Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly Written, Compelling but not always Accessible , 20 Jun 2008
Fans of Scarlett Thomas' earlier work will love this book; people new to her may find themselves in a little deeper than they expected. The End of Mr Y represents a step forward from the excellent PopCo in terms of scope and ambition but I think it loses out a little in accessibility and ultimately, plausibility.
The central themes of this book are deep and metaphysical; it deals with language, thought and existence, borrowing from Derrida, Heidegger and Samuel Butler. There is also a fair dollop of quantum theory thrown in. So not a light read then.
That Thomas has even managed to produce anything remotely readable from her heavy subject matter is testament to what a talented novelist she is. Despite the novel's length and content, it is immensely readable and even qualifies as a page turner. The author's enthusiasm and knowledge of her subject shines off nearly every page. That said, in a few places I was overwhelmed by the metaphysics and lost my way amongst all the thought experiments.
The End of Mr Y made my brain hurt; not necessarily a bad thing but not what everybody wants from a novel. Thomas' publishers have been pushing this book hard and deservedly so but I think there maybe some disappointed readers out there who were expecting something lighter. (I note that on Amazon, as I write this review, it is #13 in 'Chick Lit'. This is like placing Dostoyevsky in 'True Crime'.)
The 'End of Mr Y' is an excellent novel but I would suggest starting with PopCo as a gentler introduction to the wonderful, kooky world of Scarlett Thomas.
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46 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, 8 Jul 2007
Ariel Manto is writing her PhD thesis and has a facination with a book called 'The End of Mr. Y', which no-one alive has ever read. That's partly becasue everyone who has had anything to do with the book has either died or disappeared.
Ariel finds a copy of this book, quite unexpectedly, in a local bookshop and learns it's secret; the book contains a recipe for a potion which allows you to enter an alternative dimension, 'The Troposphere'. Once in the Troposphere, you can travel around using the thoughts of others.
This is the start point for what turns out to be an adventure through science, religion, self-doubt, self-loathing and ultimately, love.
For those people who have read Popco, The End of Mr Y follows a similar kind of narrative. Thomas appears to have taking a load of subjects she is interested in (homeopathy, religion, quantum physics) and fused them into one glorious whole.
I loved this book. She did lose me a bit when describing the fourth-dimension, quarks, time and matter and all the electron stuff, but it has to be said, Scarlett Thomas on her bad days is better than most other writers on their best days.
Brilliant. If you liked Popco, you'll love it!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A real Marmite* book, 21 May 2009
I've just finished reading this book, and whilst it's got its flaws I really enjoyed it.
The book itself is fairly well written. The pacing is a little off in places but there's a hefty plot behind it, and it deals with some very brave and ambitious subjects at the expense perhaps of not having a huge amount in the way of sub-plot or side stories going on. It's an entertaining and pretty gripping tale, with a main protagonist who is a likeable accidental hero.
I can however see why the book isn't everyone's cup of tea. There are times where it spends too long talking about psychology authors that I've never heard of and a lot of this was over my head, but that said I'm usually happy to read stuff that's outside my comfort zone; how better to learn things? The physics discussions I could follow more easily, but then I'm a geek. (-:
Arguably a lot of this dialogue is superfluous and could be trimmed, but I suppose it does help to colour the characters and show what drives them, and makes it logical for them to then be discussing their discoveries and dissecting exactly what they've found rather than just experiencing it superficially or running away scared.
A few people have made comments regarding sex and language in the book. Now, the sex in the book isn't hugely graphic or in great swathes of lengthy prose, and it's mentioned as a topic on the back of the book, so I don't really see it as an issue. Language, yeah, there's swearing in it, but no more than any other adult fiction. I guess if the last book you read was Harry Potter then it might be a bit of a culture shock, but it really isn't the novel of depravity that you might expect.
What I do find interesting is that looking at the reviews here, different people have enjoyed different bits. There are comments here from people who enjoyed it up until the Troposphere sections, and from others who thought that this was the best feature of the book. Some people really loved the book, some people hated it ("best book I have read" ... "Avoid"); it does seem to provoke a pretty polar reaction in people - there aren't many three-star reviews here.
It's not perfect, but it's something different, and ultimately that's what makes it a winner for me.
(* - other yeast extract products are available)
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