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November 02, 2006

THE END OF MR. Y

PopMatters runs a really bad review of a really interesting book - Scarlett Thomas' The End of Mr. Y.  (By bad, we should be clear - they do like the book, mostly, but it takes a ridiculous amount of throat clearing to get to the point, thus selling this fascinating novel short.)

Endofmry Thomas is insane about making huge leaps between ostensibly unrelated ideas, and it is in these associations that her books are most interesting. Part mathematical-detective story, part anticorporate screed, PopCo combined cryptography and toy development with a bit of romance and homoeopathy mixed in. Similarly broad in scope, The End of Mr. Y combines literary scholarship (yawn) with discussions of general relativity and time travel (hmm…) as well as a missing professor (oh no!), a cursed book (danger!), and a potion that not only allows one to enter an addictive mindspace eerily similar to a video game (yes!) but also lets one read people’s very minds (OMFG!). Plus bondage (treated with emotional complexity!). Where do I sign up?

We've got considerably more to say on the subject but you'll have to wait for our official review to run.

Posted by TEV at 12:15 AM in Litlinks |

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