Only Forward (1994)

by Michael Marshall Smith

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▾LibraryThing recommendations

Spares by Michael Marshall Smith (1996)
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Showing 1-5 of 20 (next | show all)

Oh -- my -- god. When I started reading this book I expected it to keep up the fairly light tone of the early chapters. Then it fucked with my heart bad. Don't believe reviews saying it makes no sense: it makes perfect sense, in the end, as long as you stop holding onto normal logic and start applying some dream logic. The narrator is unreliable, yeah, and he has attitude, and he knows he's telling a story, so there are bits that some people find irritating, like the way he keeps saying he'll tell us more about [whatever] later, if it's relevant. And I can understand that, but for me it's all part of who the narrator is.

I love the world built up here. The different neighbourhoods, the cats, the whys and wherefores of The City. I love the writing, because so much of it is painfully on the nose about trauma, about the demons we're capable of dreaming up. I love all of this more than I love the characters, really: I love it for what it has to say about trauma, about the way we think.

It's hard to talk about it without any spoilers, really. All I can say is that it comes together in the end, and you understand things in a heartbreaking rush, and it really is good. Weird, yes. But very good. (

)

shanaqui | Apr 23, 2013 |

A really good book with some interesting world stuff going on and a bit of a twist at the end. (

)

GinnyTea | Mar 31, 2013 |

It is impossible for me to write a synopsis of this book. Nevertheless, let me try without giving away too much.

The book is divided into 3 parts. Extremely funny in part 1, weird in part 2 and the weirdest book you will ever come across in part 3. Even more than [b:Naked Lunch|7437|Naked Lunch|William S. Burroughs|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347261637s/7437.jpg|4055] (Sigh.. I haven't finished 'Naked Lunch' yet, even though I have tried 3 times!)

There! I said it. And I think I might have given away too much already!

I admit that it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's.... what shall I say, different, yes different, from anything you might have ever read.

So all I can say is give this book a chance. It will grow on you. Promise!

5 stars! (

)

Veeralpadhiar | Mar 31, 2013 |

NIL

rustyoldboat | May 28, 2011 |

This wonderful novel is ever so difficult to describe. It is surreal, weird, fantastic, colourful, strange - a beautiful tale set in a world full of wonders and weirdness. The main character, Stark, does do the impossible jobs. Whenever something difficult and strange needs sorting, he is your man. And friend Zenda needs somebody found. Sounds simple, but it isn't. The world Stark and all the others live in is not ours. It is a city sprawls from coast to coast, divided into Neighbourhoods. Each of those is geared entirely to the desires of those who live in it - from deranged criminals, can-do corporates to people who just don't like noise. Going over the borders into a different Neighbourhood can be very difficult, but that is what Stark has to do. The story reaches from the past into the future, from reality into dreams and becomes more surreal with each paragraph without losing it. It's a weird but brilliant journey into the deepest nightmares you can imagine, told fast, ferocious and funny like the wildest ride at Alton Towers.Genius! (

)

HeikeM | Mar 10, 2011 |

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Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Philip K. Dick Award (2000)

British Fantasy Award (August Derleth Fantasy Award, 1995)

Guardian 1000 (Science Fiction & Fantasy)

Epigraph

Dedication

For my family - David, Margaret and Tracey - and in memory of Mr. Cat

First words

Once there was a boy in a house.

Quotations

You haven't seen untidiness until you've seen a room where gravity has failed twice in different directions.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Barker, Clive

Publisher series

Voyager Classics

▾References

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Wikipedia in English (2)

Michael Marshall Smith

Only Forward

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0553579703, Mass Market Paperback)

Only a handful of authors write with such startling originality that the uniqueness of their vision has become synonymous with their name. In Spares and One of Us, Michael Marshall Smith has earned that distinction. In this unsettling, suspenseful, and wildly imaginative novel he's written a tale that from page one hurtles us....

Call him Stark. If you have to. If you're lucky, you won't call him at all. Because if you do, it means you've got trouble. Big trouble. And the problem is that before Stark is done fixing something, a whole lot of other things usually get broken. Like laws and lives—and anyone who gets in the way. It's that attitude that's earned him his latest assignment: finding a missing VIP named Fell Alkland. The authorities believe Alkland has been kidnapped. Stark doesn't. He hasn't stayed alive this long without learning the basics of survival in a world hurtling straight to hell: Things are always more complicated than they seem. And when a job seems too easy, that's when something really ugly is about to happen. For Fell Alkland is about to become Stark's worst nightmare, a nightmare where anything can happen at any time—where friends can become enemies in a heartbeat and your most secret fear a soul-screaming reality. And the worst of it is that for this nightmare you don't even have to be asleep.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:43:20 -0500)

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▾Library descriptions

Only Forward, the debut novel from Michael Marshall Smith, follows the adventures of Stark and the strange world where he lives. A funny, tragic, baffling story that uses all the adjectives you can imagine and some you've never heard of.