕賱丿賷賳 賵丕賱毓賱賵賲
賵賲毓 匕賱賰 丕賱賮賰乇丞 賲亘鬲賰乇丞 賵丕賱爻乇丿 賲卮賵賯 賵禺丕氐丞 賮賷 丕賱賳氐賮 丕賱兀賵賱 賱賱乇賵丕賷丞
February 5, 2010
I couldn't wait to finish this book... but not because I was hooked, perched on the edge of my seat as I desperately waited to see how everything turned out, I just wanted the tedium to end.
It wasn't even the constant drip-feed of Philosophy and Quantum Physics that had me yawning and searching for the nearest caffiene source. In fact, that was the most interesting part of the book. (If you can overlook the obsessive name-dropping and reference to Derrida on almost every single page.) The way it was presented though - in pretentious conversations between equally pretentious characters - made it difficult to connect with what was actually being discussed.
Which brings me to what I found most deadly about the book: the main character Ariel Manto. In my opinion she was the worst kind of female stereotype. In a desperate bid to perhaps show that she was 'in' with students, or even just to appear modern, Thomas had her protaganist blantantly smoking, swearing, sleeping around and whining about her terrible upbringing. And it wasn't just the charming Miss Manto, all the characters were shallow stereotypes trying too hard to be 'cool'.
Usually, the plot or the style of writing can make up for a lack of interesting characters, but sadly this was not the case. Judging by the plot, this would have looked more at home in the children's section, if it weren't for the gratuitous sex and swearing - which I suppose were put in just to prove that the book was for adults. As for the writing style, it was fair enough with some good turns of phrase, but nowhere near good enough to make up for the tepid plot and annoying characters.
So, if you have an interest in thought experiments and the nature of the universe, I suggest you pick up a Philosophy or popular Science book instead.
It wasn't even the constant drip-feed of Philosophy and Quantum Physics that had me yawning and searching for the nearest caffiene source. In fact, that was the most interesting part of the book. (If you can overlook the obsessive name-dropping and reference to Derrida on almost every single page.) The way it was presented though - in pretentious conversations between equally pretentious characters - made it difficult to connect with what was actually being discussed.
Which brings me to what I found most deadly about the book: the main character Ariel Manto. In my opinion she was the worst kind of female stereotype. In a desperate bid to perhaps show that she was 'in' with students, or even just to appear modern, Thomas had her protaganist blantantly smoking, swearing, sleeping around and whining about her terrible upbringing. And it wasn't just the charming Miss Manto, all the characters were shallow stereotypes trying too hard to be 'cool'.
Usually, the plot or the style of writing can make up for a lack of interesting characters, but sadly this was not the case. Judging by the plot, this would have looked more at home in the children's section, if it weren't for the gratuitous sex and swearing - which I suppose were put in just to prove that the book was for adults. As for the writing style, it was fair enough with some good turns of phrase, but nowhere near good enough to make up for the tepid plot and annoying characters.
So, if you have an interest in thought experiments and the nature of the universe, I suggest you pick up a Philosophy or popular Science book instead.
August 6, 2015
賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷
賱丕 兀毓賱賲 賲賳 兀賷賳 毓賱賷賾 兀賳 丕亘丿兀 丕賱鬲毓賱賷賯 毓賱賶 鬲賱賰 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱賲賱丨賲賷丞
賴匕賴 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲鬲兀乇噩丨 賲丕 亘賷賳 賯賲丞 丕賱毓賯賱 賵賯賲丞 丕賱禺乇丕賮丞
賯賲丞 丕賱禺賷丕賱 賵賯賲丞 丕賱賵丕賯毓賷丞 貙 賯賲丞 丕賱毓賱賲 賵賯賲丞 丕賱噩賴賱
賴賷 丨賯賸丕 賲夭賷噩 賲禺鬲賱賮 貙 亘賯氐丞 卮賷賯丞 賵丨亘賰丞 禺乇丕賮賷丞 貙 賵賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 賰孬賷乇丞 賵睾夭賷乇丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲毓賲丿鬲 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 廿賱賯丕卅賴丕 賵賲賳 孬賲 賲丨丕賵賱丞 卮乇丨賴丕 賵 鬲亘爻賷胤賴丕 賰兀賳賴丕 鬲丨丕賵賱 兀賳 鬲卮乇丨賴丕 賱匕丕鬲賴丕 賯亘賱 兀賳 鬲卮乇丨賴丕 賱賱賯丕乇卅
賵乇丐賷丞 賮賱爻賮賷丞 賱賱兀卮賷丕亍 貙 賵賲賳胤賯 睾乇賷亘 乇亘賲賾丕
賰丕賳 賮賷 賰孬賷乇 賲賳 丕賱兀丨賷丕賳 賷爻鬲毓氐賶 毓賱賷賾 賮賴賲賴 賵賮賴賲 賮賱爻賮鬲賴丕 賵賳馗乇鬲賴丕 賱賱毓丕賱賲
賲丕 丨丕噩鬲賴丕 賱匕賱賰 賰購賱賴 賵賱賲丕匕丕 鬲購賳丕賯卮 匕賱賰 賰購賱賴 責
兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賱丿賷賳丕 丕賱賯丿乇丞 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲噩賵賱 賮賷 賮囟丕亍 兀匕賴丕賳 丕賱丌禺乇賷賳 !
賴乇丕亍 貙 賱丕 噩丿賵賶 賲賳 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 賮賷 廿賲賰丕賳賷丞 丨丿賵孬 卮賷亍 賴賵 賱賳 賷丨丿孬 亘丕賱兀爻丕爻
賴賰匕丕 賰丕賳 乇兀賷賷 毓賳 鬲賱賰 丕賱鬲噩乇亘丞 賰賰賱 貙 賱賰賳 賰賱賲丕 鬲賯鬲乇亘 賲賳 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 鬲毓賷賾 兀賰孬乇 賲丕 鬲乇賷丿 兀賳 鬲鬲丨丿孬 毓賳賴 鬲賱賰 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞
乇亘賲賾丕 兀乇丕丿鬲 兀賳 鬲賵囟丨 丕賱噩丕賳亘 丕賱賰丕乇孬賷 賮賷 賴匕丕 貙 兀賳 賷鬲噩賵賱 兀丨丿賴賲 賮賷 匕賴賳賰
兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 丕賱毓亘孬 賮賷 兀賮賰丕乇賰 賵賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲賰
亘賱 賵丕賱兀賳賰賶 賵丕賱兀賰孬乇 賰丕乇孬賷丞 兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 鬲睾賷賷乇 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賵亘賳丕亍賸丕 毓賱賷賴 丕賱丨丕囟乇 賵丕賱賲爻鬲賯亘賱
賷毓亘孬 亘賰購賱賾 匕賱賰 賰賲丕 賷丨賱賵 賱賴 賵賰賲丕 賷鬲賵丕賮賯 賲毓 賲氐丕賱丨賴 賴賵
賱丕 兀毓賱賲 賱賲丕匕丕 兀孬賳丕亍 賯乇丕亍鬲賷 賰賳鬲 丿丕卅賲賸丕 兀鬲匕賰乇 賲賯賵賱鬲賷賳 賲賳 乇丕卅毓丞 噩賵乇噩 兀賵乇賵賷賱 1984
(賲賳 賷賲賱賰 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賷賲賱賰 丕賱賲爻鬲賯亘賱...賲賳 賷賲賱賰 丕賱丨丕囟乇 賷賲賱賰 丕賱賲丕囟賷 ) ..
( 兀賳鬲 賱丕 鬲賲賱賰 爻賵賶 鬲賱賰 丕賱爻賳鬲賷賲賷鬲乇丕鬲 丕賱賲乇亘毓丞 賮賷 噩賲噩賲鬲賰 ) ..
乇亘賲丕 毓賳丿賲丕 賰鬲亘 鬲賵賲丕爻 賱賵賲丕爻 賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷 賱賲 賷賰賳 賷丿乇賰 鬲亘毓丕鬲賴丕 丕賱賰丕乇孬賷丞 賵賲丕 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲丨丿孬賴
鬲賲丕賲賸丕 賰賲丕 賱賲 賷丿乇賰 賳賵亘賱 賰賷賮 兀賳 賷鬲丨賵賱 丕禺鬲乇丕毓賴 賱賱丿賷賳丕賲賷鬲 賲賳 卮賷亍 匕丕 賳賮毓 賵賯賷賲丞 廿賱賷 卮賷亍 賲購丿賲乇 賵乇賴賷亘
乇亘賲丕 賱兀賳 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 睾丕賱亘賸丕 賲丕 賷賲賱賰賵賳 賳賷丞 丨爻賳丞 賱丕 賷賲賰賳賴賲 賲毓賴丕 乇丐賷丞 丕賱卮乇賵乇 賮賷 賳賮賵爻 丕賱毓丕賱賲
賵乇亘賲丕 賰丕賳 _ 亘禺賱丕賮 鬲賵賯毓丕鬲賳丕 _ 賲賳 丕賱乇丕卅毓 兀賳 賷馗賱 丕賱賲丕囟賷 _ 賲賴賲丕 亘賱睾鬲 亘卮丕毓鬲賴 _ 賰賲丕 賴賵 賲丕囟賷 賵賮賯胤
賱丕 賷賲賰賳 賱賴 兀賳 賷購賲爻
乇亘賲丕 賵 乇亘賲丕 賵 乇亘賲丕 ...
賱丕 兀毓賱賲
賴賷 乇賵丕賷丞 賲賳 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱賯賱賷賱丞 噩丿賸丕 丕賱鬲賷 爻鬲購囟丕賮 廿賱賶 乇賮賷賾
books make me think better
爻鬲囟丕賮 廿賱賶 鬲賱賰 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 丿丕卅賲賸丕 賲丕 兀賯賵賱 兀賳賴 賷爻鬲丨賷賱 兀賳 鬲賯乇兀賴丕 賵賷亘賯賶 鬲賮賰賷乇賰 賰賲丕 賰丕賳 賯亘賱 賯乇丕亍鬲賴丕
爻鬲毓亘孬 亘毓賯賱賰 賵亘賲賳胤賯賰 賵胤乇賷賯丞 鬲賮賰賷乇賰 貙 賵賮賷 賰購賱賾 氐賮丨丞 _ 賵賱丕 兀亘丕賱睾 廿賳 賯賱鬲 賮賷 賰購賱賾 爻胤乇 賲賳賴丕 _ 爻鬲購囟賷賮 廿賱賷 丨氐賷賱丞 賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲賰 賲毓賱賵賲丞 噩丿賷丿丞 賵賮賱爻賮丞 噩丿賷丿丞 賵賮賰乇丞 噩丿賷丿丞
賰丕賳鬲 爻賰丕乇賱鬲 鬲乇賷丿 兀賳 鬲鬲丨丿孬 賴賳丕 毓賳 丕賱鬲噩丕乇亘 丕賱賮賰乇賷丞 賵丕賱匕賴賳賷丞 賵鬲賳丕賯卮賴丕
兀毓鬲賯丿 兀賳 丕賱兀賲乇 丕賳鬲賴賶 亘兀賳 賰丕賳鬲 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 亘兀賰賲賱賴丕 兀卮亘賴 亘乇丨賱丞 匕賴賳賷丞 賮賷 匕賴賳 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 賵賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲賴丕 賵兀賮賰丕乇賴丕 賵賮賱爻賮鬲賴丕 丕賱禺丕氐丞
賱丕亘丿 賱賴丕 賲賳 賯乇丕亍丞 孬丕賳賷丞 ..
鬲賲賾鬲
賱丕 兀毓賱賲 賲賳 兀賷賳 毓賱賷賾 兀賳 丕亘丿兀 丕賱鬲毓賱賷賯 毓賱賶 鬲賱賰 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱賲賱丨賲賷丞
賴匕賴 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲鬲兀乇噩丨 賲丕 亘賷賳 賯賲丞 丕賱毓賯賱 賵賯賲丞 丕賱禺乇丕賮丞
賯賲丞 丕賱禺賷丕賱 賵賯賲丞 丕賱賵丕賯毓賷丞 貙 賯賲丞 丕賱毓賱賲 賵賯賲丞 丕賱噩賴賱
賴賷 丨賯賸丕 賲夭賷噩 賲禺鬲賱賮 貙 亘賯氐丞 卮賷賯丞 賵丨亘賰丞 禺乇丕賮賷丞 貙 賵賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲 賰孬賷乇丞 賵睾夭賷乇丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲毓賲丿鬲 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 廿賱賯丕卅賴丕 賵賲賳 孬賲 賲丨丕賵賱丞 卮乇丨賴丕 賵 鬲亘爻賷胤賴丕 賰兀賳賴丕 鬲丨丕賵賱 兀賳 鬲卮乇丨賴丕 賱匕丕鬲賴丕 賯亘賱 兀賳 鬲卮乇丨賴丕 賱賱賯丕乇卅
賵乇丐賷丞 賮賱爻賮賷丞 賱賱兀卮賷丕亍 貙 賵賲賳胤賯 睾乇賷亘 乇亘賲賾丕
賰丕賳 賮賷 賰孬賷乇 賲賳 丕賱兀丨賷丕賳 賷爻鬲毓氐賶 毓賱賷賾 賮賴賲賴 賵賮賴賲 賮賱爻賮鬲賴丕 賵賳馗乇鬲賴丕 賱賱毓丕賱賲
賲丕 丨丕噩鬲賴丕 賱匕賱賰 賰購賱賴 賵賱賲丕匕丕 鬲購賳丕賯卮 匕賱賰 賰購賱賴 責
兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賱丿賷賳丕 丕賱賯丿乇丞 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲噩賵賱 賮賷 賮囟丕亍 兀匕賴丕賳 丕賱丌禺乇賷賳 !
賴乇丕亍 貙 賱丕 噩丿賵賶 賲賳 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 賮賷 廿賲賰丕賳賷丞 丨丿賵孬 卮賷亍 賴賵 賱賳 賷丨丿孬 亘丕賱兀爻丕爻
賴賰匕丕 賰丕賳 乇兀賷賷 毓賳 鬲賱賰 丕賱鬲噩乇亘丞 賰賰賱 貙 賱賰賳 賰賱賲丕 鬲賯鬲乇亘 賲賳 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 鬲毓賷賾 兀賰孬乇 賲丕 鬲乇賷丿 兀賳 鬲鬲丨丿孬 毓賳賴 鬲賱賰 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞
乇亘賲賾丕 兀乇丕丿鬲 兀賳 鬲賵囟丨 丕賱噩丕賳亘 丕賱賰丕乇孬賷 賮賷 賴匕丕 貙 兀賳 賷鬲噩賵賱 兀丨丿賴賲 賮賷 匕賴賳賰
兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 丕賱毓亘孬 賮賷 兀賮賰丕乇賰 賵賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲賰
亘賱 賵丕賱兀賳賰賶 賵丕賱兀賰孬乇 賰丕乇孬賷丞 兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 鬲睾賷賷乇 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賵亘賳丕亍賸丕 毓賱賷賴 丕賱丨丕囟乇 賵丕賱賲爻鬲賯亘賱
賷毓亘孬 亘賰購賱賾 匕賱賰 賰賲丕 賷丨賱賵 賱賴 賵賰賲丕 賷鬲賵丕賮賯 賲毓 賲氐丕賱丨賴 賴賵
賱丕 兀毓賱賲 賱賲丕匕丕 兀孬賳丕亍 賯乇丕亍鬲賷 賰賳鬲 丿丕卅賲賸丕 兀鬲匕賰乇 賲賯賵賱鬲賷賳 賲賳 乇丕卅毓丞 噩賵乇噩 兀賵乇賵賷賱 1984
(賲賳 賷賲賱賰 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賷賲賱賰 丕賱賲爻鬲賯亘賱...賲賳 賷賲賱賰 丕賱丨丕囟乇 賷賲賱賰 丕賱賲丕囟賷 ) ..
( 兀賳鬲 賱丕 鬲賲賱賰 爻賵賶 鬲賱賰 丕賱爻賳鬲賷賲賷鬲乇丕鬲 丕賱賲乇亘毓丞 賮賷 噩賲噩賲鬲賰 ) ..
乇亘賲丕 毓賳丿賲丕 賰鬲亘 鬲賵賲丕爻 賱賵賲丕爻 賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷 賱賲 賷賰賳 賷丿乇賰 鬲亘毓丕鬲賴丕 丕賱賰丕乇孬賷丞 賵賲丕 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲丨丿孬賴
鬲賲丕賲賸丕 賰賲丕 賱賲 賷丿乇賰 賳賵亘賱 賰賷賮 兀賳 賷鬲丨賵賱 丕禺鬲乇丕毓賴 賱賱丿賷賳丕賲賷鬲 賲賳 卮賷亍 匕丕 賳賮毓 賵賯賷賲丞 廿賱賷 卮賷亍 賲購丿賲乇 賵乇賴賷亘
乇亘賲丕 賱兀賳 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 睾丕賱亘賸丕 賲丕 賷賲賱賰賵賳 賳賷丞 丨爻賳丞 賱丕 賷賲賰賳賴賲 賲毓賴丕 乇丐賷丞 丕賱卮乇賵乇 賮賷 賳賮賵爻 丕賱毓丕賱賲
賵乇亘賲丕 賰丕賳 _ 亘禺賱丕賮 鬲賵賯毓丕鬲賳丕 _ 賲賳 丕賱乇丕卅毓 兀賳 賷馗賱 丕賱賲丕囟賷 _ 賲賴賲丕 亘賱睾鬲 亘卮丕毓鬲賴 _ 賰賲丕 賴賵 賲丕囟賷 賵賮賯胤
賱丕 賷賲賰賳 賱賴 兀賳 賷購賲爻
乇亘賲丕 賵 乇亘賲丕 賵 乇亘賲丕 ...
賱丕 兀毓賱賲
賴賷 乇賵丕賷丞 賲賳 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱賯賱賷賱丞 噩丿賸丕 丕賱鬲賷 爻鬲購囟丕賮 廿賱賶 乇賮賷賾
books make me think better
爻鬲囟丕賮 廿賱賶 鬲賱賰 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 丿丕卅賲賸丕 賲丕 兀賯賵賱 兀賳賴 賷爻鬲丨賷賱 兀賳 鬲賯乇兀賴丕 賵賷亘賯賶 鬲賮賰賷乇賰 賰賲丕 賰丕賳 賯亘賱 賯乇丕亍鬲賴丕
爻鬲毓亘孬 亘毓賯賱賰 賵亘賲賳胤賯賰 賵胤乇賷賯丞 鬲賮賰賷乇賰 貙 賵賮賷 賰購賱賾 氐賮丨丞 _ 賵賱丕 兀亘丕賱睾 廿賳 賯賱鬲 賮賷 賰購賱賾 爻胤乇 賲賳賴丕 _ 爻鬲購囟賷賮 廿賱賷 丨氐賷賱丞 賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲賰 賲毓賱賵賲丞 噩丿賷丿丞 賵賮賱爻賮丞 噩丿賷丿丞 賵賮賰乇丞 噩丿賷丿丞
賰丕賳鬲 爻賰丕乇賱鬲 鬲乇賷丿 兀賳 鬲鬲丨丿孬 賴賳丕 毓賳 丕賱鬲噩丕乇亘 丕賱賮賰乇賷丞 賵丕賱匕賴賳賷丞 賵鬲賳丕賯卮賴丕
兀毓鬲賯丿 兀賳 丕賱兀賲乇 丕賳鬲賴賶 亘兀賳 賰丕賳鬲 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 亘兀賰賲賱賴丕 兀卮亘賴 亘乇丨賱丞 匕賴賳賷丞 賮賷 匕賴賳 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 賵賲毓賱賵賲丕鬲賴丕 賵兀賮賰丕乇賴丕 賵賮賱爻賮鬲賴丕 丕賱禺丕氐丞
賱丕亘丿 賱賴丕 賲賳 賯乇丕亍丞 孬丕賳賷丞 ..
鬲賲賾鬲
May 9, 2012
Holy #&*#*$!@ Christ, Scarlett Thomas has taken the top of my head off. I thought PopCo was an awesome mindf!ck, but Mr. Y makes it look like so much People magazine.
I'm really not sure what to say about this novel. I think people that like House of Leaves would probably like it for similar reasons though it's not nearly so hard to follow. Her female lead, as in PopCo, is almost frighteningly intelligent, as I'm beginning to suspect Thomas is herself. It's not the intelligence that's enticing and delightful, it's the limitless sense of curiosity and whimsy she brings to life. It may not be realistic to want to be a PhD student with no money, endless cigarettes and thousands of books and only the directive to solve life's tangled mysteries, but DAMN, it sure is alluring.
In trying to describe the book today to a friend, I explained it, like, it's the thinkiest heart-in-your-mouth thriller you could imagine reading. There's Einstein and Heidigger by the boatload but hey, there's also a terrifying telepathic chase across Southern England! And freaky autistic ghosts that eat your brain! And lots of Derrida!
If I had to compare her to anyone, it would be humbly to David Mitchell. Not that she's exactly reaching the penthouse apartment of genius that is Cloud Atlas, but damn if she's not at least in the same building. With a good view, even.
I'm really not sure what to say about this novel. I think people that like House of Leaves would probably like it for similar reasons though it's not nearly so hard to follow. Her female lead, as in PopCo, is almost frighteningly intelligent, as I'm beginning to suspect Thomas is herself. It's not the intelligence that's enticing and delightful, it's the limitless sense of curiosity and whimsy she brings to life. It may not be realistic to want to be a PhD student with no money, endless cigarettes and thousands of books and only the directive to solve life's tangled mysteries, but DAMN, it sure is alluring.
In trying to describe the book today to a friend, I explained it, like, it's the thinkiest heart-in-your-mouth thriller you could imagine reading. There's Einstein and Heidigger by the boatload but hey, there's also a terrifying telepathic chase across Southern England! And freaky autistic ghosts that eat your brain! And lots of Derrida!
If I had to compare her to anyone, it would be humbly to David Mitchell. Not that she's exactly reaching the penthouse apartment of genius that is Cloud Atlas, but damn if she's not at least in the same building. With a good view, even.
March 19, 2007
This is perhaps the worst book I ever finished. I don't really recommend it. The thought experiment aspect of the book could have been interesting, but was unfortunately written for people who haven't read Baudrillard and don't understand particle physics. Which I don't, but I got it much faster than the people in the book. Plus, the story was absurd, and poorly thought out. The main character was smarter than the writer, and seemed to resent that. Plus, it seemed that the sex scenes were written by someone who knows nothing about sex about someone who has serious sex issues. It was almost unbearable. I only finished the book because it was short and I have an obsession with finishing books. I wouldn't recommend anyone else try it. It doesn't get any better. But I gave it 2 stars because I finished it.
September 30, 2011
Note to authors: Merely mentioning "Husserl" or "Derrida" does not make a book intellectual or philosophical. Similarly, uttering the name -- much less quoting -- "Einstein," "Heisenberg," or "Schrodinger" does not make a book scientific, or lend credibility to the writing.
To those who have positively reviewed this book noting its intellectualism or creativity or surprise ending, I am glad that you enjoyed it.
I thought the book pointless, rambling, and pseduointellectual. The author quoted the names of giants of quantum physics, hoping to fool the poor reader that this was really physics, or scientifically plausible, when, in fact, the scientific application was simply obscure, opaque, or incorrect.
Maybe I am tired of science fiction as a style, or casually referencing multiple dimensions, or time travel, or the concept of jumping into and out of other people's minds and memories as blithely or effortlessly as jumping into and out of a wading pool. Science fiction, is, ultimately, more fiction than science; and, really, that's OK. It doesn't have to be true, or provable; it just can't be silly.
To those who have positively reviewed this book noting its intellectualism or creativity or surprise ending, I am glad that you enjoyed it.
I thought the book pointless, rambling, and pseduointellectual. The author quoted the names of giants of quantum physics, hoping to fool the poor reader that this was really physics, or scientifically plausible, when, in fact, the scientific application was simply obscure, opaque, or incorrect.
Maybe I am tired of science fiction as a style, or casually referencing multiple dimensions, or time travel, or the concept of jumping into and out of other people's minds and memories as blithely or effortlessly as jumping into and out of a wading pool. Science fiction, is, ultimately, more fiction than science; and, really, that's OK. It doesn't have to be true, or provable; it just can't be silly.
September 8, 2012
Have you ever been at a party and been cornered by that special breed of person who thinks they are the best read, most highly evolved intellect on the plant and their one goal in life is to convince you and anyone else who will listen of this (in their mind) indisputable fact. This book is the literary equivalent of that party goer. Cue the incessant and often needless name dropping. Any interesting thoughts or ideas on theoretical physics and philosophy are drowned out by the authors constant waffle and to be honest those were my favourite parts of the book, because lets face facts here her plot is slightly juvenile- Being John Malkovich meets The Far Away Tree? And her main character is unlikeable, cold and unengaging and desperately trying to be cool and sadly failing. She is also clearly mentally impair as she is supposed to be studying for a PHD in literature yet takes a whole weekend of constant reading to finish a book less then 200 pages long. Either that or the book is as boring as its namesake :-D
This books one redeeming feature- It eventually comes to an end.
This books one redeeming feature- It eventually comes to an end.
December 3, 2014
賱賰賷 鬲賰鬲亘 乇賵丕賷丞貙 賲匕賴賱丞 賵賲丨賷乇丞貙 賵賯賵賷丞貙 賵賲丨亘賵賰丞 亘賲孬賱 賴匕丕 丕賱卮賰賱貙 賮賱丕亘丿 兀賳 鬲賰賵賳 廿賲丕 毓亘賯乇賷 賱丿乇噩丞 丕賱鬲兀賱賴貙 兀賵 兀賳 鬲賰賵賳 賲噩賳賵賳賸丕 賱丿乇噩丞 賲禺賷賮丞
賮賱賷亘丕乇賰賰 丕賱乇亘 賷丕 爻賰丕乇賱鬲
賮賱賷亘丕乇賰賰 丕賱乇亘 賷丕 爻賰丕乇賱鬲
June 4, 2007
Like Thomas' , I found this both fascinating and frustrating. Thomas definitely achieves something really special with her ability to make her writing intensely cerebral (some of my favorite parts of Mr. Y were the digressions into quantum physics and other brain-stretching topics) while at the same time creating very human, flawed characters. Still, there's a quality of...coldness that prevents me from becoming emotionally involved. Perhaps the whole thing seems too clever, too orchestrated? I don't know. Anyway: the plot of this novel is nominally about a cursed book, but is really much more like an alternate take on Being John Malkovich with an ending that feels like the close of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the part that's supposed to be best if watched stoned. As with PopCo, the experience of reading the novel was very pleasurable and interesting, but the final impact just isn't there; it's oddly unsatisfying.
January 13, 2025
What a bloody waste of a good idea! First off, the concept behind this book is brilliant. An eighteenth century writer and metaphysicist writes a book which contains within it an alchemy-like recipe which will allow the reader to enter the realm of disembodied thought. Cool! And it's full of philosophy and bizarre adventures. Double cool!
AND THE AUTHOR (and her protagonist) ARE COMPLETELY UP THEIR OWN ARSES.
Now, maybe you can get past vomit-inducingly bad sentences like this:
"Sometimes, on these January afternoons, the sun squats low in the sky like an orange-robed Buddha in a documenary on the meaning of life."
Which is good, because they're everywhere. But oh man, the pseudo-intellectualism! Ms Thomas is so impressed by her own wit and intelligence, so thoughtless of her reader, that she sees fit to name-drop Derrida and "differance" and Flatland and whatever else in nearly every chapter, not in a way that draws the curious reader into these concepts but in a way designed -- like those people who name-drop in conversations without ever bothering to ask their listeners if they know what the heck they're talking about -- to exclude nearly everyone.
Now, I've read Derrida and Flatland. I've read "Simulacra and Simulation" and "The Outsider" and Husserl and Heidegger. Maybe this is why I found all of her constant referencing so annoying. Because **she doesn't know what the heck she's talking about**. Her plotline about the mental videogame and mousesex or whatever has very little to do with the idea of a simulacrum. The name-dropping is an excuse for lack of real understanding -- it's exactly what undergrad students of philosophy do in order to gain purchase and lend credibility to themselves because they feel generally safe in their assumption that most people haven't even heard of the writers and terms they reference. Because the name dropping is enough to snap all of the lesser posers into place, because it's not meant to excite someone about new ideas, it's meant to exclude (and make the excluded clambor puppy-like towards inclusion).
Yes, you can say "differance" is about no reference ever being completely shared and meaning being infinitely delayed and blah-de-blah -- but the fact remains that Derrida's work is based on a well-considered conceptual framework (whether you buy it or not), and this story really has nothing to do with it. I'd like to see anyone with any real understanding of philosophy read pages 283 - 287 and not laugh and laugh.
There are also long chunks of text, which have nothing to do with the story really, where Ms. Thomas waffles on about random pseudo-philosophical topics, the way a high school student does after they've seen The Matrix for the first time. And the only thing worse than Ms Thomas is her main character, Ariel Manto, who is, in a word -- repulsive. And her author seems to be on a mission to convince us that she is "cool", by expounding on her troubled rebellious childhood and iPod art radio-listening habits.
I'm not even going to get into the cold, empty, obsessive, and rather disgusting treatment of sex.
So again, what a waste. I prefer smart books that are designed to bring their readers into the fold, not books that put on a show of being smart to try and dazzle you into thinking they have something to say. The End of Mr. Y has nothing interesting to say. It is a sham and -- I challenge you to dispute this after reading the idiotic ending -- a complete waste of time.
AND THE AUTHOR (and her protagonist) ARE COMPLETELY UP THEIR OWN ARSES.
Now, maybe you can get past vomit-inducingly bad sentences like this:
"Sometimes, on these January afternoons, the sun squats low in the sky like an orange-robed Buddha in a documenary on the meaning of life."
Which is good, because they're everywhere. But oh man, the pseudo-intellectualism! Ms Thomas is so impressed by her own wit and intelligence, so thoughtless of her reader, that she sees fit to name-drop Derrida and "differance" and Flatland and whatever else in nearly every chapter, not in a way that draws the curious reader into these concepts but in a way designed -- like those people who name-drop in conversations without ever bothering to ask their listeners if they know what the heck they're talking about -- to exclude nearly everyone.
Now, I've read Derrida and Flatland. I've read "Simulacra and Simulation" and "The Outsider" and Husserl and Heidegger. Maybe this is why I found all of her constant referencing so annoying. Because **she doesn't know what the heck she's talking about**. Her plotline about the mental videogame and mousesex or whatever has very little to do with the idea of a simulacrum. The name-dropping is an excuse for lack of real understanding -- it's exactly what undergrad students of philosophy do in order to gain purchase and lend credibility to themselves because they feel generally safe in their assumption that most people haven't even heard of the writers and terms they reference. Because the name dropping is enough to snap all of the lesser posers into place, because it's not meant to excite someone about new ideas, it's meant to exclude (and make the excluded clambor puppy-like towards inclusion).
Yes, you can say "differance" is about no reference ever being completely shared and meaning being infinitely delayed and blah-de-blah -- but the fact remains that Derrida's work is based on a well-considered conceptual framework (whether you buy it or not), and this story really has nothing to do with it. I'd like to see anyone with any real understanding of philosophy read pages 283 - 287 and not laugh and laugh.
There are also long chunks of text, which have nothing to do with the story really, where Ms. Thomas waffles on about random pseudo-philosophical topics, the way a high school student does after they've seen The Matrix for the first time. And the only thing worse than Ms Thomas is her main character, Ariel Manto, who is, in a word -- repulsive. And her author seems to be on a mission to convince us that she is "cool", by expounding on her troubled rebellious childhood and iPod art radio-listening habits.
I'm not even going to get into the cold, empty, obsessive, and rather disgusting treatment of sex.
So again, what a waste. I prefer smart books that are designed to bring their readers into the fold, not books that put on a show of being smart to try and dazzle you into thinking they have something to say. The End of Mr. Y has nothing interesting to say. It is a sham and -- I challenge you to dispute this after reading the idiotic ending -- a complete waste of time.
October 29, 2008
Imagine a novel that has never been read by anyone who has lived to talk about it. The only people known to have finished it either died shortly afterward or have disappeared without a trace. The novel in question is so notorious that the only copy known to exist has been locked in a vault in Berlin, preventing anyone from ever reading it again. This novel, for all practical purposes, is cursed. If you read it, you will die.
If such a novel existed and you found a copy in a used bookstore, would you read it?
Ariel Manto would. In fact, she does.
This idea, the notion of reading a novel known to be cursed is the premise at the heart of Scarlett Thomas's well-written, thought-provoking, but ultimately disappointing new novel.
The novel within the novel contains a recipe for a tincture that if you mix, drink, and then stare into a hand-drawn black dot allows you to exit this dimension into another (referred to in the novel as The Troposphere). In this dimension, you have access (through a process called paradesis) to the minds of any sentient being who has ever been in any way related to anyone you have ever known. This includes animals as well, especially mice or felines. Anyone who enters this dimension has their minds opened, to heretofore unknown truths about life. Truths about God. Truths about scientific law. Truths about existence itself.
This is a thought-provoking novel full of well-written, well-thought-out, well-organized postulations about reality, philosophy, and religion. One of my favorites is a discussion about whether Einstein's famous energy formula is actually something he proved to be true or something he willed to be true, forcing humanity to accept its veracity.
As it turns out, it isn't the novel itself that will kill you, but the people who want the recipe contained therein and will stop at nothing to get it. If you read the novel and enter The Troposphere, they can find you and they will more than likely catch you.
I have many problems with this novel, despite how thought-provoking it is, the least of which being the protagonist. She is described as a sexual deviant, a self mutilator, and one waits for this to have some bearing on the story being held. But it doesn't. It just is. Shocking material for the sake of shocking material has never really had much appeal for me. The bigger issue is the love story that permeates this novel. It also has no true bearing on the story (other than to allow Romeo to show up at the last minute and fix everything with both guns blazing) and kind of bogs down the philosophical discussion. The discussion is key to what makes this novel so interesting to read, but perhaps too many idea are set forth. The last forty pages go by too quickly with nothing really getting solved. And the ending is abrupt.
In the end, I really only care about the philosophical questions I was left to think about. The novel itself will fade from my memory.
If such a novel existed and you found a copy in a used bookstore, would you read it?
Ariel Manto would. In fact, she does.
This idea, the notion of reading a novel known to be cursed is the premise at the heart of Scarlett Thomas's well-written, thought-provoking, but ultimately disappointing new novel.
The novel within the novel contains a recipe for a tincture that if you mix, drink, and then stare into a hand-drawn black dot allows you to exit this dimension into another (referred to in the novel as The Troposphere). In this dimension, you have access (through a process called paradesis) to the minds of any sentient being who has ever been in any way related to anyone you have ever known. This includes animals as well, especially mice or felines. Anyone who enters this dimension has their minds opened, to heretofore unknown truths about life. Truths about God. Truths about scientific law. Truths about existence itself.
This is a thought-provoking novel full of well-written, well-thought-out, well-organized postulations about reality, philosophy, and religion. One of my favorites is a discussion about whether Einstein's famous energy formula is actually something he proved to be true or something he willed to be true, forcing humanity to accept its veracity.
As it turns out, it isn't the novel itself that will kill you, but the people who want the recipe contained therein and will stop at nothing to get it. If you read the novel and enter The Troposphere, they can find you and they will more than likely catch you.
I have many problems with this novel, despite how thought-provoking it is, the least of which being the protagonist. She is described as a sexual deviant, a self mutilator, and one waits for this to have some bearing on the story being held. But it doesn't. It just is. Shocking material for the sake of shocking material has never really had much appeal for me. The bigger issue is the love story that permeates this novel. It also has no true bearing on the story (other than to allow Romeo to show up at the last minute and fix everything with both guns blazing) and kind of bogs down the philosophical discussion. The discussion is key to what makes this novel so interesting to read, but perhaps too many idea are set forth. The last forty pages go by too quickly with nothing really getting solved. And the ending is abrupt.
In the end, I really only care about the philosophical questions I was left to think about. The novel itself will fade from my memory.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2025
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 丿賴 毓亘丕乇丞 毓賳 禺賱賷胤 亘賷賳 丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 賵丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 賵賯賲丞 丕賱賵丕賯毓 賵賯賲丞 丕賱禺賷丕賱.. 廿賳賲丕 丕賷賴 禺賱賷胤 兀賵乇噩丕賳賰賽 馃槏 鉂わ笍 兀毓鬲賯丿 兀賳賴 賲賳 兀噩賲賱 賲丕 賰購鬲亘 丨賵賱 賮賰乇丞 丕賱鬲禺丕胤乇 賵丕賱爻賮乇 亘丕賱夭賲賳 毓亘乇 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳 馃憦馃憦馃憦
禺賱丕賱 賮鬲乇丞 賯乇丕亍鬲賷 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲乇 毓賱賷丕 8 爻賳賷賳 賲賳 毓賲乇賷 亘賷賳 孬丕賳賵賷丞 毓丕賲丞 賵賴賳丿爻丞 賵賳馗乇賷丕鬲 賵廿賱賰鬲乇賵賳賷丕鬲 亘賳噩乇賷 賵乇丕卅賴丕貙 賵賮賷 乇兀賷 兀賷 丨丿 亘賷丿乇爻 賴賳丿爻丞 廿賱賰鬲乇賵賳賷丕鬲 兀賵 亘賷賮賰乇 亘賷丿乇爻賴丕 賷賯乇兀 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 丿賴 賴賷賱賲 賱賴 卮賵賷丕鬲 賳馗乇賷丕鬲 賵賷亘爻胤賴丕 亘胤乇賷賯丞 毓亘賯乇賷丞 賯賵丕賳賷賳 賳賷賵鬲賳 賵賲毓丕丿賱丕鬲 丌賷賳卮鬲丕賷賳貙 賵鬲賮爻賷乇 賰賵亘賳賴丕噩賳 - 丕賱賰賲 賵丕賱賰賵丕賳鬲賲 - 孬賲 賯胤丞 卮乇賵丿賳噩乇 賵睾賷乇賴 賰鬲賷乇乇乇鈥� 丕賷賴 賷丕 爻鬲 "爻賰丕乇賱賷鬲" 賰賱 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丿賷..
禺賱丕賱 丕賱乇亘毓 丕賱兀禺賷乇 賲賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘貨 賲賳 賰孬乇丞 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕卅賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 胤乇丨鬲 賮賷賴 賵鬲亘爻賷胤賴丕貙 丿賴 睾賷乇 丕賱賲丨丕賰丕丞 丕賱丨丕爻賵亘賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 胤購乇丨鬲 賱賲毓乇賮丞 賲丕賴賷丞 丕賱賲丕丿丞 賵丕賱賮賰乇 兀氐丕亘賳賷 賮囟賵賱 卮丿賷丿 兀毓乇賮 賲賷賳 賴賷 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 "爻賰丕乇賱賷鬲 鬲賵賲丕爻" 賲丕 賴賵 鬲禺氐氐賴丕 丕賱毓賱賲賷 賵丿乇丕爻鬲賴丕 賱鬲鬲賲賰賳 賲賳 賰鬲丕亘丞 乇賵丕賷丞 丿丕禺賱 乇賵丕賷丞 賵鬲鬲胤乇丨 賮賷賴賲丕 賴匕丕 丕賱賰賲 賲賳 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱賲毓賯丿丞責!
賵丕賱賲賮丕噩兀丞.. 賰賱 丕賱賲鬲丕丨 毓賳賴丕 廿賳賴丕 兀爻鬲丕匕丞 賱賱賰鬲丕亘丞 丕賱廿亘丿丕毓賷丞 賵丕賱禺賷丕賱 丕賱賲毓丕氐乇丞 賮賷 噩丕賲毓丞 賰賳鬲貙 亘爻 賰丿賴 馃檭 兀賳丕 卮丕賷賮丞 丕賱爻鬲 丿賷 賱丕夭賲 鬲賰賵賳 乇卅賷爻丞 賲毓賴丿 賲丕爻丕鬲卮賵爻鬲爻 賱賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丕 馃槏
賮賷 賴匕賴 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱賵氐賮 噩賲賷賱貙 賵丕賱爻乇丿 乇丕卅毓 賵賯丿 噩丕亍 毓賱賶 賱爻丕賳 丕賱亘胤賱丞 "丌乇賷賷賱 賲丕賳鬲賵"貙 賵賴賷 胤丕賱亘丞 鬲毓丿 乇爻丕賱丞 丕賱丿賰鬲賵乇丕賴 賮賷 賯爻賲 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷丞 賮賷 廿丨丿賶 丕賱噩丕賲毓丕鬲 丕賱亘乇賷胤丕賳賷丞貙 丨賵賱 兀丨丿 賰鬲丕亘 丕賱毓氐乇 丕賱賮賷賰鬲賵乇賷 賷丿毓賶 "鬲賵賲丕爻 兀. 賱賵賲丕爻"貙 賵亘丕賱鬲丨丿賷丿 丨賵賱 乇賵丕賷鬲賴 "賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷".
"賲毓乇賵賮 兀賳 "賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷" 鬲鬲亘毓賴丕 賱毓賳丞 賲丕貙 賵賲毓 兀賳賳賷 亘丕賱胤亘毓 賱丕 兀丐賲賳 亘鬲賱賰 丕賱兀賲賵乇 賱賰賳 亘毓囟賴賲 賷毓鬲賯丿賵賳 賮毓賱賸丕 兀賳賰 廿賳 賯乇兀鬲賴丕...鬲賻賲購鬲."
丕毓鬲賲丿鬲 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 毓賱賶 丕賱兀爻賱賵亘 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷 "乇賵丕賷丞 丿丕禺賱 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞貙 賮賲丕 廿賳 丨氐賱鬲 "丌乇賷賷賱" 亘丕賱氐丿賮丞 毓賱賶 丕賱賳爻禺丞 丕賱賵丨賷丿丞 丕賱賲鬲亘賯賷丞 賲賳 鬲賱賰 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱賲賱毓賵賳丞貙 丨鬲賶 亘丿兀鬲 爻賱爻賱丞 賲賳 丕賱兀丨丿丕孬 丕賱賮賳鬲丕夭賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賷禺鬲賱胤 賮賷賴丕 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賲毓 丕賱丨丕囟乇貙 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賲毓 丕賱兀爻丕胤賷乇 賵丕賱賲丕丿丞 賲毓 丕賱賮賰乇 丿丕禺賱 毓丕賱賲 賲鬲卮丕亘賰 賵賲毓賯丿 鬲丨丕賵賱 賮賷賴 丕賱亘胤賱丞 丕賱賵氐賵賱 廿賱賶 丕賱丨賯賷賯丞貙 毓賳 胤乇賷賯 丕賱丕賳鬲賯丕賱 廿賱賶 毓丕賱賲 賮囟丕亍 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳 丕賱匕賷 兀胤賱賯 毓賱賷賴 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷 丕爻賲 "丕賱鬲乇賵亘賵爻賮賷乇" 丨賷孬 爻鬲賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇丞 毓賱賶 賯乇丕亍丞 賲丕 賮賷 毓賯賵賱 丕賱丌禺乇賷賳.
鬲賵囟丨 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 賴賳锟斤拷 丕賱噩丕賳亘 丕賱賰丕乇孬賷 賱賱鬲噩賵賱 賮賷 毓丕賱賲 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳貙 鬲禺賷賱 兀賳 賷鬲噩賵賱 兀丨丿賴賲 賮賷 匕賴賳賰 兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 丕賱毓亘孬 賮賷 兀賮賰丕乇賰 賵賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲賰 亘賱 賵丕賱兀賰孬乇 賰丕乇孬賷丞 兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 丕賱毓亘孬 賮賷賴 賰賲丕 賷丨賱賵 賱賴 賵賰賲丕 賷鬲賵丕賮賯 賲毓 賲氐丕賱丨賴 賴賵責!
"賰賷賮 賷賲賰賳賰 兀賳 鬲毓賵丿 賵鬲睾賷賾乇 賮賷 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賵鬲鬲賵賯賾毓 兀賱丕 賷鬲睾賷賾乇 丕賱賲爻鬲賯亘賱 廿賱丕 賯賱賷賱賸丕責"
賮賷 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 兀丨亘 兀賯丿賲 鬲丨賷丞 賵卮賰乇丕 賱賱噩賲賷賱丞 賵丕賱乇丕卅毓丞 "廿賷賲丕賳 丨乇夭 丕賱賱賴" 鉂わ笍 賱兀賳 丕賱鬲乇噩賲丞 毓馗賷賲丞 噩丿賸丕 噩丿賸丕貙 賮賯丿 賳噩丨鬲 廿賷賲丕賳 賮賷 鬲乇噩賲丞 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 亘爻賱丕爻丞 乇賴賷亘丞 乇睾賲 賲丕 鬲囟賲賳鬲賴 賲賳 賮賱爻賮丕鬲 睾乇亘賷丞 賵賳馗乇賷丕鬲 毓賱賲賷丞 賲毓賯丿丞貙 亘丕賱廿囟丕賮丞 丕賱賶 賰孬賷乇 賲賳 丕賱賰鬲亘 賵丕賱兀丨丿丕孬 賵丕賱卮禺氐賷丕鬲 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘丕賱孬賯丕賮丞 丕賱亘乇賷胤丕賳賷丞 馃憦馃槏
禺賱丕賱 賮鬲乇丞 賯乇丕亍鬲賷 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲乇 毓賱賷丕 8 爻賳賷賳 賲賳 毓賲乇賷 亘賷賳 孬丕賳賵賷丞 毓丕賲丞 賵賴賳丿爻丞 賵賳馗乇賷丕鬲 賵廿賱賰鬲乇賵賳賷丕鬲 亘賳噩乇賷 賵乇丕卅賴丕貙 賵賮賷 乇兀賷 兀賷 丨丿 亘賷丿乇爻 賴賳丿爻丞 廿賱賰鬲乇賵賳賷丕鬲 兀賵 亘賷賮賰乇 亘賷丿乇爻賴丕 賷賯乇兀 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 丿賴 賴賷賱賲 賱賴 卮賵賷丕鬲 賳馗乇賷丕鬲 賵賷亘爻胤賴丕 亘胤乇賷賯丞 毓亘賯乇賷丞 賯賵丕賳賷賳 賳賷賵鬲賳 賵賲毓丕丿賱丕鬲 丌賷賳卮鬲丕賷賳貙 賵鬲賮爻賷乇 賰賵亘賳賴丕噩賳 - 丕賱賰賲 賵丕賱賰賵丕賳鬲賲 - 孬賲 賯胤丞 卮乇賵丿賳噩乇 賵睾賷乇賴 賰鬲賷乇乇乇鈥� 丕賷賴 賷丕 爻鬲 "爻賰丕乇賱賷鬲" 賰賱 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丿賷..
禺賱丕賱 丕賱乇亘毓 丕賱兀禺賷乇 賲賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘貨 賲賳 賰孬乇丞 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱賮賷夭賷丕卅賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 胤乇丨鬲 賮賷賴 賵鬲亘爻賷胤賴丕貙 丿賴 睾賷乇 丕賱賲丨丕賰丕丞 丕賱丨丕爻賵亘賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 胤購乇丨鬲 賱賲毓乇賮丞 賲丕賴賷丞 丕賱賲丕丿丞 賵丕賱賮賰乇 兀氐丕亘賳賷 賮囟賵賱 卮丿賷丿 兀毓乇賮 賲賷賳 賴賷 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 "爻賰丕乇賱賷鬲 鬲賵賲丕爻" 賲丕 賴賵 鬲禺氐氐賴丕 丕賱毓賱賲賷 賵丿乇丕爻鬲賴丕 賱鬲鬲賲賰賳 賲賳 賰鬲丕亘丞 乇賵丕賷丞 丿丕禺賱 乇賵丕賷丞 賵鬲鬲胤乇丨 賮賷賴賲丕 賴匕丕 丕賱賰賲 賲賳 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 丕賱賲毓賯丿丞責!
賵丕賱賲賮丕噩兀丞.. 賰賱 丕賱賲鬲丕丨 毓賳賴丕 廿賳賴丕 兀爻鬲丕匕丞 賱賱賰鬲丕亘丞 丕賱廿亘丿丕毓賷丞 賵丕賱禺賷丕賱 丕賱賲毓丕氐乇丞 賮賷 噩丕賲毓丞 賰賳鬲貙 亘爻 賰丿賴 馃檭 兀賳丕 卮丕賷賮丞 丕賱爻鬲 丿賷 賱丕夭賲 鬲賰賵賳 乇卅賷爻丞 賲毓賴丿 賲丕爻丕鬲卮賵爻鬲爻 賱賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丕 馃槏
賮賷 賴匕賴 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱賵氐賮 噩賲賷賱貙 賵丕賱爻乇丿 乇丕卅毓 賵賯丿 噩丕亍 毓賱賶 賱爻丕賳 丕賱亘胤賱丞 "丌乇賷賷賱 賲丕賳鬲賵"貙 賵賴賷 胤丕賱亘丞 鬲毓丿 乇爻丕賱丞 丕賱丿賰鬲賵乇丕賴 賮賷 賯爻賲 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷丞 賮賷 廿丨丿賶 丕賱噩丕賲毓丕鬲 丕賱亘乇賷胤丕賳賷丞貙 丨賵賱 兀丨丿 賰鬲丕亘 丕賱毓氐乇 丕賱賮賷賰鬲賵乇賷 賷丿毓賶 "鬲賵賲丕爻 兀. 賱賵賲丕爻"貙 賵亘丕賱鬲丨丿賷丿 丨賵賱 乇賵丕賷鬲賴 "賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷".
"賲毓乇賵賮 兀賳 "賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷" 鬲鬲亘毓賴丕 賱毓賳丞 賲丕貙 賵賲毓 兀賳賳賷 亘丕賱胤亘毓 賱丕 兀丐賲賳 亘鬲賱賰 丕賱兀賲賵乇 賱賰賳 亘毓囟賴賲 賷毓鬲賯丿賵賳 賮毓賱賸丕 兀賳賰 廿賳 賯乇兀鬲賴丕...鬲賻賲購鬲."
丕毓鬲賲丿鬲 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 毓賱賶 丕賱兀爻賱賵亘 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷 "乇賵丕賷丞 丿丕禺賱 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞貙 賮賲丕 廿賳 丨氐賱鬲 "丌乇賷賷賱" 亘丕賱氐丿賮丞 毓賱賶 丕賱賳爻禺丞 丕賱賵丨賷丿丞 丕賱賲鬲亘賯賷丞 賲賳 鬲賱賰 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱賲賱毓賵賳丞貙 丨鬲賶 亘丿兀鬲 爻賱爻賱丞 賲賳 丕賱兀丨丿丕孬 丕賱賮賳鬲丕夭賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賷禺鬲賱胤 賮賷賴丕 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賲毓 丕賱丨丕囟乇貙 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賲毓 丕賱兀爻丕胤賷乇 賵丕賱賲丕丿丞 賲毓 丕賱賮賰乇 丿丕禺賱 毓丕賱賲 賲鬲卮丕亘賰 賵賲毓賯丿 鬲丨丕賵賱 賮賷賴 丕賱亘胤賱丞 丕賱賵氐賵賱 廿賱賶 丕賱丨賯賷賯丞貙 毓賳 胤乇賷賯 丕賱丕賳鬲賯丕賱 廿賱賶 毓丕賱賲 賮囟丕亍 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳 丕賱匕賷 兀胤賱賯 毓賱賷賴 丕賱爻賷丿 賵丕賷 丕爻賲 "丕賱鬲乇賵亘賵爻賮賷乇" 丨賷孬 爻鬲賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇丞 毓賱賶 賯乇丕亍丞 賲丕 賮賷 毓賯賵賱 丕賱丌禺乇賷賳.
鬲賵囟丨 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 賴賳锟斤拷 丕賱噩丕賳亘 丕賱賰丕乇孬賷 賱賱鬲噩賵賱 賮賷 毓丕賱賲 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳貙 鬲禺賷賱 兀賳 賷鬲噩賵賱 兀丨丿賴賲 賮賷 匕賴賳賰 兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 丕賱毓亘孬 賮賷 兀賮賰丕乇賰 賵賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲賰 亘賱 賵丕賱兀賰孬乇 賰丕乇孬賷丞 兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 丕賱毓亘孬 賮賷賴 賰賲丕 賷丨賱賵 賱賴 賵賰賲丕 賷鬲賵丕賮賯 賲毓 賲氐丕賱丨賴 賴賵責!
"賰賷賮 賷賲賰賳賰 兀賳 鬲毓賵丿 賵鬲睾賷賾乇 賮賷 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賵鬲鬲賵賯賾毓 兀賱丕 賷鬲睾賷賾乇 丕賱賲爻鬲賯亘賱 廿賱丕 賯賱賷賱賸丕責"
賮賷 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 兀丨亘 兀賯丿賲 鬲丨賷丞 賵卮賰乇丕 賱賱噩賲賷賱丞 賵丕賱乇丕卅毓丞 "廿賷賲丕賳 丨乇夭 丕賱賱賴" 鉂わ笍 賱兀賳 丕賱鬲乇噩賲丞 毓馗賷賲丞 噩丿賸丕 噩丿賸丕貙 賮賯丿 賳噩丨鬲 廿賷賲丕賳 賮賷 鬲乇噩賲丞 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 亘爻賱丕爻丞 乇賴賷亘丞 乇睾賲 賲丕 鬲囟賲賳鬲賴 賲賳 賮賱爻賮丕鬲 睾乇亘賷丞 賵賳馗乇賷丕鬲 毓賱賲賷丞 賲毓賯丿丞貙 亘丕賱廿囟丕賮丞 丕賱賶 賰孬賷乇 賲賳 丕賱賰鬲亘 賵丕賱兀丨丿丕孬 賵丕賱卮禺氐賷丕鬲 丕賱賲鬲毓賱賯丞 亘丕賱孬賯丕賮丞 丕賱亘乇賷胤丕賳賷丞 馃憦馃槏
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July 1, 2017丨爻賳丕 亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賷 賴賳丕賰 乇賵丕賷丞 噩賲賷賱丞 .. 賵賴賳丕賰 乇賵丕賷丞 睾乇賷亘丞 .. 賵賴賳丕賰 乇賵丕賷丞 賲噩賳賵賳丞 .. 賵賴賳丕賰 乇賵丕賷丞 - 賱賳 兀賯賵賱 爻賷卅丞 - 賵賱賰賳 爻兀賯賵賱 賱賷爻鬲 賲賳 賳賵毓賷
賵賲賳 賴賳丕 鬲賵噩丿 丕賱賰孬賷乇 賲賳 丕賱鬲氐賳賷賮丕鬲 ..
賮賴賳丕賰 乇賵丕賷丞 噩賲賷賱丞 賲賲鬲毓丞 賲爻鬲乇爻賱丞 賰兀賳 鬲賯乇兀 乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱兀亘賱賴 賱賭 丿賷爻鬲賵賷賮賷爻賰賷 兀賵 乇賵丕賷丕鬲 睾賷賵賲 賲賷爻賵
賵賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲噩丿 乇賵丕賷丞 噩賲賷賱丞 睾乇賷亘丞 .. 兀賷 噩賲丕賱賴丕 賮賷 睾乇丕亘鬲賴丕 賲孬賱 賮賷 亘賱丕丿 丕賱兀卮賷丕亍 丕賱兀禺賷乇丞 賱賭 亘賵賱 兀賵爻鬲賷乇 兀賵 丕賱禺賷賲賷丕卅賷 賱賭 亘丕賵賱賵 賰賵賷賱賵 兀賵 賰鬲丕亘 丕賱賲賰鬲亘丞 賱賭 夭賵乇丕賳 噩賷賮賰賵賮賷鬲卮 兀賵 丕賱鬲丨賵賱 賱賭 賰丕賮賰丕 兀賵 丕賱毓賲賷 賵丕賳賯胤丕毓丕鬲 丕賱賲賵鬲 賱賭 爻丕乇丕賲丕噩賵 兀賵 賲賷鬲鬲丕賳 賱乇噩賱 賵丕丨丿 賱賭 禺賵乇禺賷 兀賲丕丿賵
賵賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲噩丿 乇賵丕賷丞 賱賲 鬲丨亘賴丕 兀賵 賱賲 鬲爻鬲賲鬲毓 亘賴丕 賵賮賷 丕賱賵賯鬲 賳賮爻賴 睾乇賷亘丞 賲賲賷夭丞 賱賳 鬲賳爻丕賴丕 賵賷噩亘 丕賱丕毓鬲乇丕賮 亘賴匕丕 兀賳賴丕 睾乇賷亘丞 賵賱賰賳賴丕 賱賷爻鬲 噩賲賷賱丞
賲孬賱 乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱賲賰鬲亘丞 丕賱睾乇賷亘丞 賱賭 賲賵乇丕賰丕賲賷 賲孬賱丕賸 兀賵 賳馗丕賮丞 丕賱賯丕鬲賱 賱賭 廿賷賲賷賱賷 賳賵孬賵賲亘
賵賴賳丕賰 乇賵丕賷丞 賲噩賳賵賳丞 鬲兀禺匕賰 亘毓賷丿丕 毓賲賳 丨賵賱賰 賵鬲購賳爻賷賰 毓丕賱賲賰 鬲賲丕賲丕 賲孬賱 馗賱 丕賱乇賷丨 賱賭 夭丕賮賵賳 兀賵 賰丕賮賰丕 毓賱賷 丕賱卮丕胤卅 賱賭 賲賵乇丕賰丕賲賷 兀賵 丕爻賲 丕賱賵乇丿丞 賱廿賲亘乇鬲賵 廿賷賰賵 貙 賮賴賷 賮毓賱丕 乇賵丕賷丞 賲噩賳賵賳丞
賵賱賰賳 賴賷 賴賱 賲賲鬲毓丞 兀賵 噩賲賷賱丞 責 爻鬲賰賵賳 丕賱廿噩丕亘丞 毓賱賷 丨爻亘 匕賵賯 丕賱賯丕乇卅
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賵乇賵丕賷鬲賳丕 賴賳丕 賲賳 丕賱賳賵毓 丕賱丕禺賷乇 .. 賲噩賳賵賳丞 睾乇賷亘丞 ... 賴賱 丕丨亘亘鬲賴丕 責
賱丕
賴賱 丕毓鬲乇賮 亘賲丕 賮賷賴丕 賲賳 賲噩賴賵丿 賲鬲賲賷夭 責
賳毓賲 賵賳毓賲 賵賳毓賲
丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丨賯丕 賲鬲毓亘丞 賵賲購乇賴賯丞 賱賱毓賷賳 賵丕賱匕賴賳 ..
丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賰亘丨乇 賴丕卅噩 賲賳 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱賲囟胤乇亘丞 丕賱賲噩賳賵賳丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲兀禺匕賰 賲賳 丨丕賱 賱丨丕賱 賵賲賳 丨丿孬 賱丨丿孬 賵賲賳 廿乇賴丕賯 賱廿乇賴丕賯 亘賱丕 賲賱賱 亘賱 毓賱賷 丕賱毓賰爻 亘廿賷賯丕毓 爻乇賷毓 賱賱睾丕賷丞 ..
賵賱賰賳 賮噩兀丞 ... 賷乇丕賵賰 爻丐丕賱 .. 賱賲丕匕丕 賰賱 賴匕丕 責
賵賱丕 兀賯氐丿 丕賱兀丨丿丕孬 亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賱亘胤賱 .. 賮丕賱亘胤賱 賱賴 賮賰乇賴 賵賱賴 毓匕乇賴 .. 賵賱賰賳 賱賱賰丕鬲亘丞 .. 賱賲丕匕丕 賰鬲亘鬲 賴匕丕 丕賱噩賳賵賳 亘賴匕丕 丕賱廿爻賱賵亘 責
賰賷賮 噩丕亍鬲 賴匕賴 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 賮賷 匕賴賳賴丕 責 賵賰賷賮 賰鬲亘鬲賴丕 責
亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賷 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賱賲 鬲鬲賮賯 賲毓 賳賵毓賷 丕賱賲賮囟賱 賮賷 丕賱兀丿亘貙 賵亘丕賱鬲兀賰賷丿 賱賲 鬲鬲賮賯 賲毓 賯賳丕毓丕鬲賷 丕賱丿賷賳賷丞 兀賵 丕賱兀禺賱丕賯賷丞 ..
賲賳 兀睾乇亘 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賯乇兀鬲賴丕 賮賷 丨賷丕鬲賷
賮賷 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 賴賱 兀賯賷賲賴丕 責
賱丕
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賵賲賳 賴賳丕 鬲賵噩丿 丕賱賰孬賷乇 賲賳 丕賱鬲氐賳賷賮丕鬲 ..
賮賴賳丕賰 乇賵丕賷丞 噩賲賷賱丞 賲賲鬲毓丞 賲爻鬲乇爻賱丞 賰兀賳 鬲賯乇兀 乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱兀亘賱賴 賱賭 丿賷爻鬲賵賷賮賷爻賰賷 兀賵 乇賵丕賷丕鬲 睾賷賵賲 賲賷爻賵
賵賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲噩丿 乇賵丕賷丞 噩賲賷賱丞 睾乇賷亘丞 .. 兀賷 噩賲丕賱賴丕 賮賷 睾乇丕亘鬲賴丕 賲孬賱 賮賷 亘賱丕丿 丕賱兀卮賷丕亍 丕賱兀禺賷乇丞 賱賭 亘賵賱 兀賵爻鬲賷乇 兀賵 丕賱禺賷賲賷丕卅賷 賱賭 亘丕賵賱賵 賰賵賷賱賵 兀賵 賰鬲丕亘 丕賱賲賰鬲亘丞 賱賭 夭賵乇丕賳 噩賷賮賰賵賮賷鬲卮 兀賵 丕賱鬲丨賵賱 賱賭 賰丕賮賰丕 兀賵 丕賱毓賲賷 賵丕賳賯胤丕毓丕鬲 丕賱賲賵鬲 賱賭 爻丕乇丕賲丕噩賵 兀賵 賲賷鬲鬲丕賳 賱乇噩賱 賵丕丨丿 賱賭 禺賵乇禺賷 兀賲丕丿賵
賵賷賲賰賳 兀賳 鬲噩丿 乇賵丕賷丞 賱賲 鬲丨亘賴丕 兀賵 賱賲 鬲爻鬲賲鬲毓 亘賴丕 賵賮賷 丕賱賵賯鬲 賳賮爻賴 睾乇賷亘丞 賲賲賷夭丞 賱賳 鬲賳爻丕賴丕 賵賷噩亘 丕賱丕毓鬲乇丕賮 亘賴匕丕 兀賳賴丕 睾乇賷亘丞 賵賱賰賳賴丕 賱賷爻鬲 噩賲賷賱丞
賲孬賱 乇賵丕賷丞 丕賱賲賰鬲亘丞 丕賱睾乇賷亘丞 賱賭 賲賵乇丕賰丕賲賷 賲孬賱丕賸 兀賵 賳馗丕賮丞 丕賱賯丕鬲賱 賱賭 廿賷賲賷賱賷 賳賵孬賵賲亘
賵賴賳丕賰 乇賵丕賷丞 賲噩賳賵賳丞 鬲兀禺匕賰 亘毓賷丿丕 毓賲賳 丨賵賱賰 賵鬲購賳爻賷賰 毓丕賱賲賰 鬲賲丕賲丕 賲孬賱 馗賱 丕賱乇賷丨 賱賭 夭丕賮賵賳 兀賵 賰丕賮賰丕 毓賱賷 丕賱卮丕胤卅 賱賭 賲賵乇丕賰丕賲賷 兀賵 丕爻賲 丕賱賵乇丿丞 賱廿賲亘乇鬲賵 廿賷賰賵 貙 賮賴賷 賮毓賱丕 乇賵丕賷丞 賲噩賳賵賳丞
賵賱賰賳 賴賷 賴賱 賲賲鬲毓丞 兀賵 噩賲賷賱丞 責 爻鬲賰賵賳 丕賱廿噩丕亘丞 毓賱賷 丨爻亘 匕賵賯 丕賱賯丕乇卅
......
賵乇賵丕賷鬲賳丕 賴賳丕 賲賳 丕賱賳賵毓 丕賱丕禺賷乇 .. 賲噩賳賵賳丞 睾乇賷亘丞 ... 賴賱 丕丨亘亘鬲賴丕 責
賱丕
賴賱 丕毓鬲乇賮 亘賲丕 賮賷賴丕 賲賳 賲噩賴賵丿 賲鬲賲賷夭 責
賳毓賲 賵賳毓賲 賵賳毓賲
丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 丨賯丕 賲鬲毓亘丞 賵賲購乇賴賯丞 賱賱毓賷賳 賵丕賱匕賴賳 ..
丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賰亘丨乇 賴丕卅噩 賲賳 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱賲囟胤乇亘丞 丕賱賲噩賳賵賳丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲兀禺匕賰 賲賳 丨丕賱 賱丨丕賱 賵賲賳 丨丿孬 賱丨丿孬 賵賲賳 廿乇賴丕賯 賱廿乇賴丕賯 亘賱丕 賲賱賱 亘賱 毓賱賷 丕賱毓賰爻 亘廿賷賯丕毓 爻乇賷毓 賱賱睾丕賷丞 ..
賵賱賰賳 賮噩兀丞 ... 賷乇丕賵賰 爻丐丕賱 .. 賱賲丕匕丕 賰賱 賴匕丕 責
賵賱丕 兀賯氐丿 丕賱兀丨丿丕孬 亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賱亘胤賱 .. 賮丕賱亘胤賱 賱賴 賮賰乇賴 賵賱賴 毓匕乇賴 .. 賵賱賰賳 賱賱賰丕鬲亘丞 .. 賱賲丕匕丕 賰鬲亘鬲 賴匕丕 丕賱噩賳賵賳 亘賴匕丕 丕賱廿爻賱賵亘 責
賰賷賮 噩丕亍鬲 賴匕賴 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 賮賷 匕賴賳賴丕 責 賵賰賷賮 賰鬲亘鬲賴丕 責
亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賷 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賱賲 鬲鬲賮賯 賲毓 賳賵毓賷 丕賱賲賮囟賱 賮賷 丕賱兀丿亘貙 賵亘丕賱鬲兀賰賷丿 賱賲 鬲鬲賮賯 賲毓 賯賳丕毓丕鬲賷 丕賱丿賷賳賷丞 兀賵 丕賱兀禺賱丕賯賷丞 ..
賲賳 兀睾乇亘 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賯乇兀鬲賴丕 賮賷 丨賷丕鬲賷
賮賷 丕賱賳賴丕賷丞 賴賱 兀賯賷賲賴丕 責
賱丕
......
December 29, 2014
Whilst I agree that this has been oversold as far as unswervingly highbrow or hard SF readers are concerned, it's got plenty going for it as a character-driven fantasy novel, and Scarlett Thomas is becoming my new favourite comfort-reading author. (Even within my friends list, opinions of The End of Mr. Y range from "highly intellectual yet accessible" to "completely stupid", so this isn't the easiest review I've ever written.)
The book is, admittedly, comfortable because of its blend of familiar things I already love: impoverished postgrad Ariel has adventures whilst investigating work of fictional Victorian author (Possession, though the C19th pastiche extracts aren't half as good), drinks magic potion like Alice, encounters concepts from Pratchett's Small Gods and enters other minds like Granny Weatherwax gone borrowing or all those body-swap movies from the late 80s, and there's some Matrix type stuff for good measure. The overall tone is reminiscent of some of the stories in Neil Gaiman's wonderful collection Smoke and Mirrors, the narrative and plot being pushed by a protagonist with a strong personality and a darkish past and present, rather than by the SFF content itself. There's an argument for Scarlett Thomas's work as weirder, darker, more academically-inclined chicklit, but on the other hand, Ariel's angst and lust, and Thomas' moments of acute insight into messed-up people (esp. p277ish; also 345, 411 and all over the place really) are hardly different from the portrayals in Gaiman's male character-focused stories. (Unlike chicklit characters, Ariel never goes "huh! men!", tacitly seeming not to find them particularly 'other', and she hardly ever makes whole-gender-based generalisations. She spends a helluva lot of time thinking about other things [interesting things, not handbags and bad chardonnay] as well as love and sex, without seeing that as an either/or ... Thomas keeps writing characters I want to be friends with.) And as in Smoke and Mirrors, there are a couple of scenes sexier than plenty of stuff marketed as erotica - though there isn't as much shagging as some of the blurb quotes imply.
Reading posts about entirely different books made me realise that The End of Mr. Y will be of interest to people who like reversal of traditional gender roles in fantasy stories. Ariel is driving the adventure throughout, and her male love/lust interests are, as the adventure gets going, as peripheral and helpmeetish as they would be for a man in a typical action movie. This is perhaps less the case towards the end but I might just see it that way because I'm a bitter old hag . At the same time I could still think of plenty of stories in which the they would have been the other way round.
There's ample comment on 欧宝娱乐 about inaccuracies in the characters' academic discussions (especially re. physics and the "linguistic turn" of philosophy and literary theory. The people who are complaining that homeopathy has an effect in the book simply need a reminder that this is fantasy fiction and that the works of Ben Goldacre can be overapplied.) The media has presented Mr. Y as formidably clever - to the chagrin of people who picked it up expecting some novelised Godel Escher Bach - but the tone of everything I read between the covers is casual musings from bright non-specialists ... it sounds like (and in some cases in the book is) conversations with friends after which you might realise you got something slightly wrong. If, for instance, Eng lit, theology and biology academics are riffing semi-drunkenly about what they've read in popular science books on quantum physics, what's here sounds fine in that context. (If I was joining in the pickiness, I'd say that Lamarck was presented as entirely infra-dig, although epigenetics - a topic that had already found its way into BBC documentaries a couple of years before Mr. Y was published - has given a new slant on his ideas. But then I realised that wasn't necessarily the point or the spirit of the book.) However I would have liked to have seen a little more determined accuracy from the narrator in tone as well as content in some of her home subject areas - if you're a postgrad you need to do that alongside the flights of enthusiasm.
But in the end the academic conversations are icing; you don't really need them to enjoy the rest of the book if you don't like them. The fantasy story is fine regardless - the chat and speculation is just how the characters look at their experience. Which I find more interesting than an unreflective adventure, though they do go on a bit sometimes.
I may only have given it four stars due to its faults and moments of derivativeness but I really loved The End of Mr. Y as I love too few books as an end in themselves. (Often I don't understand what the rest of you are on about re. loving books generally... A couple of years ago, a remover said, seeing the book cases, "So you like reading then?" The first, silent, response that came into my head, "Not really, but what the bloody hell else am I supposed to do?" ...Aloud, I made a vaguely affirmative non-verbal noise and started talking about cardboard boxes.) I was glad it was there when I couldn't sleep, I span it out so I could keep going back into its world - its plot analogy for addiction to an imaginary world actually applied - rather than trying to get it finished and ticked off. I'd have been delighted were it 1000 pages not 500, or if it was part of a series as long as Discworld.
The book is, admittedly, comfortable because of its blend of familiar things I already love: impoverished postgrad Ariel has adventures whilst investigating work of fictional Victorian author (Possession, though the C19th pastiche extracts aren't half as good), drinks magic potion like Alice, encounters concepts from Pratchett's Small Gods and enters other minds like Granny Weatherwax gone borrowing or all those body-swap movies from the late 80s, and there's some Matrix type stuff for good measure. The overall tone is reminiscent of some of the stories in Neil Gaiman's wonderful collection Smoke and Mirrors, the narrative and plot being pushed by a protagonist with a strong personality and a darkish past and present, rather than by the SFF content itself. There's an argument for Scarlett Thomas's work as weirder, darker, more academically-inclined chicklit, but on the other hand, Ariel's angst and lust, and Thomas' moments of acute insight into messed-up people (esp. p277ish; also 345, 411 and all over the place really) are hardly different from the portrayals in Gaiman's male character-focused stories. (Unlike chicklit characters, Ariel never goes "huh! men!", tacitly seeming not to find them particularly 'other', and she hardly ever makes whole-gender-based generalisations. She spends a helluva lot of time thinking about other things [interesting things, not handbags and bad chardonnay] as well as love and sex, without seeing that as an either/or ... Thomas keeps writing characters I want to be friends with.) And as in Smoke and Mirrors, there are a couple of scenes sexier than plenty of stuff marketed as erotica - though there isn't as much shagging as some of the blurb quotes imply.
Reading posts about entirely different books made me realise that The End of Mr. Y will be of interest to people who like reversal of traditional gender roles in fantasy stories. Ariel is driving the adventure throughout, and her male love/lust interests are, as the adventure gets going, as peripheral and helpmeetish as they would be for a man in a typical action movie. This is perhaps less the case towards the end but I might just see it that way because I'm a bitter old hag . At the same time I could still think of plenty of stories in which the they would have been the other way round.
There's ample comment on 欧宝娱乐 about inaccuracies in the characters' academic discussions (especially re. physics and the "linguistic turn" of philosophy and literary theory. The people who are complaining that homeopathy has an effect in the book simply need a reminder that this is fantasy fiction and that the works of Ben Goldacre can be overapplied.) The media has presented Mr. Y as formidably clever - to the chagrin of people who picked it up expecting some novelised Godel Escher Bach - but the tone of everything I read between the covers is casual musings from bright non-specialists ... it sounds like (and in some cases in the book is) conversations with friends after which you might realise you got something slightly wrong. If, for instance, Eng lit, theology and biology academics are riffing semi-drunkenly about what they've read in popular science books on quantum physics, what's here sounds fine in that context. (If I was joining in the pickiness, I'd say that Lamarck was presented as entirely infra-dig, although epigenetics - a topic that had already found its way into BBC documentaries a couple of years before Mr. Y was published - has given a new slant on his ideas. But then I realised that wasn't necessarily the point or the spirit of the book.) However I would have liked to have seen a little more determined accuracy from the narrator in tone as well as content in some of her home subject areas - if you're a postgrad you need to do that alongside the flights of enthusiasm.
But in the end the academic conversations are icing; you don't really need them to enjoy the rest of the book if you don't like them. The fantasy story is fine regardless - the chat and speculation is just how the characters look at their experience. Which I find more interesting than an unreflective adventure, though they do go on a bit sometimes.
I may only have given it four stars due to its faults and moments of derivativeness but I really loved The End of Mr. Y as I love too few books as an end in themselves. (Often I don't understand what the rest of you are on about re. loving books generally... A couple of years ago, a remover said, seeing the book cases, "So you like reading then?" The first, silent, response that came into my head, "Not really, but what the bloody hell else am I supposed to do?" ...Aloud, I made a vaguely affirmative non-verbal noise and started talking about cardboard boxes.) I was glad it was there when I couldn't sleep, I span it out so I could keep going back into its world - its plot analogy for addiction to an imaginary world actually applied - rather than trying to get it finished and ticked off. I'd have been delighted were it 1000 pages not 500, or if it was part of a series as long as Discworld.
July 12, 2013
I have Scarlett Thomas to thank for a little embarrassing moment of discovering another little nugget of my own sexism. I thought, I can't dis- this book and give it one star. But why not? Because she's a she and I don't want to be mean? Better to be honest: this book is, I'm just going to say it: STUPID.
The hype totally had me; I couldn't not read it: thought experiments (none actually handled), the nature of consciousness (adding an alternate reality does not interrogate the subject), Derrida (namedropped only, save for a few reductive squeaks, like "meaning is fluid" oh, is it?), causal chains and temporality (real problems of "what if" variety summarily dismissed), quantum physics (nope, not a bit). I don't guess it's dishonest to say that the book contains these things, since they are mentioned, but if you're looking for an actual exploration of these subjects or even a competent handling of them within a narrative rather than an extremely dorky soft sci-fi story overburdened with clunky expositional dialog and cute ironies, you will be disappointed. The End of Mr.Y. The End of Mister Y. The End of Mystery. Get it? The book is never more clever than that.
The hype totally had me; I couldn't not read it: thought experiments (none actually handled), the nature of consciousness (adding an alternate reality does not interrogate the subject), Derrida (namedropped only, save for a few reductive squeaks, like "meaning is fluid" oh, is it?), causal chains and temporality (real problems of "what if" variety summarily dismissed), quantum physics (nope, not a bit). I don't guess it's dishonest to say that the book contains these things, since they are mentioned, but if you're looking for an actual exploration of these subjects or even a competent handling of them within a narrative rather than an extremely dorky soft sci-fi story overburdened with clunky expositional dialog and cute ironies, you will be disappointed. The End of Mr.Y. The End of Mister Y. The End of Mystery. Get it? The book is never more clever than that.
Read
February 18, 2025This might qualify as the most bizarre book I鈥檝e ever read. 馃槼
Watch my BookTube deep dive on . 馃憖
"Would you read a cursed book if you had one?"
The End of Mr. Y reads like three stories in one.
The first story follows a woman named Ariel who stumbles on a rare book believed to be cursed. Everyone who has ever interacted with it has mysteriously disappeared, yet Ariel risks trying to understand what makes the book so dangerous. [This aspect of the book captivated me.]
(Note that after Ariel finds the book, it's about 150 pages before anything significant happens.)
The second story is a highbrow foray into complex philosophical concepts like absolute truth or quantum physics. The characters will have just survived a near-death experience in a realm outside of reality and stop to have a longwinded conversation about Einstein or Deridda or whomever. Like, who does that?! [This part of the book wasn't for me, and I felt it really slowed the story, but then again, it ties beautifully into the book's central themes of philosophically pursing answers or understanding. The End of Mister-Y (i.e., the end of mystery. Get it?).
And the third story is essentially The Matrix, as Ariel's interaction with the book leads her into the Troposphere, where she can travel through time and space. [I was never sure what to make of this aspect of the book except that it was a wild ride and some of the writing was really playful. If you've ever wanted to slip into the mind of a lab mouse, this is your chance!]
Can't say this was a "me" book (though I did really like the ending), but if you enjoy philosophy and The Matrix, then you're gonna love this book.
Watch my BookTube deep dive on . 馃憖
"Would you read a cursed book if you had one?"
The End of Mr. Y reads like three stories in one.
The first story follows a woman named Ariel who stumbles on a rare book believed to be cursed. Everyone who has ever interacted with it has mysteriously disappeared, yet Ariel risks trying to understand what makes the book so dangerous. [This aspect of the book captivated me.]
(Note that after Ariel finds the book, it's about 150 pages before anything significant happens.)
The second story is a highbrow foray into complex philosophical concepts like absolute truth or quantum physics. The characters will have just survived a near-death experience in a realm outside of reality and stop to have a longwinded conversation about Einstein or Deridda or whomever. Like, who does that?! [This part of the book wasn't for me, and I felt it really slowed the story, but then again, it ties beautifully into the book's central themes of philosophically pursing answers or understanding. The End of Mister-Y (i.e., the end of mystery. Get it?).
And the third story is essentially The Matrix, as Ariel's interaction with the book leads her into the Troposphere, where she can travel through time and space. [I was never sure what to make of this aspect of the book except that it was a wild ride and some of the writing was really playful. If you've ever wanted to slip into the mind of a lab mouse, this is your chance!]
Can't say this was a "me" book (though I did really like the ending), but if you enjoy philosophy and The Matrix, then you're gonna love this book.
November 23, 2010
This is an adventure in thought experiments. This is idea porn. It's the most cerebral fun I鈥檝e ever had. The End of Mr Y is a cocktail of postmodern philosophy, quantum physics, metafiction, science fiction and adventure. If any of that sounds intimidating, rest assured that this isn鈥檛 like reading Derrida, Heidegger, Baudrillard or any of the convoluted philosophies that Ariel Manto likes to immerse herself in. Early on she says that she 鈥渜uite like[s] the way you can talk about science without necessarily using mathematics, but using metaphors instead鈥� (29) and that really goes for all the key theories so beautifully woven into the story. The End of Mr Y is in itself a thought experiment for all the science and philosophy it explores, a mind-warping vision of a postmodern existence where language creates reality rather than just describing it.
Read the full review on my blog
Read the full review on my blog
September 22, 2024
Well this was a mindf**k
August 27, 2021
丕賱鬲賳丕賯囟丕鬲 鬲賯鬲乇亘 丕賰孬乇 賮兀賰孬乇 貙 鬲賰丕丿 鬲賰賵賳 賲鬲賱丕氐賯丞 貙 亘賱 鬲賰丕丿 兀賳 鬲賰賵賳 賳賮爻 卮賷亍 貙 賮丕賱賮乇賯 亘賷賳 丕賱丨賯賷賯丞 賵丕賱賵賴賲 丕賵 亘賷賳 丕賱鬲噩乇亘丞 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賵丕賱鬲噩乇亘丞 丕賱匕賴賳賷丞 賴賵 賳賮爻 丕賱賮乇賯 亘賷賳 丕賱賰賵丕賳鬲賲 賵丕賱賲賷鬲丕賮賷夭賷賯賷丕 貙 賴賵 賱丕 卮卅亍 貙 丨賷孬 賰賵賳賰 賲賵噩賵丿 丕賵 睾賷乇 賲賵噩賵丿 賴賲丕 賳賮爻 丕賱卮賷亍 貙
賲賳 毓丕賱賲 賳賷賵鬲賳 丕賱丨鬲賲賷 賵丕賱丌賱賷 賱毓丕賱賲 丕賱賰賵丕賳鬲賲 丕賱匕賷 賷亘丿賵 賰賱 卮賷亍 賮賷賴 賲噩賲賵毓丞 賱丕 賳賴丕卅賷丞 賲賳 丕賱丕丨鬲賲丕賱丕鬲 丨鬲賶 兀賳丕 賵丕賳鬲 貙 丕賱丕賰鬲乇賵賳 賮賷賴 賴賵 噩爻賲 賵賲賵噩丞 賮賷 賳賮爻 丕賱賵賯鬲 貙 賷賰賵賳 賮賷 賰賱 賲賰丕賳 賵賲賰丕賳 賵丕丨丿 貙 賷丨鬲丕噩 丕賱丕丿乇丕賰 賱賷賰賵賳 賲賵噩賵丿 貙 丕賱爻乇毓丞 鬲鬲禺胤賶 爻乇毓丞 丕賱囟賵亍 貙 鬲氐亘丨 丕賱毓賵丿丞 丕賱賶 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賲鬲氐賵乇丞 賵 賲禺丕胤亘丞 丕賱丕卮亘丕丨 賲賲賰賳丞 貙 賵丕賱賲丕丿丞 鬲氐亘丨 丕亘賳丞 丕賱賮賰乇
賷賯賵賱 賰丕賲賵
賵賱賰賳賰 鬲禺亘乇賳賷 毓賳 賳馗丕賲 賰賵賳賷 睾賷乇 賲乇卅賷 鬲賳噩匕亘 賮賷賴 丕賱丕賱賰鬲乇賵賳丕鬲 廿賱賶 賳賵丕丞 貙 賵丕賳鬲 鬲賮爻乇 賱賷 丕賱毓丕賱賲 亘丕賱氐賵乇丞 貙 賵 兀丿乇賰 丨賷賳卅匕 丕賳賰 鬲賯賱氐鬲 廿賱賶 丨丿 丕賱卮毓乇 貙 賵兀賳賳賷 賱賳 兀毓乇賮 貙 賵賴賱 賷鬲丕丨 賱賷 丕賱賵賯鬲 賰賷 兀爻鬲丕亍責 貙 賱賯丿 睾賷乇鬲 丕賳鬲 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 亘丨賷孬 兀賳 丕賱毓賱賲 丕賱匕賷 賰丕賳 爻賷毓賱賲賳賷 賰賱 卮賷亍 丕賳鬲賴賶 廿賱賶 賮乇囟賷丞
賲賳 毓丕賱賲 賳賷賵鬲賳 丕賱丨鬲賲賷 賵丕賱丌賱賷 賱毓丕賱賲 丕賱賰賵丕賳鬲賲 丕賱匕賷 賷亘丿賵 賰賱 卮賷亍 賮賷賴 賲噩賲賵毓丞 賱丕 賳賴丕卅賷丞 賲賳 丕賱丕丨鬲賲丕賱丕鬲 丨鬲賶 兀賳丕 賵丕賳鬲 貙 丕賱丕賰鬲乇賵賳 賮賷賴 賴賵 噩爻賲 賵賲賵噩丞 賮賷 賳賮爻 丕賱賵賯鬲 貙 賷賰賵賳 賮賷 賰賱 賲賰丕賳 賵賲賰丕賳 賵丕丨丿 貙 賷丨鬲丕噩 丕賱丕丿乇丕賰 賱賷賰賵賳 賲賵噩賵丿 貙 丕賱爻乇毓丞 鬲鬲禺胤賶 爻乇毓丞 丕賱囟賵亍 貙 鬲氐亘丨 丕賱毓賵丿丞 丕賱賶 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賲鬲氐賵乇丞 賵 賲禺丕胤亘丞 丕賱丕卮亘丕丨 賲賲賰賳丞 貙 賵丕賱賲丕丿丞 鬲氐亘丨 丕亘賳丞 丕賱賮賰乇
賷賯賵賱 賰丕賲賵
賵賱賰賳賰 鬲禺亘乇賳賷 毓賳 賳馗丕賲 賰賵賳賷 睾賷乇 賲乇卅賷 鬲賳噩匕亘 賮賷賴 丕賱丕賱賰鬲乇賵賳丕鬲 廿賱賶 賳賵丕丞 貙 賵丕賳鬲 鬲賮爻乇 賱賷 丕賱毓丕賱賲 亘丕賱氐賵乇丞 貙 賵 兀丿乇賰 丨賷賳卅匕 丕賳賰 鬲賯賱氐鬲 廿賱賶 丨丿 丕賱卮毓乇 貙 賵兀賳賳賷 賱賳 兀毓乇賮 貙 賵賴賱 賷鬲丕丨 賱賷 丕賱賵賯鬲 賰賷 兀爻鬲丕亍責 貙 賱賯丿 睾賷乇鬲 丕賳鬲 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 亘丨賷孬 兀賳 丕賱毓賱賲 丕賱匕賷 賰丕賳 爻賷毓賱賲賳賷 賰賱 卮賷亍 丕賳鬲賴賶 廿賱賶 賮乇囟賷丞
December 14, 2015
There are some books you read where you know incredibly swiftly that you absolutely LOVE them. You get about a quarter of the way through and find yourself totally entranced by just how much you鈥檙e enjoying every single page, but it鈥檚 an entrancement mixed with a kind of niggling dread where you whisper to the book: 鈥淧lease don鈥檛 let me down! Please don鈥檛 let me down!鈥� You sit there reading and desperately praying: 鈥淧lease don鈥檛 be this good and then tumble away to crap! Don鈥檛 do an Icarus and crash to Earth, your second half being a pale shadow of your brilliant early self. Please don鈥檛! Please don鈥檛!鈥�
That was my experience on reading 鈥楾he End of Mr Y鈥�.
And fortunately it didn鈥檛 down.
There are some books that you just connect with. You get them and they get you. I am genetically pre-programmed to enjoy reading about a young, mixed up, red-head academic and her quest for meaning in life; but more than that, the unashamed bibliophile part of me was always going to be excited when that quest led to her tracking down the last copy of a seemingly cursed book. (In addition I particularly enjoyed that that cursed book seemed to fit in seamlessly to a curious minded part of Victoriana.) Then I liked that there was so much popular science and philosophy dropped in. Now, to be fair, I don鈥檛 read much of that stuff myself but I always like to learn by osmosis. And it goes almost without saying that I was always going to love that this is a book packed with wonderful sentences like: 鈥淢onday morning, and the sky is the colour of sad weddings.鈥� While even when this novel swerves into fantasy, which at other points in my life I鈥檇 have found a turn off, it hit me in the perfect place, my mind receptive to every turn. In short this is a book which felt made specifically for me. Okay, even though I loved it, I can鈥檛 imagine that it鈥檚 going to be a perfect match for everyone, it certainly won鈥檛 fit like a literary glove to everybody鈥檚 tastes 鈥� but if you are on the right wavelength, this is a truly beautiful, fantastical, intelligent and amazing piece of work.
That was my experience on reading 鈥楾he End of Mr Y鈥�.
And fortunately it didn鈥檛 down.
There are some books that you just connect with. You get them and they get you. I am genetically pre-programmed to enjoy reading about a young, mixed up, red-head academic and her quest for meaning in life; but more than that, the unashamed bibliophile part of me was always going to be excited when that quest led to her tracking down the last copy of a seemingly cursed book. (In addition I particularly enjoyed that that cursed book seemed to fit in seamlessly to a curious minded part of Victoriana.) Then I liked that there was so much popular science and philosophy dropped in. Now, to be fair, I don鈥檛 read much of that stuff myself but I always like to learn by osmosis. And it goes almost without saying that I was always going to love that this is a book packed with wonderful sentences like: 鈥淢onday morning, and the sky is the colour of sad weddings.鈥� While even when this novel swerves into fantasy, which at other points in my life I鈥檇 have found a turn off, it hit me in the perfect place, my mind receptive to every turn. In short this is a book which felt made specifically for me. Okay, even though I loved it, I can鈥檛 imagine that it鈥檚 going to be a perfect match for everyone, it certainly won鈥檛 fit like a literary glove to everybody鈥檚 tastes 鈥� but if you are on the right wavelength, this is a truly beautiful, fantastical, intelligent and amazing piece of work.
February 16, 2022
"賲毓乇賵賮 兀賳賾 芦賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷賽賾丿 賵丕賷 禄 鬲鬲亘毓賴丕 賱毓賳丞賹 賲丕貙 賵賲毓 兀賳賾賳賷 亘丕賱胤亘毓 賱丕 兀丐賲賳 亘鬲賱賰 丕賱兀賲賵乇 賱賰賳賾 亘毓囟賴賲 賷毓鬲賯丿賵賳 賮毓賱賸丕 兀賳賾賰 廿賳 賯乇兀鬲賴丕...鬲賻賲購鬲."
鬲氐丨亘賳丕 " 爻賰丕乇賱賷鬲 鬲賵賲丕爻" 賮賷 毓丕賱賲 爻賵乇賷丕賱賷 睾乇丕卅亘賷 - 賰毓賵丕賱賲 賲賵乇丕賰丕賲賷 丕賱睾乇丕卅亘賷丞: 丨賷孬 鬲鬲賰賱賲 賴賳丕 丕賱賮卅乇丕賳 亘丿賱賸丕 賲賳 丕賱賯胤胤- 毓丕賱賲 賷鬲兀乇噩丨 賲丕 亘賷賳 丕賱賵丕賯毓賷丞 賵丕賱禺賷丕賱貙 丕賱禺乇丕賮丞 賵丕賱毓賯賱貙 丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 賵丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍貙 賲丕夭噩丞賸 賲丕 賴賵 賲賳胤賯賷 賵睾賷乇 賲賳胤賯賷 賮賷 賯丕賱亘 乇賵丕卅賷 爻丕丨乇貙 禺賱賷胤 乇丕卅毓 賲賳 丕賱廿孬丕乇丞 賵丕賱睾賲賵囟 賵丕賱乇賲夭賷丞 賵丕賱賲噩丕夭 賵丕賱噩賳賵賳 賵丕賱丨亘 賵丕賱賰鬲亘 賵丕賱賮賱丕爻賮丞 賵丕賱毓賱賲丕亍.
"賱丕 亘丿賾 兀賳賾 賱毓賳丞 丕賱爻賷賽賾丿 賵丕賷 鬲毓賳賷 兀賳 鬲氐賷乇 噩夭亍賸丕 賲賳 賰鬲丕亘貨 賰丕卅賳賸丕 賲賳 賳爻噩 丕賱賳氐賾貙 賰丕卅賳賸丕 賮囟丕卅賷賸賾丕... 賰鬲丕亘賷賸丕貙 兀賵 乇亘賾賲丕貙 賲毓 丕毓鬲亘丕乇 兀賳賾 丕賱賰鬲亘 賱賷爻鬲 賮囟丕亍賸貙 賰丕卅賳賸丕 賳氐賾賷賸賾丕."
賮亘毓丿賲丕 賰丕賳鬲 鬲爻賷乇 "丌乇賷賷賱 賲丕賳鬲賵" 賮賷 丿賵丕賲丞 丨賷丕鬲賴丕 丕賱丕毓鬲賷丕丿賷丞 丕賱賮賵囟賵賷丞 亘賷賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘丞 賵丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 賵丕賱噩賳爻 賵丕賱兀賰賱貙 鬲賳賯賱亘 丨賷丕鬲賴丕 賮噩兀丞賸 亘毓丿 兀賳 鬲噩丿 賳爻禺丞 賲賳 乇賵丕賷丞 "賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷賾丿 賵丕賷" 賱賱毓丕賱賲: 鬲賵賲丕爻 賱賵賲丕爻 - 丕賱匕賷 鬲毓丿 亘丨孬賸丕 丨賵賱 丨賷丕鬲賴- 賮賷 兀丨丿 賲鬲丕噩乇 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱賯丿賷賲丞貙 賵鬲賰鬲卮賮 兀賳賴丕 鬲賱賰 丕賱賳爻禺丞 丕賱賵丨賷丿丞 賮賷 丕賱毓丕賱賲貙 賵丕賱鬲賷 賷賯賵賱 毓賳賴丕 丕賱亘毓囟 兀賳賴丕 鬲丨賲賱 賱毓賳丞! 賵亘毓丿 賯乇丕亍鬲賴丕 鬲賰鬲卮賮 賵氐賮丞 禺丕氐丞 鬲丿禺賱賴丕 賮賷 賲睾丕賲乇丞 賮賰乇賷丞 賲孬賷乇丞: 丨賷孬 鬲噩乇亘丞 - 丕賱鬲乇賵亘賵爻賮賷乇 - 丕賱丕賳鬲賯丕賱 毓亘乇 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳貙 賵賲賳 孬賲 鬲胤丕乇丿賴丕 毓氐丕亘丞 賱賱丨氐賵賱 毓賱賶 丕賱賵氐賮丞.
賲丕匕丕 賯丿 賷丨丿孬 廿賳 丕爻鬲胤賷毓 丕賱亘卮乇 丕賱鬲賳賯賱 毓亘乇 丕賱鬲乇賵亘賵爻賮賷乇責 賰丕賱爻賮乇 丨賵賱 丕賱毓丕賱賲 賮賷 兀匕賴丕賳 丕賱賳丕爻 賵丕賱丨賷賵丕賳丕鬲貙 賵賲毓乇賮丞 兀爻乇丕乇賴賲 賵乇睾亘丕鬲賴賲 賵卮賴賵丕鬲賴賲! 賲丕匕丕 賯丿 賷丨丿孬 廿賳 丕爻鬲胤賷毓 兀丨丿賴賲 丕賱鬲噩賵賱 賮賷 匕賴賳賰貙 賵兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 丕賱賱賴賵 賵丕賱毓亘孬 亘兀賮賰丕乇賰 賵賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲賰貙 亘賱 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 鬲睾賷賷乇 賲丕囟賷賰 賵廿毓丕丿丞 亘賳丕亍 丨丕囟乇賰 賵賲賳 孬賲 賲爻鬲賯亘賱賰貨 兀賳 賷卮賰賱 丨賷丕鬲賰 賵賷賱賴賵 亘賴丕 賵賮賯賸丕 賱賲氐丕賱丨賴 賵乇睾亘丕鬲賴責!
"廿賳賾 毓賱賲 賲丕 賷賰賮賷 賲賳 丕賱亘卮乇 亘卮兀賳 丕賱鬲乇賵亘賵爻賮賷乇貙 爻賳卮賴丿 兀爻賵兀 爻賷賳丕乇賷賵 賲賲賰賳賸丕: 賱丕 乇亘賾... 賵賱丕 廿乇丕丿丞 丨乇賾丞 兀賷囟賸丕. 爻賷賰賵賳 亘賲賯丿賵乇 亘毓囟賴賲 兀賳 賷鬲丨賰賾賲賵丕 賮賷 兀匕賴丕賳 丕賱丌禺乇賷賳 亘亘爻丕胤丞. 賯丿 賷鬲賱丕毓亘 兀氐丨丕亘 丕賱賳賮賵匕 亘亘賯賷賾鬲賳丕 亘亘爻丕胤丞 賱賷噩毓賱賵賳丕 賳賮賰賾乇 賮賷賲丕 賷乇賷丿賵賳賳丕 兀賳 賳賮賰賾乇 賮賷賴貙 賯丿 賷賲丨賵賳 兀賷賾 兀賮賰丕乇 芦爻賷賾卅丞禄 兀賵 芦孬賵乇賷丞禄."
胤乇丨鬲 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 丕賱毓丿賷丿 賲賳 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賵丕賱賮賱爻賮賷丞貙 毓賳: 丕賱賱賴貙 賳卮兀丞 丕賱賰賵賳貙 丕賱丕賳賮噩丕乇 丕賱毓馗賷賲貙 丕賱鬲胤賵乇貙 賵賳卮兀丞 丕賱賵毓賷: 賵賲丕 賴賵責 賵賴賱 丕賱賵毓賷 賴賵 丕賱匕賷 賷禺賱賯 丕賱毓丕賱賲責 賵賴賱 兀賮賰丕乇賳丕 賱賴丕 丿賵乇 賮賷 鬲賰賵賷賳 丕賱馗賵丕賴乇 賵丕賱賲賵丕丿 賮賷 丕賱毓丕賱賲 兀賲 賱丕貨 賵廿匕丕 賰丕賳 賱賱賵毓賷 丕賱廿賳爻丕賳賷 兀賳 賷鬲胤賵乇 賲賳 賱丕 卮賷亍貙 賮賱賲丕匕丕 賱丕 賷丨丿孬 匕賱賰 賱賵毓賷 丕賱丌賱丕鬲責 賵睾賷乇賴丕 賲賳 兀爻卅賱丞 賵丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賳賯丕卮鬲賴丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘丞 亘兀爻賱賵亘 賲亘爻胤 賵爻賱爻 賵賵馗賮鬲賴丕 亘卮賰賱 亘丕乇毓 毓亘乇 兀丨丿丕孬 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賵丨賵丕乇丕鬲 兀亘胤丕賱賴丕貨 賱鬲賮鬲丨 賮賷 毓賯賱 丕賱賯丕乇卅 丌賮丕賯賸丕 賰孬賷乇丞 賱賱鬲賮賰乇 賮賷 丕賱賰賵賳 賵丕賱丨賷丕丞 亘卮賰賱賺 毓丕賲. 乇賵丕賷丞 乇丕卅毓丞 噩丿賸丕貙賱賰賳賴丕 賲乇賴賯丞 賰匕賱賰貙 賵鬲乇噩賲鬲賴丕 睾丕賷丞 賮賷 丕賱兀賳丕賯丞. #鬲賲鬲馃槏
鬲氐丨亘賳丕 " 爻賰丕乇賱賷鬲 鬲賵賲丕爻" 賮賷 毓丕賱賲 爻賵乇賷丕賱賷 睾乇丕卅亘賷 - 賰毓賵丕賱賲 賲賵乇丕賰丕賲賷 丕賱睾乇丕卅亘賷丞: 丨賷孬 鬲鬲賰賱賲 賴賳丕 丕賱賮卅乇丕賳 亘丿賱賸丕 賲賳 丕賱賯胤胤- 毓丕賱賲 賷鬲兀乇噩丨 賲丕 亘賷賳 丕賱賵丕賯毓賷丞 賵丕賱禺賷丕賱貙 丕賱禺乇丕賮丞 賵丕賱毓賯賱貙 丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 賵丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍貙 賲丕夭噩丞賸 賲丕 賴賵 賲賳胤賯賷 賵睾賷乇 賲賳胤賯賷 賮賷 賯丕賱亘 乇賵丕卅賷 爻丕丨乇貙 禺賱賷胤 乇丕卅毓 賲賳 丕賱廿孬丕乇丞 賵丕賱睾賲賵囟 賵丕賱乇賲夭賷丞 賵丕賱賲噩丕夭 賵丕賱噩賳賵賳 賵丕賱丨亘 賵丕賱賰鬲亘 賵丕賱賮賱丕爻賮丞 賵丕賱毓賱賲丕亍.
"賱丕 亘丿賾 兀賳賾 賱毓賳丞 丕賱爻賷賽賾丿 賵丕賷 鬲毓賳賷 兀賳 鬲氐賷乇 噩夭亍賸丕 賲賳 賰鬲丕亘貨 賰丕卅賳賸丕 賲賳 賳爻噩 丕賱賳氐賾貙 賰丕卅賳賸丕 賮囟丕卅賷賸賾丕... 賰鬲丕亘賷賸丕貙 兀賵 乇亘賾賲丕貙 賲毓 丕毓鬲亘丕乇 兀賳賾 丕賱賰鬲亘 賱賷爻鬲 賮囟丕亍賸貙 賰丕卅賳賸丕 賳氐賾賷賸賾丕."
賮亘毓丿賲丕 賰丕賳鬲 鬲爻賷乇 "丌乇賷賷賱 賲丕賳鬲賵" 賮賷 丿賵丕賲丞 丨賷丕鬲賴丕 丕賱丕毓鬲賷丕丿賷丞 丕賱賮賵囟賵賷丞 亘賷賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘丞 賵丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 賵丕賱噩賳爻 賵丕賱兀賰賱貙 鬲賳賯賱亘 丨賷丕鬲賴丕 賮噩兀丞賸 亘毓丿 兀賳 鬲噩丿 賳爻禺丞 賲賳 乇賵丕賷丞 "賳賴丕賷丞 丕賱爻賷賾丿 賵丕賷" 賱賱毓丕賱賲: 鬲賵賲丕爻 賱賵賲丕爻 - 丕賱匕賷 鬲毓丿 亘丨孬賸丕 丨賵賱 丨賷丕鬲賴- 賮賷 兀丨丿 賲鬲丕噩乇 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱賯丿賷賲丞貙 賵鬲賰鬲卮賮 兀賳賴丕 鬲賱賰 丕賱賳爻禺丞 丕賱賵丨賷丿丞 賮賷 丕賱毓丕賱賲貙 賵丕賱鬲賷 賷賯賵賱 毓賳賴丕 丕賱亘毓囟 兀賳賴丕 鬲丨賲賱 賱毓賳丞! 賵亘毓丿 賯乇丕亍鬲賴丕 鬲賰鬲卮賮 賵氐賮丞 禺丕氐丞 鬲丿禺賱賴丕 賮賷 賲睾丕賲乇丞 賮賰乇賷丞 賲孬賷乇丞: 丨賷孬 鬲噩乇亘丞 - 丕賱鬲乇賵亘賵爻賮賷乇 - 丕賱丕賳鬲賯丕賱 毓亘乇 丕賱兀匕賴丕賳貙 賵賲賳 孬賲 鬲胤丕乇丿賴丕 毓氐丕亘丞 賱賱丨氐賵賱 毓賱賶 丕賱賵氐賮丞.
賲丕匕丕 賯丿 賷丨丿孬 廿賳 丕爻鬲胤賷毓 丕賱亘卮乇 丕賱鬲賳賯賱 毓亘乇 丕賱鬲乇賵亘賵爻賮賷乇責 賰丕賱爻賮乇 丨賵賱 丕賱毓丕賱賲 賮賷 兀匕賴丕賳 丕賱賳丕爻 賵丕賱丨賷賵丕賳丕鬲貙 賵賲毓乇賮丞 兀爻乇丕乇賴賲 賵乇睾亘丕鬲賴賲 賵卮賴賵丕鬲賴賲! 賲丕匕丕 賯丿 賷丨丿孬 廿賳 丕爻鬲胤賷毓 兀丨丿賴賲 丕賱鬲噩賵賱 賮賷 匕賴賳賰貙 賵兀賳 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 丕賱賱賴賵 賵丕賱毓亘孬 亘兀賮賰丕乇賰 賵賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲賰貙 亘賱 賷賰賵賳 賯丕丿乇賸丕 毓賱賶 鬲睾賷賷乇 賲丕囟賷賰 賵廿毓丕丿丞 亘賳丕亍 丨丕囟乇賰 賵賲賳 孬賲 賲爻鬲賯亘賱賰貨 兀賳 賷卮賰賱 丨賷丕鬲賰 賵賷賱賴賵 亘賴丕 賵賮賯賸丕 賱賲氐丕賱丨賴 賵乇睾亘丕鬲賴責!
"廿賳賾 毓賱賲 賲丕 賷賰賮賷 賲賳 丕賱亘卮乇 亘卮兀賳 丕賱鬲乇賵亘賵爻賮賷乇貙 爻賳卮賴丿 兀爻賵兀 爻賷賳丕乇賷賵 賲賲賰賳賸丕: 賱丕 乇亘賾... 賵賱丕 廿乇丕丿丞 丨乇賾丞 兀賷囟賸丕. 爻賷賰賵賳 亘賲賯丿賵乇 亘毓囟賴賲 兀賳 賷鬲丨賰賾賲賵丕 賮賷 兀匕賴丕賳 丕賱丌禺乇賷賳 亘亘爻丕胤丞. 賯丿 賷鬲賱丕毓亘 兀氐丨丕亘 丕賱賳賮賵匕 亘亘賯賷賾鬲賳丕 亘亘爻丕胤丞 賱賷噩毓賱賵賳丕 賳賮賰賾乇 賮賷賲丕 賷乇賷丿賵賳賳丕 兀賳 賳賮賰賾乇 賮賷賴貙 賯丿 賷賲丨賵賳 兀賷賾 兀賮賰丕乇 芦爻賷賾卅丞禄 兀賵 芦孬賵乇賷丞禄."
胤乇丨鬲 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 丕賱毓丿賷丿 賲賳 丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賵丕賱賮賱爻賮賷丞貙 毓賳: 丕賱賱賴貙 賳卮兀丞 丕賱賰賵賳貙 丕賱丕賳賮噩丕乇 丕賱毓馗賷賲貙 丕賱鬲胤賵乇貙 賵賳卮兀丞 丕賱賵毓賷: 賵賲丕 賴賵責 賵賴賱 丕賱賵毓賷 賴賵 丕賱匕賷 賷禺賱賯 丕賱毓丕賱賲責 賵賴賱 兀賮賰丕乇賳丕 賱賴丕 丿賵乇 賮賷 鬲賰賵賷賳 丕賱馗賵丕賴乇 賵丕賱賲賵丕丿 賮賷 丕賱毓丕賱賲 兀賲 賱丕貨 賵廿匕丕 賰丕賳 賱賱賵毓賷 丕賱廿賳爻丕賳賷 兀賳 賷鬲胤賵乇 賲賳 賱丕 卮賷亍貙 賮賱賲丕匕丕 賱丕 賷丨丿孬 匕賱賰 賱賵毓賷 丕賱丌賱丕鬲責 賵睾賷乇賴丕 賲賳 兀爻卅賱丞 賵丕賱賳馗乇賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賳賯丕卮鬲賴丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘丞 亘兀爻賱賵亘 賲亘爻胤 賵爻賱爻 賵賵馗賮鬲賴丕 亘卮賰賱 亘丕乇毓 毓亘乇 兀丨丿丕孬 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賵丨賵丕乇丕鬲 兀亘胤丕賱賴丕貨 賱鬲賮鬲丨 賮賷 毓賯賱 丕賱賯丕乇卅 丌賮丕賯賸丕 賰孬賷乇丞 賱賱鬲賮賰乇 賮賷 丕賱賰賵賳 賵丕賱丨賷丕丞 亘卮賰賱賺 毓丕賲. 乇賵丕賷丞 乇丕卅毓丞 噩丿賸丕貙賱賰賳賴丕 賲乇賴賯丞 賰匕賱賰貙 賵鬲乇噩賲鬲賴丕 睾丕賷丞 賮賷 丕賱兀賳丕賯丞. #鬲賲鬲馃槏
May 30, 2016
I really, really loved roughly the first two-thirds of this book, and it might have been a five-star read had the final portion (and the ending in particular) not turned out to be such a disappointment. Admittedly, I've never been a huge fan of fiction that strays too far into fantasy, and I felt The End of Mr. Y became so detached from any recognisable world that I stopped caring what happened. The further Ariel ventured into the Troposphere, the more ridiculous the story became - the last few chapters almost felt as though the author was bored of writing the novel and couldn't wait to get it finished. It's a shame since I loved the rest of the story - the book is intelligent but very accessible, probably my favourite type of writing. I'd still recommend it to everyone, but I just wish the conclusion could have been more comprehensible and grounded in reality.
August 31, 2017
乇賵丕賷丞 孬賱噩賷丞 亘丕乇丿丞 丨鬲賶 丕賱氐賯賷毓 賵賱丕 毓噩亘 賮賴賷 丌鬲賷丞 賲賳 亘賱丕丿 丕賱囟亘丕亘 丨賷孬 賲丕 丕卮鬲賴乇 亘賴丕 賯丕胤賳賵賴丕 亘匕賱賰貙貙貙
鬲鬲毓賱賯 亘匕賱賰 丕賱丨爻 丕賱睾丕賲囟 亘乇賵卅 鬲賳卮丿 卮丿 丕賱丕賳鬲亘丕賴 囟賲賳 廿賷賯丕毓 亘胤賷卅 賵賲囟賲賵賳賴丕 賲禺胤賵胤丞 賳丕丿乇丞 賵丕賮賰丕乇 毓賱賲賷丞 鬲鬲毓賱賯 囟賲賳 賲噩鬲賲毓 噩丕賲毓賷 賵毓賱丕賯丕鬲 兀賰丕丿賷賲賷丞 亘賷賳 胤丕賱亘丞 賵賲爻丐賵賱賴丕
賴賵丕噩爻 賵兀爻賮丕乇 賲鬲賯胤毓丞 鬲賮賯丿 丕賱賯丕乇卅 丨爻 丕賱乇睾亘丞 賵丕毓鬲賯丿 丕賳賴丕 賲賳 丕賱賲賲賰賳 丕賳 鬲賯乇兀 亘賲賴賱 囟賲賳 丕噩賵丕亍 氐丕賮賷丞 賱丿賶 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賮賴賷 賱賷爻鬲 賲賳 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賲爻 乇賵丨 丕賱廿孬丕乇丞 賮賷 賳賮爻賰 賲賴賲丕 毓馗賲 賲丨鬲賵丕賴丕
丕賱孬賱丕孬丞 賳噩賵賲 賱丕賳賴丕 鬲囟賲賳鬲 賮賰乇 毓賳 丕賱毓賱賵賲 丕賱鬲胤亘賷賯賷丞 賷噩毓賱賴丕 賲禺鬲賱賮丞 丕賱賶 丨丿 賲丕 賵賯丿 丕噩鬲賴丿鬲 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 賰賷 鬲賳賯賱賴 .... 賲賳 噩賴鬲賷 賱賲 丕氐丿賯 賲鬲賶 丕賳鬲賴賷 賲賳賴丕
鬲鬲毓賱賯 亘匕賱賰 丕賱丨爻 丕賱睾丕賲囟 亘乇賵卅 鬲賳卮丿 卮丿 丕賱丕賳鬲亘丕賴 囟賲賳 廿賷賯丕毓 亘胤賷卅 賵賲囟賲賵賳賴丕 賲禺胤賵胤丞 賳丕丿乇丞 賵丕賮賰丕乇 毓賱賲賷丞 鬲鬲毓賱賯 囟賲賳 賲噩鬲賲毓 噩丕賲毓賷 賵毓賱丕賯丕鬲 兀賰丕丿賷賲賷丞 亘賷賳 胤丕賱亘丞 賵賲爻丐賵賱賴丕
賴賵丕噩爻 賵兀爻賮丕乇 賲鬲賯胤毓丞 鬲賮賯丿 丕賱賯丕乇卅 丨爻 丕賱乇睾亘丞 賵丕毓鬲賯丿 丕賳賴丕 賲賳 丕賱賲賲賰賳 丕賳 鬲賯乇兀 亘賲賴賱 囟賲賳 丕噩賵丕亍 氐丕賮賷丞 賱丿賶 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賮賴賷 賱賷爻鬲 賲賳 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賲爻 乇賵丨 丕賱廿孬丕乇丞 賮賷 賳賮爻賰 賲賴賲丕 毓馗賲 賲丨鬲賵丕賴丕
丕賱孬賱丕孬丞 賳噩賵賲 賱丕賳賴丕 鬲囟賲賳鬲 賮賰乇 毓賳 丕賱毓賱賵賲 丕賱鬲胤亘賷賯賷丞 賷噩毓賱賴丕 賲禺鬲賱賮丞 丕賱賶 丨丿 賲丕 賵賯丿 丕噩鬲賴丿鬲 丕賱賰丕鬲亘丞 賰賷 鬲賳賯賱賴 .... 賲賳 噩賴鬲賷 賱賲 丕氐丿賯 賲鬲賶 丕賳鬲賴賷 賲賳賴丕
April 21, 2019
"兀丿毓賵 兀賳 兀氐賱 賱賲毓賳賶. 兀賳 鬲鬲囟丨賻 丨丿賵丿購 丕賱丨賯賷賯丞. 兀賳賿 賷賰賵賳 孬賲賻賾丞 毓丕賱賲 賵賳賵毓 賲賳 丕賱賵噩賵丿- 賷丨賰賲賴 賲賳胤賯 賲丕 ."
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September 21, 2020Gave up, having read several reviews I don't think I'll invest any more time in this.
February 27, 2010
This is a good example of good idea executed badly. I liked the concept and the first 25 pages. Ariel Manto is doing a Phd on a strange author from the 1800s and by accident comes across his rarest book in a used bookstore. What follows is an account of what she does with the contents of the book and the suspense of a mystery involving two creepy American policemen who are out to get her, it seems.
but in reality, what follows is the author showcasing how much she knows about philosophy and how much of it she can sneak into the plotline. Don't get me wrong, i love a well-researched novel and it's very nice to have a little background to the world she creates, but too much is too much. I can't bear anymore Heidegger or Derida. I didn't really learn much about philosophy either. Just that it's very complicated.
I think that this is a very nice read if you know lots and lots about philosophy and are interested in seeing their theories applied in a book.
There were some ideas in there that I liked (the trains, the troposphere) but they weren't really explained thoroughly. The plot, when stripped of all the fancyness, seems a little meagre. the characters weren't very appealing. but, still, a good idea.
book: 10/50
pages: 3350
but in reality, what follows is the author showcasing how much she knows about philosophy and how much of it she can sneak into the plotline. Don't get me wrong, i love a well-researched novel and it's very nice to have a little background to the world she creates, but too much is too much. I can't bear anymore Heidegger or Derida. I didn't really learn much about philosophy either. Just that it's very complicated.
I think that this is a very nice read if you know lots and lots about philosophy and are interested in seeing their theories applied in a book.
There were some ideas in there that I liked (the trains, the troposphere) but they weren't really explained thoroughly. The plot, when stripped of all the fancyness, seems a little meagre. the characters weren't very appealing. but, still, a good idea.
book: 10/50
pages: 3350
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