You may possibly consider reading (no pressure or anything): The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

I started reading The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall just before leaving for Boston and finished it up on the return flight home. I kind of have mixed feelings about the book and can't really give it a whole-hearted endorsement (thus the "you may possibly consider reading" post title). It's kind of a mixed bag in that there are parts of the book that I thought were really fantastic and other parts that just fell completely flat for me. But before I get too deep into my review, let me tell you a little about the book itself.

The title of the book, The Raw Shark Texts, is both a play on the Rorschach (Inkblot) Test and a reference to the book's storyline. Steven Hall has commented that one reason he choose the title was because he saw the book in itself as a Rorschach Test. Essentially the story is multilayered, it can been seen in a philosophical or psychological sense, it can be read as a piece of science fiction, a love story or an examination of the use of language (albeit an abstract/metaphorical one). Like the famed inkblot test, you see what you want to in the story. Unfortunately, the book's storyline is one in which if you give too much away then you've kind of ruined the whole thing. I will say that the main character of the novel, Eric Sanderson, awakes one day devoid of any memory of his life. As the plot unfolds, it becomes unclear if Sanderson is suffering from a psychological disorder or if there is some other cause of his faltering memory. He begins receiving cryptic clues from his former self (deemed the first Eric Sanderson) and goes on an eventful journey to piece together who he was and who he now is.

The novel is quite inventive in its use of language and is almost in a genre of its own (the term "genre-defying" is used so frequently nowadays that it seems to have become a genre of its own. Ironic). My problem with the book was that there were points where the story lost cohesion. The novel seemed to be an obvious first effort and I got the sense that Steven Hall thought this might have been his one and only shot at making a literary impact. Thus, he put all of his ideas into the book, with varying effects. There is a well known quote about fashion that is attributed to Coco Chanel, she said before you leave the house, you should always take one thing off. I feel like maybe Hall could have benefited from similar advice.

Here is a short passage from the book as read by Tilda Swinton (it's one of the better passages):



Just a few final points:

1) I am in an obvious minority in my ambivalence over the book, Hall has become somewhat of a literary darling so perhaps this book really is amazing and I'm just not sophisticated enough to appreciate it.

2) As I was reading the novel I kept coming across what seemed to be musical references. Eric Sanderson for instance shares his name with the bassist for the group Pela. There are two cats in the story named Ian and Gavin, you know, like the Sutherland Brothers. And another character goes by the name Mycroft Ward. Or maybe M. Ward? For a awhile I thought it was just my musical leanings creeping up on me, then I came across this article posted on the music blog largehearted boy. Audiophiles, take note. Kind of makes me want to read it again to look for the musical references.