I first read The End of Mr Y in 2007, having had it so enthusiastically recommended to me by a Waterstones bookworm that I snapped it up on the spot. And I was SO glad I did; what an original story! If I were to try and describe the vibe of this book - because reading it really does evoke a feeling - then I’d say I felt energised … it’s utterly compelling and intoxicating, to the point where it almost resonates with a potency that’s impossible to ignore. Picking it up again this week I briefly wondered if I wouldn’t feel as strongly about it after all this time … but it was a solid 5 stars then, and it more than upholds that status today.
Ariel Manto is a PhD student with a penchant for ‘thought experiments’, theoretical physics, and Victorian scientists. Her studies have seeded and nurtured an obsession with one eccentric scientist in particular; the enigmatic Thomas Lumas. Having read almost all his published works, just one remains tantalisingly out of reach - The End of Mr Y. This book is shrouded in mystery, with the only known copy said to be held in the vault of a bank … in Germany. Ariel’s PhD supervisor, initially incredibly supportive of her pursuit of Mr Y, has a sudden and inexplicable change of heart … and then even more suddenly, vanishes!
Somewhat dissolute and directionless, Ariel is enjoying a quiet smoke out of her office window one day when the ground quite literally opens up, taking a neighbouring uni building down with it. No, this isn’t the work of the curse, just a disagreement between mother nature and structural engineers … but it’s the event that prompts Ariel to walk home early, passing a second hand bookshop where she stumbles across a box of books bearing an uncanny resemblance to her own studies … and an exceedingly rare copy of Lumas’s The End of Mr Y.
Thomas Lumas’s The End of Mr Y is a book about a respectable businessman who passes the annual Goose Fair on his way home from a meeting. He feels himself drawn in to the fair ‘as if by mesmerism’, deeper and deeper until he happens upon the Spectral Opera. Unable to comprehend what he’s seeing he lingers after the show finishes and follows curiosity’s claw to a moodily-lit ante chamber where he encounters the fairground doctor, a mysterious tincture to drink, and a black dot. Hours later he resurfaces from an inexplicable experience where he was living inside the soul of another man; thinking his thoughts, feeling his emotions, tasting his food, all while remaining lucid and cogent, entirely aware of his own self existing in parallel. The doctor is gone when Mr Y wakes, and so begins a fruitless search for the fair which blossoms into an all-consuming obsession and the decline of his business.
It’s apparent that Thomas Lumas’s book isn’t the work of fiction he asserts it to be, and soon Ariel becomes convinced that the recipe for the tincture was transcribed on the missing page of the book. Without giving too much away, Ariel embarks on an obsessive quest to track down the missing page to recreate this mysterious draught, so she too can travel through the thoughts and memories of others.
The place where this mind-travel takes place was christened the Troposphere by Mr Y in Lumas’s book; it’s a place that’s as hard to grasp as your own dreams, with that sensation of unease and disquiet that linger after the dream has faded. The Troposphere isn’t a cosy dream world - quite the opposite, and it’s made all the more unsafe by the grey-suited, gun-toting American spooks who are hunting Ariel in this world, and the real one.
The End of Mr Y is a marmite book … and I’m a wholehearted lover. It’s an ingenious book of many layers, time zones, and narratives. There are times when the conversations between Ariel and other characters delve really deeply into physics, philosophy, religion and homeopathy. My brain just isn’t wired that way, and I found myself re-reading some parts of it because I wanted to try and understand the many depths and facets of this book. However, the abundance of science in no way affected my enjoyment of the book. Whilst I’m on this point, I want to make mention of the fact that I’ve read several reviews of The End of Mr Y that are quite disparaging of the accuracy of its scientific content … whilst these reviewers are clearly mega-brains, I think they’re missing the point that this is a book to be read for enjoyment; it’s not an academic tome. In fact, I think it’s ironic that a sentence lifted straight from Thomas Lumas’s own original copy of the End of Mr Y makes the purpose of Scarlett Thomas’s book quite clear: ‘It is only as a work of fiction that I wish this book to be considered.’
So, if you’re craving a book that’s going to seize you by the imagination and draw you in to something enchanting and a little dark, The End of Mr Y is your book. Scarlett Thomas has woven a story of so many layers, and you will emerge feeling just a little bit smarter too! It’s fast-paced and addictive, and although you won’t always like the characters, you’ll find its intriguing complexity makes it nigh on impossible to put down … right until you reach the most perfectly symbiotic ending.
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About the author
A fantasy travel book :)
Several years ago I was passing a charity shop and through the window, I spotted a number of books for sale, so I ventured inside. This book really stood out with its black page edging, and its alluring cover (I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover) so I bought the book. Absolutely intrigued when I realised that the main protagonist (Ariel Manto) bought her copy of “The End of Mr Y” in a second-hand bookshop. I opened the cover and started reading hoping that my expectation of a fantasy adventure, that I now had an affinity to, wasn’t just about to be smashed.From the first page, I was hooked, an immediate recognition that this was going to be original and I’d better be alert to new perceptions and twists through Ariel’s pursuit of Thomas Lumas (the fictional author of the “End of Mr Y”). It is a very clever plot where your journey will involve entering the Troposphere, a place where you can travel through time and other people’s thoughts. There was definitely a risk that this could just get too unbelievable but the characters remained convincing, while complex. The plot moved at a great pace and remained plausible. The science was interesting but if it’s not your thing you can leave to the side without affecting the story.I bought all Scarlett Thomas’ books on the basis of this read but none have had the same impact as this one. I have a mythical (if fabricated in my own mind) connection to this book, and maybe you will too. While I feel I have contributed significantly to Amazon’s success I keep trying to find books in unexpected places hoping to be rewarded with another experience like this.
Top reviews from other countries
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Eleonora Lilith D'EliaReviewed in Italy on 12 November 2022
Bellissimo libro
Arrivato in tempo. Regalo molto gradito per il mio compagno.Bellissimo libroEleonora Lilith D'Elia
Reviewed in Italy on 12 November 2022
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- Sally BoscoReviewed in the United States on 7 July 2012
Different, imaginative and wonderful writing
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ASGReviewed in Germany on 6 September 2007
Tour de Force durch die Welt hinter dem Vorhang
