This book was a Christmas present from Mum and Dad, off my wish list - thank you. I did not know much about it and choice is as it was recommended by amazon (you bought this so may like this) and Richard and Judy (who do actually recommend quite good books!). I found it a little difficult to get in too at first. One of the reviews on the cover said 'the book is like a roller coaster, at first you are not sure and want to get off but by the end you are left begging for more'. Most the time I pay little attention to reviews but this I felt rang true.Really it is six separate books all rolled into one. Each story is written in a different style, set in a different age, telling a different story. The stories fit together like Russian dolls the story that begins the book, ends the book etc. Each story is discovered in the next. I half expected some cheesy overarching story that would cheesely wrap it all up at the end, however it did not come to this. In some ways it felt like many different stories with no relation but as the book goes on you notice the themes and struggles each character faces.
It is very well written covering a variety of styles, the chapter written in a Pacific Islander local dialect was tricky to follow but I soon got in to it. The book begins in the 18th century and ends in post-apocalyptic times. A bit of everything is included, sci-fi, politics, murder etc.
2 comments:
Hi Heather
I read this book late last summer, and I found it SO hard to start with. Just as each story was getting interesting it moved on to the next one. I actually got to the final story, the one written like a diary on the boat, and couldn't be bothered to read it. By that point I had absolutely no idea what the point of the book was, or what it was trying to do (other than be clever).
I did like the different genres and styles of the stories and the way they linked. But I didn't really connect with all of the stories. My favourite story was the Sonmi one, but I found the second half of it didn't really conclude the first as satifactorarily as I would have liked.
Guess I'm just more of a "beginning, middle and end" type of girl!
Oh well, glad you enjoyed it! Have you read any of his other books?
Take care
Sharon D -- from KBC.
Hi Sharon
I have not read any other of his books and not sure if I will. Maybe try number9 dream.
I know what you mean by the second half not really concluding the stories
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