Here comes the science bit

07 September 2006

"As a student of the history of science, I was quite pleased to see a treatment that went deeper than the usual pop stylings of today's fiction writers."

Bookslut review of The End of Mr Y. by Scarlett Thomas:

Thomas also tells her story with the style of an insightful storyteller, like my beloved Lloyd Alexander, captivating us with her characters and the believable challenges that lead them into the realm of fantasy. So when Ariel meets the mouse god Apollo Smintheus, we can accept him as her invention instead of being reminded of Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Thomas doesn't rely on the glitter of specifics to try to conquer our attention deficit disorder, by riffing from Ariel's brand of smokes to a book cover to a current hit on the radio. Instead, Thomas builds Ariel's world like a scientist may build a thought experiment, letting it unfold for us naturally, and it becomes as persuasive as our real world. She is also willing to face the darkness and complexity of human decisions and interactions with humor and ethics, but without judgment. Her narrator is flawed but understanding, a refreshing point of relation for the reader.

Canongate will release it in the UK in July 2007.