Customer Reviews

The End of Mr Y

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'll be honest: I was initially drawn to this book because of the cute little mouse on the front cover. I picked it up and read the back. It said in huge letters: IF YOU KNEW THIS BOOK WAS CURSED, WOULD YOU READ IT? Intrigued, I read the rest of the blurb and discovered it was about a woman, Ariel, who read a book that was supposedly cursed and wound up lost in an alternate level of consciousness where she could read others' minds. Wow! Now I was really intrigued!

As soon as I had the book in my hands, I couldn't wait to read it and find out if the book really was cursed.The book-within-a-book that Ariel reads may be cursed and it may not be, but I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't read it.

However, Scarlett Thomas's novel is definetely cursed. Each page of it will literally haunt and possess you. As you read it, you will become so absorbed in it that you will lose awareness of everything else around you.

You will stay up for hours after your bedtime trying to solve the many mysteries that lie within the multi-layered plots of the book. You will find yourself asking deep, profound questions, such as: Is there a God? How did the universe begin? Are there other universes out there that we aren't aware of? What are thoughts made of? Are thoughts tangible? Are we all connected somehow by the tangled web of thoughts we weave? Can we read people's minds and thoughts? Can others read our minds? What would it be like if I turned into a mouse? (I kid you not about the last one!) And when you finally go to bed, your dreams will be possessed by the labyrinths and questions of the book, and you will find yourself trying to make sense of it all. Even after you have finished the book, it will continue to haunt your mind. You will be filled with an insatiable desire to aquire all of Scarlett Thomas's other writings and read them!

Ariel Manto is a PhD candidate at an English University where she is working on a thesis based on the works of an obscure author from the late 19th century. Her thesis advisor disappeared a year before the novel's action begins--on the day that a campus building collapses over a long unused railroad tunnel that runs beneath the campus.

Ariel lives a rather hand-to-mouth life, in a seedy apartment building with inadequate heat, on a budget that makes Ramen noodles a feast, and in the company of an odd assortment of characters. On the day of the building collapse, she has to walk home through an unfamiliar neighborhood, wanders into a used bookshop, and finds the elusive last book by the subject of her thesis, The End of Mr. Y.

At this point, her somewhat unconventional life takes a turn for the bizarre, and the reader should strap on the roller coaster seat belt and hold on, hands inside the car please.

Ariel begins reading the book, discovers the secret that so many have tried to surpress, and--very much like Alice down the rabbit hole--follows the clues, and formulas, and the recipes in the book to discover the secret of Mr. Y.

It's a fantastical book, but Thomas makes Ariel's strange journey, the people she meets and flees from, the atmosphere and location of her journeys, all of what she experiences in the course of the novel, move from one point to the next in a fashion that carries the reader along--a little breathlessly and mouth agape, perhaps--but anxious to see what will happen next.

Thomas is a skilled writer, and she knows how to pace the novel in a way that keeps the reader from being overwhelmed by the strangeness of the tale. Ariel is refreshingly candid about her history and her unfortunate tendency to wander down some unsavory romantic lanes. She's a forward character, technology-obsessed, casual about relationships, drifting a bit--and keenly observant of others.

Armchair Interviews says: If you're looking for an exciting story with a fantastical twist, dive into the world of Ariel Manto and The End of Mr. Y.

What I'm finding so curious is not this book, which I found to be a pleasurable read, all in all, but the polarised reviews of it. On the one hand, we have the rather pig-headed remark by Allison Block writing for The American Library Association, "Chick lit for nerds."-- On the other, we have Jonathan Coe's remark sprawled across the front cover, "Not only will you have a great time reading this book, but you will finish it a cleverer person than when you started."--- This is all a bit much. To begin with the Block-headed review, perhaps Ms. Block should stick to reviewing mindless testosterone-filled novels, plenty of them about. I'm not a chick, and I don't consider myself a nerd (though Ms. Block would no doubt disagree, since I fancied this book). Mr. Coe's remark, on the other hand is a bit much on eulogistic side. I don't feel any "cleverer" for reading this book. The ideas aren't terribly original; you can find much more intriguing and mind-bending notions by reading a popular book on String Theory, for example.

What is formidable is Ms Thomas's ability to form an exciting, sexy romp of a narrative employing these ideas. It's simply a wheeze to read. Contrary to what the Ms. Blocks of the world may assert, this book if for people who feel as Ariel feels on page 117:

"Real life is running out of money, and then food. Real life is having no proper heating. Real life is physical. Give me books instead: Give me the invisibility of the contents of books, the thoughts, the ideas, the images. Let me become part of a book;"

So, go on, it's fun, and it's not as if you'll be cursed or anything.

If you are interested in: mind reading, mind control, academia, time travel, homeopathy, quantum physics, adultery, kinky sex, laboratory mice, the creation of gods, the fate of autistic kids in the troposphere and/or how to keep an English apartment warm.

A very well-written, marvellously inventive and intelligent book about... I'm still not sure, but I loved every minute of reading it. One of the usual drawbacks of books that are as crazily inventive as this one is that the ending doesn't quite live up to the book -- never fear. The ending was a bit sad, I thought, but it fit. Very satisfying, especially if you like sci fi elements in your fiction, and if you don't, this is the place to start.

Scarlett Thomas has unleashed an incredibly ambitious novel here, in the form of a thought experiment encompassing vast areas of philosophy and quantum physics. Like at least one previous reviewer in this forum, I was reminded a bit of Neal Stephenson, at least thematically, in that wired-philosophical-quantum-universal-theory-of-everything sort of way. It's all wrapped up in the tale of a flawed heroine, Ariel, who is researching a supposedly cursed book that offers its few readers a recipe for entering an alternate dimension of pure thought (the Troposphere).

Ariel embarks on bizarre psychosexual explorations in both the Troposphere and in the physical world, while frequently engaging in PhD-level discussions on super-advanced philosophy and relativity. This is the aspect of the book that will probably turn off many readers, as Ariel and the other characters descend into chapter-length egghead discussions, and usually right in the middle of the drama or action. Fortunately Scarlett Thomas seems to know plenty about such matters and she usually - but not always - keeps the brain exercises integrated with the plot. But I can't blame other readers for getting exasperated with the constant obscure references to Heidegger, Derrida, and Einstein - and such discussions really slow down the second half of the novel.

On the good side, the general plotline surrounding the cursed book and the Troposphere is consistently fascinating, and there are some pretty good developments in Ariel's character as she compares her own messed-up life to the possibilities of living in a purely mental realm, in which she can experience the thoughts and feelings of others. The deep-thinking characters are also a bonus for bookworms and philosophically-minded readers, and I bet that Scarlett Thomas could write a believable (if very dense) non-fiction textbook on the postructuralist physics ruminated on by her characters. However, I did not care for the story's ending and Thomas has crammed way too many cosmological and epistemological (gasp!) ideas into the storyline. Regardless of Thomas's ambition, it's very difficult to keep a theory-of-the-universe thought experiment like this under control. Regardless, this is a highly unique novel for readers of a certain mindset. [~doomsdayer520~]

What an utter waste of my money. The books starts off well but soon manages to mire itself in a wasteland and cannot seem to figure out to which, if any, genre it belongs. If you read it as light science fantasy/philosophy, then it would be ok; sadly, Thomas insists on injecting dry references to Derrida and Heidegger at regular intervals.

The first person narrative is sleek and clever, but the dialogue seems forced and sometimes painfully contrived. Thomas' overuse of expletives diminishes their usefulness and ends up making you beg for the talking to end so the story can continue.

The protagonist, Ariel, is a pleasantly real character who is fleshed out cleverly from the start. The narrative at the beginning of the book is particularly tight and smart, but Thomas begins to lose this in the second part.

To be blunt, it feels like the author was juggling too many storylines and not really sure of what she wanted. Anyone familiar with basic philosophy, methaphysics and physics itself will baulk at the repetitive references she makes to standard texts. The artificial intellectualism is at times nauseating and it's hard to understand why the publisher didn't just ask her to simply write it as a fantasy adventure rather than laden it down with second-rate philosophic musings.

As for the epilogue - even the best of authors struggle with them, and this one is a whopping big mistake.

Overall - not worth the read.

This is a compendium of oddities and influences that, bizarrely, works to great effect. Imagine Woody Allen had written the screen play of The Matrix heavily influenced by The Wizard of Oz and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland just after reading Einstein's seminal 1905 paper on Special Relativity and you'll get some idea of its contents and storyline.

I'm not sure if Thomas read Woody's story The Kugelmass Episode in advance of writing The End of Mr Y but there are some interesting similarities not least the fact that Thomas' heroine, PhD student, Ariel Manto, having found a rare copy of the book, The End of Mr Y, proceeds to follow instructions she finds therein that allow her to enter another dimension known as the Troposphere where she meets all kinds of weird and wonderful characters including a beneficent `rabbit god' called Apollo Smintheus.

If this all sounds a bit much reserve judgement until you've tried it as it is well worth the effort. Apparently, it's been referred to as `chick lit for nerds': a better description might be a novel of ideas for slappers - get to about page 30 and you might see what I mean. For all that it is entertaining, funny, intelligent, well written, immensely engaging and beats the pants off what, laughingly, passes for literary fiction these days with the so-called literati!

I bought Our Tragic Universe and The End of Mr Y at the same time - I read Our Tragic Universe first and was bored out of my mind with the main character's whining and obsessive descriptions of the difficulties inherent in knitting a proper pair of socks, but I persevered as I enjoyed the descriptions of Devon and in general, the author's style of writing.

That said, I waited over a year to pick up The End of Mr. Y - oddly enough at exactly the right moment I needed to read it.

An entirely different experience! While Thomas still managed to create characters I cared nothing about, the premise of Mr. Y is absolutely fascinating. The author's background knowledge of philosophy, theology, and literature is woven flawlessly into the plot presenting ideas I obsessed over after finishing the book.

The ending was impossible to see coming as were the twists & turns of plot. Thomas is all about ideas and certainly there were aggravating moments when this reader wished she could argue with some of the characters!

In a time when most fiction isn't worth bothering with as so many authors are afraid to inspire readers to actually "think", this book stands out as one of the best I've read in years. The only reason Mr. Y didn't receive five stars was the characterization - easy to put down a book and forget it if the characters are flat and well, repulsive at times. Yet to do that with Mr. Y would be to miss the treasure hidden in the dirt. Reading this book challenges the reader to question reality and rigidly held beliefs. How often does that happen?

I can't wait to read this book again - though I'd still like to argue with the main character about Derrida!

On a personal note, thank you Scarlett Thomas for introducing me to "St. Jude" - I'd never heard of this particular saint. Discovering him now was an eerie synchronicity making the book even more mysterious and one of the rare novels I'll read a second time.

I bought this book while attending a conference in Oxford, England. I began reading it on the plane taking me back to the States...and, wow! I was hooked from the beginning! You can scroll down to read reviews about the book's excellent plot, but I want to emphasize the wonderful characterization in this novel. Thomas creates atmosphere through characterization--entirely appropriate in a novel dealing with jumping to different consciousnesses! A novel's plot must be good, of course; but, for me, the element of writing that seals the deal is characterization. I felt like I was inhabiting Ariel's skin (quite early in the novel) and, perhaps because I am also a PhD student, I identified with her psyche and the aspects of her life that revolved around academia. I highly recommend this book! It is one of my absolute favorites!

This is a rollicking good read, with so many elements to entertain: an engaging heroine, intelligent musings, mice, teenagers, romance, sinister CIA agents and dirty sex.

The opening seems somewhat surreal, with a university building disappearing into a hole which has suddenly opened up beneath it. Normality is soon restored, and we are soon engaged in the somewhat sad, hungry and sordid life of poor graduate student Ariel.

However, the initial impression of surrealism returns, as at the core of this book is an astonishing idea concerning the nature of reality:

I imagine that few of us spend much time contemplating creation, existence and the reason for religion, yet this book has one questioning their very nature long after it is finished.

I notice that several reviewers seemed dissatisfied with the ending of this book. I cannot agree: given all that has gone before, the ending cements Ariel's unusual interpretation of reality. While the ending might seem glib, I also agree with Scarlett Thomas, who sees the book as a Tragedy as much as a Romance.