The End of Mr Y

Book Description

Critics

• Lost in Mindspace

  The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas 455pp, Canongate, £12.99 By combining elements of various genres - fantasy, science fiction, cerebro-thriller - and by having no unicorns or spaceships on the cover, The End of Mr Y will probably escape being descri ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

• Y then Z

  The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas Canongate £10.99, pp452 The End of Mr Y opens with a superb set piece about the spontaneous collapse of a building. While Ariel Manto, the novel's fiercely bright protagonist, narrates, she throws in little asides: ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

13 Reviews

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  mostly "matrix" veering into "alice in wonderland", with a hint of "thornbirds", darrida, the birth of homoeopathy, rough sex, the history of time, what else?, neil gaiman, with the benign rats and the london underworld, oh, and genesis 2:16. too much on one's plate to handle, honestly: but she teac ... (continue)

  mostly "matrix" veering into "alice in wonderland", with a hint of "thornbirds", darrida, the birth of homoeopathy, rough sex, the history of time, what else?, neil gaiman, with the benign rats and the london underworld, oh, and genesis 2:16. too much on one's plate to handle, honestly: but she teaches creative writing at uni, so.

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  Elsastella said on Nov 29, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  First of all, it's not a masterpiece as the front cover says.
  Thomas writing is quite good, despite some rushed descriptions of the Troposhere, a basically brilliant idea not too well explained.
  The End Of Mr Y has one major strength: it leaves the reader with interesting notions that shou ... (continue)

  First of all, it's not a masterpiece as the front cover says.
  Thomas writing is quite good, despite some rushed descriptions of the Troposhere, a basically brilliant idea not too well explained.
  The End Of Mr Y has one major strength: it leaves the reader with interesting notions that should be explored, such as Derrida's and Baudrillard's thoughts.
  I will suggest this book to people looking for a weird story, well narrated and with a peculiar ending. Mind you, do not expect an innovative novel.

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  Gekko P. said on Jan 25, 2009 about the Paperback edition | 2 feedbacks

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  The best new novel I enjoyed in recent years. Ambitious and thought provoking. The distinct difference between the first and other parts of the story may firstly look abrupt, but I think it's a brave novelty, and, why not?
  The book design is perfectly relevant to the story. This is a very rare ... (continue)

  The best new novel I enjoyed in recent years. Ambitious and thought provoking. The distinct difference between the first and other parts of the story may firstly look abrupt, but I think it's a brave novelty, and, why not?
  The book design is perfectly relevant to the story. This is a very rare case of a good story combined with a good book design. I shall congratulate both the author and the designer.
  Personally I would prefer a different ending: to link the whole story back to the beginning and make it a close loop. I think this would make the logic behind the story more profound and the reading more stunning. However it will become much too dark and maybe a hint of positive ending (as the author arranged it) is preferable.
  Overall speaking, this is a very fine piece of work.
  Well done, Scarlett Thomas! Looking forward to your next work!

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  Little Downs said on Aug 8, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Unlike some other reveiwers on here, I absolutely loved this.

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  Xavier Jones-Barlow said on Mar 18, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  I brought this book expecting another, Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Dahlquist, style Victoriana adventure. However I was pleasantly surprised instead by an excellent story with a twisting plot, set mainly in the modern time frame. Philosophical in places it never bores and kept me reading more ... (continue)

  I brought this book expecting another, Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Dahlquist, style Victoriana adventure. However I was pleasantly surprised instead by an excellent story with a twisting plot, set mainly in the modern time frame. Philosophical in places it never bores and kept me reading more, most enjoyable.

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  AkiraNone said on Mar 3, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Some good ideas in a boring plot with a very flat cast. I hoped it would have at least some grand meaning in the end, but the epilogue really seems, quoting the afterword, 'shaggy'. It's sad to say the best part of this book is its cover design.

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  Ian Atrus said on Apr 30, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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Book Details

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• English Books
• eBook 512 Pages
• ISBN-10: 1847673686
• ISBN-13: 9781847673688
• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Pub date: Jun 12, 2008
• Also available as: Paperback and Hardcover
• In other languages: other languages 和書, Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Libri Italiani, Danske bøger, Svenska böcker

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