The Raw Shark TextsSteven Hall
I've written the title first for a rare change, and I can't help but think it says it all, leaving me stumped as what to write in the actual review. Mother effer!
Okay: I've actually been reading this book FOREVER (literally almost two years), but I stalled out midway through. It's just sooooo taxing. But still, resolution and all that, so I plugged on.
It all started out so...erm, swimmingly: Eric Sanderson awakes, an amnesiac who has completely forgotten his former life. Bits and pieces return thanks to letters he has written himself. Remembering brings its own dangers, however: a Ludovician -- a conceptual shark -- is hunting him. Wait -- what?
This conceptual, metaphysical shark is not a real shark as one might expect: it hunts words, memories, thoughts. Soon Eric is on the run, hoping to avoid the shark before his memory is wiped clean again. And then things get REALLY weird.
Hall plays with words and their concepts, giving words a power they've never had before. He uses the visual appearance of the words well, too. Unfortunately, the novel gets bogged down in...well, WORDS. He's got a brilliant idea here, but the novel could have lost a good chunk of text without being the worse for wear, not to mention some scenes getting more complicated than was really necessary.
In a nutshell: Oh well.
Bibliolatry Scale: 3 out of 6 stars
Okay: I've actually been reading this book FOREVER (literally almost two years), but I stalled out midway through. It's just sooooo taxing. But still, resolution and all that, so I plugged on.
It all started out so...erm, swimmingly: Eric Sanderson awakes, an amnesiac who has completely forgotten his former life. Bits and pieces return thanks to letters he has written himself. Remembering brings its own dangers, however: a Ludovician -- a conceptual shark -- is hunting him. Wait -- what?
This conceptual, metaphysical shark is not a real shark as one might expect: it hunts words, memories, thoughts. Soon Eric is on the run, hoping to avoid the shark before his memory is wiped clean again. And then things get REALLY weird.Hall plays with words and their concepts, giving words a power they've never had before. He uses the visual appearance of the words well, too. Unfortunately, the novel gets bogged down in...well, WORDS. He's got a brilliant idea here, but the novel could have lost a good chunk of text without being the worse for wear, not to mention some scenes getting more complicated than was really necessary.
In a nutshell: Oh well.
Bibliolatry Scale: 3 out of 6 stars
1 comment:
Dude, two years?! I give you major props for sticking it out. I would (and have) given up long ago. Although I do still have finishing the second half of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on my reading 'to do' list, so you never know.
I'd heard about this book but your review just clinches that I should probably just pass it by.
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