Janet Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 (edited) I wasn't exactly sure where to put this, but I feel the time-travel element probably makes it suited to this forum. The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas The ‘Blurb’ When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed. With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel. This book has an air of mystery about it - enhanced by the fact that the pages of the book are edged in black...! It’s fair to say that Ariel is a little obsessed with the novel The End of Mr Y. She is doing a PhD, sharing an office with Professor Burlem who shares her obsession, although he has gone missing and nobody knows where he’s gone and whether or when he’ll be back. When she finds the novel in a second-hand book store she has to read it even though it is allegedly cursed. After reading it, she embarks on a strange adventure and her life will never been the same again. Ariel has no self-respect. We never quite get to the bottom of why, apart from the fact that she had an alcoholic father and a mother who largely ignored her. This makes Ariel a person who seems to wish to punish herself by having meaningless sex with people who she will never get close to and who has few real solid friendships. Anyone uncomfortable with reading storylines of a sexual nature will not want to read this book because at times it leaves little to the imagination! This does not particularly make it offensive - or at least, I wasn't offended by it. The book is a little bit like the Time Traveler’s wife in that it took me a while to get my head around the time-travel aspect, and the book does contain lots of physics/science elements, some of which I just didn’t understand. That said, I thought it was a cracking read! The paperback is 502 pages long and is published by Cannongate. The ISBN number is 978-1847670700. 9/10 (Read October 2008) Edited October 22, 2008 by Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Sounds right up my street! I'll have to give it a go and see what I think. Great, another one for mount tbr:roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 I've never done one before, but was thinking of starting a Bookring with this, as I do think it's great but might not be everyone's 'cup of tea' so feel a bit responsible for giving it such high praise. It's such an unusual book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 It's such an unusual book! That's the appeal! Well I for one would definitely join, and I wouldn't hold you responsible if I found out it wasn't as I was expecting/not to my tastes. I'd just like to give it a go and see what it has to say. You've intrigued me with that review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephanie2008 Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I'm going to start reading more fantasy fiction, supernatural and thriller novels. I'm stuck in a bit of a rut at the minute, I only seem to be reading chicklit. This looks interesting. I might give this a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukeozade100 Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I read this a couple of months ago and I also thought it was really good, theres some odd elements in it but it just adds to the overall etherealness of some of the stuff in the book. I don't really think the sex in that is ever quite that explicit that it would really detract from the book, the main woman in it is certainly a bit troubled sexually, but i'd think you'd really have to be someone who almost completley avoids sex in books to actually have it ruin the book for you. Overall 8.5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hmm - perhaps I should remove that bit from my review. Or at least take out the colour... yes, I'll do that. I'm not singling any one person out here but I know a few members are a bit uncomfortable about sex in novels so I thought I should mention it as it's actually quite a big part of the book but you are totally right that certainly doesn't detract from it in any way, and it's necessary for the story, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookwormmum Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 I read this a couple of months ago. A really unusual but riveting read. Like you Janet, a lot of the physics/science went over my head a little but it never seemed boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 I've finished this book today and despite being an interesting read I can't help but feel disappointed in the ending. I'm not sure how else it could have ended but it just didn't feel right to me. It also seemed to go off on a tangent right at the most interesting parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spooncat Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Just finished this book - on more than one occasion I thought my brain was going to explode! If you are into quantum physics and the concept of thought experiments this will be easy for you but for the rest of us you have to concentrate hard not to be totally confused , well you do if you are like me. Would you read a book that was cursed? that's the first question - then we go on to mind reading and thought control - it is all very interesting and there is the hint of a love story in there. It is certainly like nothing I've read before and wouldnt it be great if we could read other people's minds and travel through time:) I also liked the fact the pages were all edged black - gave the book a cursed look... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucybird Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 I read this last year while I was in hospital. It took me a while to get into but in the end I really liked it. I must admit I did partially buy it because of the black pages though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I bought 'The End of Mr Y' last week and it arrived this week, I am looking forward to reading it, thanks for the review Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrysalis_stage Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I have 50 pages left to read, I want to read them now to know the end but I also enjoyed the book alot so I will miss the place it takes you. Definitely a book I shall want to re-read! Would recommend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I don't really think the sex in that is ever quite that explicit that it would really detract from the book, the main woman in it is certainly a bit troubled sexually, but i'd think you'd really have to be someone who almost completley avoids sex in books to actually have it ruin the book for you Present. My copy has been entrusted to a new owner for that reason precisely - and to think that I enjoyed the beginning so much, when I was doing philosophy in uni I used to love the rushed, spinning sensation metaphysical thought experiments gave me so that part of it was brilliant, really got my cogs whirring. However, I easily get disturbed by explicit content in my reading materials and was unable to proceed with this... yet another book of which I'll never know the ending! I envy you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrysalis_stage Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) I do have to say the sex scenes are what make me cautious in recommending this book to say my boyfriends mum. I am quite aright with it all but I did find myself in parts sitting back thinking the wording could be seen a bit crude and unnecessary, but then again that is Ariel's presonality so it is necessary in the respect of understanding her character. Although I have yet to piece together why we actually needed to know that part of her life in such detail to understand the rest.....? Maybe the next 50 pages will enlighten me. I guess we need to know the sex part to identify her mindspace...oh I'm going to stop wondering now and just take it lol Edited May 20, 2009 by chrysalis_stage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I love books with any kind of explicit content! I can't wait to read this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrysalis_stage Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I love books with any kind of explicit content! I can't wait to read this Yeah, I enjoyed it, but I can see it being a book not easily recommended because of it. Then again it clearly says on the back: Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I like love, I like sex, I like death and I like time-travel. *major thumbs up!* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 Okay so I'm nearly 200 pages into this and I love it. I just came across the page of binary digits when she's going through the tunnel to the troposphere. I'm a very curious person, so I decided to translate the binary - for anyone who cares, it just says, 'what the hmmm is going on' over and over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 Thanks, Roxi! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 I know, I'm a nerd. Really loving this book too. Also, guys with shoulder length black hair = epic win. Had a discussion with Chrysalis about this book - she may come in and give her own opinion in her own words, but the general jist was, we have come to the conclusion that Ariel is a love-her-or-hate-her kind of character (it may take a while to decide which side you're on, but ultimately her view of her self as worthless and her issues will drive you to sympathy or feeling uncomfortable). We also decided that, people who can really relate to at least her emotions, if not her actual experiences, are more likely to like her, and that the book on the whole presents very real personal issues in a very blunt and shockingly honest manner - which is what may put off people with no experience of such issues (and of course in some cases, BECAUSE they don't want to relive such issues.) But, we essentially designated HOW these raw truths about human nature which the book slams in your face are actually expressed as the dividing point for readers . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 (edited) Okay. It's nearly 4am and I just finished this book, after reading 363 pages today. I have to ramble incoherently as I'll forget everything otherwise. This post spoils just about everything that can be spoiled in the book - you have been warned. Overall, I thought this book was superb. Absolutely SUPERB. It has flaws. While I wouldn't say anything is gratutious in it, I think it aims for a sort of 'shock factor' which isn't necessary - it would portray it's point clearly anyway. Two theories in the book I LOVE: I've studied quantum physics in my spare time because I'm curious - I already knew about subatomic particles existing in a wavefunction until collapsed by an external observer - and I've always been heavily into general science vs. religion. Applying the wavefunction theory TO the Big Bang theory, two theories still largely accepted today, and you get God or a multi-verse? That's fantastic! I love it! And later on the thought is matter theory, which also slots perfectly into it (and accords with exactly what I already thing about consciousness anyway - that it's nothing over and above the physical body) I LOVE IT! Now, I know it's all purely makey-uppy theoretical physics, but it's still brilliant. The final segement of the book: very, very rushed. The two big tasks that should have been epic sorta fizzled out. It was as though the author couldn't wait til give us her big finale which she herself says was a risk. But I'll forgive her for that - the mice trip was short but fantastically described. The actual meeting with Lumas was far too short and far too easy. Still, I find it diffcult to make those things detract from the overall experience of the book. Random Thoughts: I was hoping we might get a glimpse at the more powerful God of Christian teaching - apparently Adam met him and got some rocket launchers?? (In what was possibly the greatest scene I've ever read in any book EVER!!!!) but we'll let it go. In a way, I can't help but think that this book would have done well to expand to a two-part or even trilogy, because once all the explaining is done it just sorta flies through the plot. The two blond Starlight Project men never come back from the bathroom, we could at least find out what happens to them. I'd like to know more about the Austistic kids too. The epilogue: The book takes a turn for the religious towards the end, which I'm a little unsure about. But it IS all just a metaphor. I know everybody was dodgy about the ending. The epilogue, I mean. Well. It is dodgy. It's a happy ever after sort of thing. I don't like the religious imagery at all, but I do think that it's the most conveniant image to portray in two pages what the case actually was. I think I would have preferred had it not been an epilogue, but perhaps that earlier in the book the possibility of backwards creation had been more directly focused on the idea of working right back to the start of consciousness, and ending with the hint that Ariel and Adam are in fact the two who go back, instead of overtly saying it - and she might have side-stepped the religion then too. I however, love the content implied by the epilogue, even if I don't like it's execution. All in all, while the book had pretty much only 2 major theories I liked and one epic scene, somehow it still managed to remain enthralling throughout. It somehow locks you into Ariel's perspective so you simultaneously feel you are completely cut off, even blinkered, from the real world, the sane world, the neurotypical world - it's wholly inaccessible. I felt curtailed in it - in a good way, I was in Ariel's head and saw the world through only one eccentric person's eyes. At the same time as it made me feel cut off from normalcy, there's a whole sense of knowing more than any ordinary people could ever know, being open to possibilites (and worlds?) beyond the imagings of anybody in software code - it's like stepping outside of the inherently subjective human frame of mind and getting a glimpse of a revelation like Kant's things-in-themselves. Also, I loved the mice. Definately one for a reread at some point. Edited May 24, 2009 by Nollaig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlette Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 It's not that I didn't like the character and I've read more sexually explicit books than this one, but something about it put me off. I took it off the shelf again (I'm only keeping it for the pretty cover) and gave it another try... but I just can't seem to get into it. I don't know, it just doesn't work for me *shrugs*. I guess it's just one of those books I'm incapable of enjoying... Oh, well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rawr Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 I found this randomly in a bookcase downstairs, i think my brother's friend bought it him, so i am considering adding it to my list and taking it back home with me. Would anyone recommend this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 YES! YES YES YES!!!!!!! Read it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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