I got the movie-tie-in version of this novel for free at Comic Con, and since I hadn’t ever seen the movie it seemed like a good idea to give this critically-acclaimed novel a try. (If I’ve seen it’s film or TV counterpart first, I will almost never read the book. The entire story is already spoiled for me!)
Here is the synopsis from its Goodreads page:
The narrators hear their echoes in history and change their destinies in ways great and small, in a study of humanity’s dangerous will to power. A reluctant voyager crosses the Pacific in 1850. A disinherited composer gatecrashes in between-wars Belgium. A vanity publisher flees gangland creditors. Others are a journalist in Governor Reagan’s California, and genetically-modified dinery server on death-row. Finally, a young Pacific Islander witnesses the nightfall of science and civilization.
The most interesting part of this book is its structure. It’s set up symmetrically, or like a Matroyshka doll. The first and last chapter are from the same storyline, the second chapter and second-to-last chapter are from the same storyline, and so on and so forth. This image I found best represents it:
I didn’t know this going into the book (I told you I HATE spoilers) and so it took me until probably 15% of the novel to have any grasp at all of what was going on. After that though the book took off and didn’t stop.
I really, really loved this book. It feels like more than a book, it feels like art. The way the stories weave together is dramatic enough to keep the reader pulled in but too much so to make it feel like a gimmick. His touch with prose is sensitive and perfectly balanced: not too wordy but not too bland, either.
The chapter I struggled the most with was the middle chapter; I’m so glad it was only one and not nested in its double like the others. He writes an accent into the chapter that was very difficult for me to follow, and to be honest I think I missed some of the finer points of the plot. I can’t really discredit him, it was my own impatience with the text that made me just want to get the chapter over with, but I would’ve loved a “translation” of the chapter that I could read so that I could get the full climax of the story.
I’m very excited to watch its movie counterpart; I have several friends who love the film. I think it would make a great movie if done correctly. Keep your eyes peeled for the book-to-movie adaptation post, coming soon!
