Mar. 25th, 2010

nishatalitha: image: lots of ladybirds crawling up fencepost.  white rope is wrapped twice around top of fencepost (what are you reading)
Last night I had a hard decision. Do I read the Supreme Court Decision of Susan Couch v The Attorney General, which was just released, or do I finish reading The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway?

I ended up finishing The Gone-Away World last night, lying in bed and reading, and starting to read the case today. The summary on the blurb of the book (below) is a good starting point:

The Jogamund Pipe is the backbone of the world, and it's on fire. Gonzo Lubitsch, professional hero and troubleshooter, is hired to put it out - but there's more to the fire, and the Pipe itself, than meets the eye. The job will take Gonzo and his best friend, our narrator, back to their own beginnings and into the dark heart of the Jorgamund Company itself.

From rural childhood in Cricklewood Cove to military service in a bewildering foreign war; from Jarndice University to the sawdust of the Nameless Bar; their story is the story of the Gone-Away World. It is the history of a friendship stretched beyond its limits; a tale of love and loss; of ninjas, pirates, politics; of curious heroism in strange and dangerous places.


And there are mimes.

It starts off with the pipe on fire, then at chapter 2, reverts back to childhood and then follows through chronologically continuously to the end. The Gone-Away War was caused by this new weapon of mass destruction, which makes things Go Away and in their place is void. Most of the world has Gone Away. Spilling out from the void or cracks is Stuff. Stuff makes reality flexible, and tends to work with the subconscious - which is all you can imagine in a war zone -although not everywhere is a warzone, so you get all sorts of things, including, but not limited to buffaloes who want to be bigger and meaner than they actually are. The Pipe makes reality solid and unchanging.

About two thirds of the way through there is a twist that I didn't expect to the twist that I saw coming, and this changed my entire perception of the rest of the book. That was awesome. There is also a lot of thought into the nature of business and corporations, as if the company really is a separate entity, and not just the separate legal entity that we're accustomed to. And where do you draw the line between what is acceptable and what is not? Who gets to make that decision on behalf of the masses? This is how I prefer my philosophy - in fiction.

The narrative is first person and somewhat rambly with lots of extended metaphors and analogies. For all that, it doesn't tend to have a lot of info dumps, and the style of writing is engaging enough that I don't mind the extended metaphors, although occasionally my response is more 'wtf?' than 'neat!'.

It's made it onto my to-buy list. I should also pick up Purple and Black while I'm at it. And now I should finish reading the Supreme Court decision, because it's really interesting.

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