Seven Types of Ambiguity, by Elliot Perlman

Seven Types of Ambiguity
Elliot Perlman

Can we ever truly know another person? Is anything ever unambiguous? These are just a couple of the questions Australian author Elliot Perlman tackles with Seven Types of Ambiguity. Unfortunately, it seems (and I must agree) that we can never really, fully know another person, not our spouses, not our parents, not even ourselves. No relationship can ever be unambiguous. Everyone always has too many secrets, too many private desires. Perlman will have you pondering the nature of every relationship in your life. Ah, what a glorious read.

This book has been described as a "behemoth" -- and, at over 600 pages, it is -- but such a label is misleading. It leads one to think that such a book is tedious, over long, and worse, boring. This book is none of those. I stayed up late reading it. I couldn't put it down. Unfortunately I was without power for over 24 hours; had reading by candlelight been as romantic as it's made out to be, I would have finished much earlier than I did. Quite simply, this is an amazing book. I defy someone to put this book down before finishing it.

The story is simple -- well...not really. Simon, unable to get over the woman who left him ten years before, kidnaps her son. Well, really he only picked him up from school, watched him for two hours, and gave him some chocolate milk. Pretty straightforward, right? Nothing is ever so simple. This "simple" story is complicated when told from the points of view of seven different narrators. Each one both forwards the plot and adds a new shade of meaning previously unknown. (By the way, this book is not to be confused with Empson's literary criticism of the same name, although Perlman frequently acknowledges his indebtedness to the work.)

Illumination Factor: This book will make you analyze each and every relationship you have. What do you know about the people in your life? What do you know about yourself? How much can we really be sure of? There is always so much that remains hidden, it seems silly to use the word "truth" at all.

In a nutshell: Seven Types of Ambiguity will not let you go until you've read the last page. You'll be glad you lost sleep or read until you felt ready to drop.

Bibliolatry Scale: 5.5 out of 6 stars