A young woman picks up a book left by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.
THE BOOK: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.
THE WRITER: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world's greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumors that swirl around him.
THE READERS: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become and how much they're willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.
S., conceived by filmmaker J.J. Abrams and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst, is the chronicle of two readers finding each other in the margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces they don't understand. It is also Abrams and Dorst's love letter to the written word.
Before I get to a proper review, let's talk about books. I have three I just bought sitting on my nightstand. I've got another sitting in the front seat of my car and a final one on hold at the library. And I can't imagine picking any of them up right now because I'm still thinking about this story.
This book. Man, this book.
Last night I finally finished, and it felt like I'd completed a marathon. That doesn't sound particularly flattering, I guess, but I haven't read something this satisfying for a while. Was the journey a bit difficult? Yes. Was it worth it?
Absolutely.
So last time I gushed about how pretty this book is. (Seriously. It's gorgeous.) And it's true, but it doesn't necessarily make this an easy read. After I got over the excitement of paging through the contents, I had to figure out how to read this thing.
If you're keen on reading this, I'd suggest reading a chapter of the novel then going back and reading sets of Jen and Eric's notes. These are in mostly-chronological order, with the colors indicating the time when the pair are writing (Pencil: Eric's notes to himself; blue/black: Jen and Eric's first time through the story; then orange/green, purple/red and finally black/black. All in all, I read through it about four times. Hence marathon-like).
Each time through builds on the others and the layers are astounding. There are tons of codes (I'm going to learn how to read a rail fence cipher as soon as I get a chance) and the variety of notes, maps, photos, etc. etc. make this book come to life. It's hard for me not to think of Jen and Eric as real people because of how they jump off the page.
As far as the plot goes, it brings up really interesting questions (especially about identity) and leaves the answers up to you. To me, this is a nice blend of philosophy and mystery along with an unforced romance. I don't want to spoil anything because making the discoveries the same time as Eric and Jen is part of the fun, so I'll leave off soon. Ship of Theseus itself is a pretty great novel but for me it's really the notes and mystery that make this story so compelling.
5/5.
(Small gripe: There are so many characters and names to remember. And some people correspond with others and an overload of information. This, however, will make reading it again just as great because there will be even more things to discover next time.)
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