My Review: Ship of Theseus

I finally finished the book with an all-night last Saturday; it was 8 AM Sunday by the time I read the last page. If I have to describe the feeling at that moment I would say I was dissatisfied because it felt rushed in the end. I guess that’s because my expectations for this book were pretty high. The only book that comes closer to this would be Possession by A.S. Byatt and even that is miles behind in comparison (not in literary value but in an overall reading experience)

Me while reading the book

Me after its done

I can’t call this a book because it does not have a single story line. Without getting too much into the nitty-gritties here’s the summary: We have the actual novel “Ship of Theseus”, the plot behind the real identity of V. M. Straka and then we have the budding love story of Jen & Eric.  It feels like one of those movies like Crash, Amores Perros etc where stories from different backgrounds are brought together to acknowledge their essential connectedness. The production value of the collection is incredibly high – it can really only be described as absolutely stunning. The designers have painfully tried to reconstruct the pieces as authentically as possible. The handwriting is real; Eric’s more masculine script is easier to read than Jen’s feminine scrawls.

It is much more relaxed to watch these kinds of movies/tv-series as the visual medium as it is easier to interpret and compartmentalize. While doing this in a book format, your brain becomes the medium, you are constantly trying to identify whatever you read and attach a context and timeline. It becomes tedious at times, because there are at least four timelines running at any point of time. Eventually, you muddle through and get a hang of it. It took me about two chapters to get accustomed to the whole idea.

Once you get used to the whole ordeal, it is an incredible read. At times, I was very interested in the novel, so I moved from chapter to chapter without reading the comments. At times, the comments were much more appealing, I barely gave attention to the references because I wanted to know how their relationship is going to progress. But, it was more engaging than an ordinary book because it has all these “clues” tucked in neatly giving us more dimensions to the story. This is quintessentially a geek-bait novel. It has such a social media buzz around it. I have found a number of twitter accounts who “would help you navigate the murky waters of the book”. There are also a number of websites dedicated to Mr. Straka for those who don’t think the mystery was detailed enough. It has moved from being a book to a social experiment where people collectively are trying to figure out those “missing” connections. I don’t know whether there would be conventions held in the name of S. (ala Firefly) but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

S is far from perfect, but is worth reading for the experience alone. The book offers something entirely unique. Its strength lies in its production values, and while it is at times too slow or overly complicated, it offers readers a damn good first attempt at a completely immersive, multifaceted reading experience.