th!s

ISBN-13: 9780692831182 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 372 str.

Daniel Shortell

Opis

With its multiple protagonists, meta/sub-story structure, and sub-story convergence, th s does not lend itself well to a traditional synopsis. Structurally, the novel is complex providing an unorthodox read and allowing ample space between sub-stories to permit the progressive intertwining of mutually dependent narratives, merging circumstances and staggered timelines. The meta-story, narrated by a single protagonist at a time, is comprised of four interleaved sub-stories that progress non-linearly with each story helping to flesh out the bones of the meta-story. Succinctly, eight narrators tell four sub-stories, stories that are broken into 43 interlaced sections all of which bands together to create the meta. The novel concludes with a 129-line heroic couplet acting as a sort of satirical moral lesson from the aether. Sections of the novel are delineated by the symbol representing the narrating protagonist. Several sections have simultaneous co-narrators, and are identified by more than one symbol. As a guide, readers should be aware of the emergence of the following sub-stories and their respective narrators: Finding Self (co-narrated by Bryson Acenes) Finding Love (co-narrated by Sariya Ribeaux and Alain Nelling) Finding God (co-narrated by Father McMurty and God) Finding Conviction (jointly narrated by Aphamali Twist, Zuberi Ortiz and John Voyes) These sub-stories coalesce into the larger meta-story that emerges as the novel progresses: Humanity has fractured resulting in the emergence of the constitutionally protected Homo beatus species, a Superclass of humans defined by their extreme wealth and nearly infinite level of scientifically-proven motivation. When society begins to crumble under the weight of social inequality, absurdity becomes the norm as citizens scramble to find meaning and happiness in a world gone mad. Seven people from across the social strata give a personal account of how to persevere in the worst of times. One's wife moonlights as a prostitute to afford her mounting religious debts, a politician achieves immortality through a pedophilia addiction and a impoverished orphan finds peace and contentment in nihilism. Narrated from seven meticulously interconnected perspectives, th s aims to overshoot in its attempt to find reason in a perfectly irrational world. Only through an exploration of philosophy, science, technology, economics and religion can readers understand how citizens cope inside an inverted totalitarian society. th s seesaws between humor and despair to tease out the motivations for why people across the socio-economic spectrum seem to behave in a self-defeating manner. The novel explores a range of themes including diminishing interpersonal connectivity, cultural homogenization, corruption, the cult of self, the illusion of social mobility, and religion as an economic tool. th s doesn't fit well into any fiction genre as it is somewhat pre-dystopian, somewhat satirical, somewhat science fiction but always true to its literary core.