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The Raw Shark Texts
by Steven Hall
|
About This Book
ISBN13: 9781841959115 |
Powells.com Staff Pick
In The Raw Shark Texts, Steven Hall produces a novel that is both literary bravura and a thoughtful meditation of identity and loss. A stunning debut by a writer of enormous talent.
Recommended by Gerry, Powells.com
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)
"I defy anybody out there to find a more original and audacious debut novel this year....It is very rewarding to read a debut novel like The Raw Shark Texts, and the sense that you get of not only better things to come, but the satisfaction of getting in on the ground floor of what is sure to be an amazing literary career." Gerry Donaghy, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Eric Sanderson wakes up in a
house one day with no idea who
or where he is. A note
instructs him to see
a Dr. Randle immediately,
who informs him that he is
undergoing yet another episode
of acute memory loss that is a
symptom of his severe dissociative
disorder. Eric's been
in Dr. Randle's care for two
years — since the tragic death
of his great love, Clio, while
the two vacationed in the
Greek islands.
But there may be more to the story, or it may be a different story altogether. As Eric begins to examine letters and papers left in the house by "the first Eric Sanderson," a staggeringly different explanation for what is happening to Eric emerges, and he and the reader embark on a quest to recover the truth and escape the remorseless predatory forces that threatens to devour him.
The Raw Shark Texts is a kaleidoscopic novel about the magnitude of love and the devastating effect of losing that love. It will dazzle you, it will move you, and will leave an indelible imprint like nothing you have read in a long time.
Review:
"Hall's debut, the darling of last year's London Book Fair, is a cerebral page-turner that pits corporeal man against metaphysical sharks that devour memory and essence, not flesh and blood. When Eric Sanderson wakes from a lengthy unconsciousness, he has no memory. A letter from 'The First Eric Sanderson' directs him to psychologist Dr. Randle, who tells Eric he is afflicted with a 'dissociative condition.' Eric learns about his former life — specifically a glorious romance with girlfriend Clio Aames, who drowned three years earlier — and is soon on the run from the Ludovician, a 'species of purely conceptual fish' that 'feeds on human memories and the intrinsic sense of self.' Once he hooks up with Scout, a young woman on the run from her own metaphysical predator, the two trek through a subterranean labyrinth made of telephone directories (masses of words offer protection, as do Dictaphone recordings), decode encrypted communications and encounter a series of strange characters on the way to the big-bang showdown with the beast. Though Hall's prose is flabby and the plethora of text-based sight gags don't always work (a 50-page flipbook of a swimming shark, for instance), the end result is a fast-moving cyberpunk mashup of Jaws, Memento and sappy romance that's destined for the big screen. 125,000 first printing; $150,000 promo. (Apr.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"The star of Steven Hall's rousingly inventive 'The Raw Shark Texts' is its villain — always a good sign in a thriller. Raymond Chandler famously said, 'When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.' Hall one-ups Chandler by sending in a shark. But not just any shark, a conceptual shark called a Ludovician, which swims in a current of words and ideas and feeds on memory and..." Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)
Review:
"If Paul Auster and Haruki Murakami collaborated on Moby-Dick crossed with The Wizard of Oz, they might produce something like Hall's deliriously ambitious debut, which mixes profound themes with playful plot twists." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review:
"The bastard love child of The Matrix, Jaws and The Da Vinci Code. Very entertaining." Mark Haddon
Review:
"Fast, sexy, intriguing, intelligent — The Raw Shark Texts is all these and more: a cult waiting to happen, a blockbuster begging to be made. Steven Hall is a truly fantastic storyteller. Investigate, now!" Toby Litt
Review:
"An absurdly confident and intriguing debut....Move over Damien Hurst." Esquire
Review:
"The most original reading experience of the year....A novel that genuinely isn't like anything you have ever read before." Independent
Review:
"Clever, exciting, funny...and, finally, moving." Sunday Times
Review:
"Paced like a thriller, the book thinks like a French theorist and reads like a deluge. The end result is a fun, quirky, very British love story." San Francisco Chronicle
Review:
"The Raw Shark Texts is so much more than a clever, playful book, though it is both those things." Los Angeles Times
Synopsis:
Moving with the pace and momentum of a superb thriller, exploring ideas about language and information as well as identity, The Raw Shark Texts is ultimately a novel about the magnitude of love and the devastating effect of losing that love.
About the Author
Steven Hall was born in 1975. After completing a fine arts degree, he became one of the founding members of Manchester's Wet Nana and has produced a number of plays, music videos, conceptual art pieces and short stories. He lives in Hull.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
-
bluenude3, April 12, 2008 (view all comments by bluenude3)
I really wanted to love this book,but it was just not to be. The writing is very erratic, which while it suites the character role, it just ended up annoying me. I have read some books that were alternatively written - Ibid is a great example - that accomplished pulling off an alternative style and telling an enjoyable story. Unfortunately, this book was just not one of them. Interesting, but not extraordinary.
-
hubble56, July 9, 2007 (view all comments by hubble56)
Dear Readers I have read some of the reviews and Steven Hall has a great future in writing.I wish him all of the best.I have been lucky to have won a signed copy of "The Raw Shark Texts" and relly look forward to reading it. Thank You Mr. Hall Sincerely,Jeff Saunders,Hamilton,Ontario
-
Susan_Schlesinger, April 17, 2007 (view all comments by Susan_Schlesinger)
I recently read "The Raw Shark Texts" by Steven Hall, and could not put this book down! The second Eric Sanderson awakens in an apartment, not knowing who he is or how he has come to be there. He finds a letter from the first Eric Sanderson that leads him on a dangerous path of discovery that includes lost memories, lost loves, lost identities and a conceptual shark that feeds on human memories. This is a stunning debut that will captivate you from page one.
View all 3 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9781841959115
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Canongate Books
- Author:
- Author:
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Amnesia
- Subject:
- Dissociative disorders
- Publication Date:
- March 2007
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 427
- Dimensions:
- 9.22x6.40x1.39 in. 1.60 lbs.
