The Raw Shark Texts
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Product Description
Review
"'Fast, sexy, intriguing, intelligent - The Raw Shark Texts is all these and more: a cult waiting to happen, a blockbuster begging to be made. Steven Hall is a truly fantastic storyteller. Investigate, now!' TOBY LITT 'The bastard love-child of The Matrix, Jaws and The Da Vinci Code.' MARK HADDON"
Review
"'Fast, sexy, intriguing, intelligent - The Raw Shark Texts is all these and more: a cult waiting to happen, a blockbuster begging to be made. Steven Hall is a truly fantastic storyteller. Investigate, now!' TOBY LITT"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This has split opinion here I see. I loved this book. To begin with I thought it was a little too influenced by the Matrix, a little too unbelievable. But it won me over because, while no doubt it is a very clever, post modern, hip text, it is also quite a moving depiction of love and grief.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A friend of mine recommended this book to me a year or so ago, but I've only got around to reading it recently.
Not wanting to give too much away, The Raw Shark Texts follows Eric Sanderson who loses his memory, and upon trying to put the pieces of his past together discovers he is under attack from a powerful force.
When I started the book, I immediately couldn't put it down. It draws the reader into Eric's strange circumstances from the very word go. As I got further into the text, I became increasingly impressed with the writer's creativity and imagination. However, to my disappointment the story begins to drag midway through. That's not to say the story loses it's way, or becomes any less imaginative. It simply suffers from going on too long (about 100 pages too long in my view). At the conclusion, there is much left to the reader's interpretation, but annoyingly there are also questions left unaddressed.
I'd still recommend this book to anyone ready for a fun and crazy read. I'll also look forward to the author's future publications.
Not wanting to give too much away, The Raw Shark Texts follows Eric Sanderson who loses his memory, and upon trying to put the pieces of his past together discovers he is under attack from a powerful force.
When I started the book, I immediately couldn't put it down. It draws the reader into Eric's strange circumstances from the very word go. As I got further into the text, I became increasingly impressed with the writer's creativity and imagination. However, to my disappointment the story begins to drag midway through. That's not to say the story loses it's way, or becomes any less imaginative. It simply suffers from going on too long (about 100 pages too long in my view). At the conclusion, there is much left to the reader's interpretation, but annoyingly there are also questions left unaddressed.
I'd still recommend this book to anyone ready for a fun and crazy read. I'll also look forward to the author's future publications.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I really quite enjoyed this book. It was quite a fast, easy read, while at the same time being quite intelligent with some interesting ideas.
The opening scene, with our hero waking up with absolutely no idea of who or where he is, is really gripping and an exciting concept. There are so many questions, so many possibilities as to where the story could go from here. Are the notes actually from his former self and can he be trusted? Does the doctor really have his best interests at heart or is there something sinister going on? Is Ian a spy? The book doesn't quite manage to maintain that momentum throughout but as we move away from the initial set up and introduce new characters and learn more about Eric's past, there is always enough going on, enough unanswered questions to hold your attention.
I quite like the use of typography in the book. At first I questioned how much it actually contributed to the story, but the further you get through, the more it makes sense for it to be included. The way that language and writing is used in the storyline is quite clever and also rather brave; a book about words and their power is something that I imagine a lot of people would find a dull idea. Indeed, it could easily have got that way if the author hadn't managed to take these ideas and incorporate them into what is essentially a good action-romance yarn.
Unfortunately, as is so often the case, the ending is the bit that let the book down the most. Without giving too many spoilers, we've just experienced an epic, disastrous grand finale, only to be fobbed off with something that was, in equal parts; the requisite happily ever after, open ended "interpret it how you will" and that laziest of lazies; the "it was all just a dream".
Despite this, I still thought this was a cracking read; it's the first book in a few months that I've really raced through, staying up to finish rather than just pottering through a few chapters at bedtime.
A perfect holiday book; read it on a beach in Santorini!
The opening scene, with our hero waking up with absolutely no idea of who or where he is, is really gripping and an exciting concept. There are so many questions, so many possibilities as to where the story could go from here. Are the notes actually from his former self and can he be trusted? Does the doctor really have his best interests at heart or is there something sinister going on? Is Ian a spy? The book doesn't quite manage to maintain that momentum throughout but as we move away from the initial set up and introduce new characters and learn more about Eric's past, there is always enough going on, enough unanswered questions to hold your attention.
I quite like the use of typography in the book. At first I questioned how much it actually contributed to the story, but the further you get through, the more it makes sense for it to be included. The way that language and writing is used in the storyline is quite clever and also rather brave; a book about words and their power is something that I imagine a lot of people would find a dull idea. Indeed, it could easily have got that way if the author hadn't managed to take these ideas and incorporate them into what is essentially a good action-romance yarn.
Unfortunately, as is so often the case, the ending is the bit that let the book down the most. Without giving too many spoilers, we've just experienced an epic, disastrous grand finale, only to be fobbed off with something that was, in equal parts; the requisite happily ever after, open ended "interpret it how you will" and that laziest of lazies; the "it was all just a dream".
Despite this, I still thought this was a cracking read; it's the first book in a few months that I've really raced through, staying up to finish rather than just pottering through a few chapters at bedtime.
A perfect holiday book; read it on a beach in Santorini!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Original and thought provoking
When I finished reading Steven Hall's debut novel, "The Raw Shark Texts" I wasn't sure if it was brilliant, or if it was rubbish. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Frank Wetzig
Unique
In my search for unique, original, and interesting fiction, I stumbled on The Raw Shark Texts. This is a book that is hard to classify, magical realism is the closest genre fit I... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Zero Jones
Great book
This is a great book, both interesting and intelligent. With all the nonsense that is being piped out as fiction at the moment, it is a good to find something that is worth... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Eve
genius/madness
Some say there is a fine line between genius and madness. Well, this book rides that line like Einstein on a mad cow. Read more
Published 8 months ago by vi
unlike anything you've read
If you want a novel unlike anything you've ever read before, this is one for you - highly addictive, totally absorbing and will linger in the memory for a very long time...
Published 8 months ago by trumpet
Sharks only attack you when your wet,
Sean Lock's suggestion that sharks only attack you when your wet is no longer true.
The story of Eric's attempts to regain his memory lost lead into an adventure in... Read more
The story of Eric's attempts to regain his memory lost lead into an adventure in... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Lord Of All He Surveys
Buy this book
I read Raw Shark Texts on holiday and finished it in about a week (was not a beach holiday). Set in Manchester, the story depicts a man who has seemingly lost his memory and wants... Read more
Published 9 months ago by edwina
Well done Steven Hall
If you're interested enough in the blurb to read these reviews, it's almost guaranteed you'll enjoy the book. Read more
Published 10 months ago by pandatime
Tough going...little reward
Maybe I'm not 'clever enough' to get 'it'. Maybe I interpreted it exactly as the author intended.
Either way my opinion is this book is pretentious, hard going, and not... Read more
Either way my opinion is this book is pretentious, hard going, and not... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Simon Batchelor
Better than Auster
Having struggled to get through Auster's New York Trilogy (too clever for its own good) I did worry whether I'd like this book as Steven Hall cites Auster as a major influence. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Jonathan Davies
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