Sign in/joinLanguage: English [ others ]
Over forty million books on members' bookshelves.
Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
Loading...

The Raw Shark Texts

by Steven Hall

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
990523,535 (3.74)66
Loading...
won't like will probably not like will probably like will like will love

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

English (49)  Finnish (2)  Italian (1)  All languages (52)
Showing 1-5 of 49 (next | show all)
I wanted to like this book... I like the writing style and thought it had great potential, but the story... blah. ( )
evaberry | Jul 6, 2009 |  
Eric Sanderson wakes up with no memory of what has just happened, but thats ok his old-self left him a note, and some letters. It seems he is being hunted by the conceptual fish at the top of the foodchain the Ludovician shark.

What follows is Eric reconstructing his memories and attempting to find help.
At least that's the straight version of the story, there is a whole pile of intertextual stuff & typographic effects which hint at there being more to it than meets the eye. This becomes more obvious in my newly "undexed" copy which points to a mirror of 36 un-chapters. The straight story is intriguing and thrilling, the extra stuff ? well its extra, it adds actual dimensions (or at least what I've seen so far does) but what did happen to Gavin the cat ? ( )
anamuk | Jun 9, 2009 |  
'Jaws's plot plus 'Matrix's one.
Original ( )
Ramirez | May 12, 2009 |  
The lost female plot, feline fascination, and whimsicality of Haruki Murakami; the brain bending introspection of Paul Auster; the multi-faceted realities of Borges; and the “space between space” worlds of Neil Gaiman - are you noticing that this guy is in some serious company? “The Raw Shark Texts” is a sharp first novel with some beautiful - ahem - hooks.

See full review here: http://thepugetnews.com/2009/05/04/bo... ( )
mrefranklin | May 12, 2009 |  
I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. On the one hand it's quite experimental and original, but on the other hand was a bit derivative in that it plays and revisits many other things - as mentioned below Jaws, The Matrix, Memento, Neverwhere. There was even a bit that reminded me of the computer game Okami. Its very readable and even the stranger concepts, such as the conceptual shark which is chasing Eric, I found quite easy to get my head around. I'm not sure I 100% understood everything but it didn't distract from enjoying the story, and I think the confusion over whether it is real or a product of Erics insanity is intentional so it can be read either way.

If you've read and enjoyed this book it's worth checking out the wiki entry for it - apparently there are a whole lot of extra 'negative' chapters being slowly released in a variety of ways - I guess some of these may pad out unexplained/unclear parts of the story. ( )
Honto | Apr 29, 2009 |  
Showing 1-5 of 49 (next | show all)
0.068 seconds to build listing
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
For Stanley Hall
1927-1998
A gentleman and a scholar
First words
I was unconscious. I'd stopped breathing.
Quotations
"Since I've left home on this journey, I've thought a lot about this–how a big part of any life is about the hows and the whys of setting up machinery. It's building systems, devices, motors. Winding up the clockwork of direct debits, configuring newspaper deliveries and anniversaries and photographs and credit card repayments and anecdotes. Starting their engines, setting them in motion and sending them chugging off into the future to do their thing at regular or irregular intervals. When a person leaves or dies or ends, they leave an afterimage; their outline in the devices they've set up around them. The image fades to the winding down of springs, the slow running out of fuel as the machines of a life lived in certain ways in certain places and from certain angles are shut down or seize up or blink off one by one. It takes time. Sometimes, you come across the dusty lights or electrical hum of someone else's machine, maybe a long time after you ever expected to, still running, lonely in the dark. Still doing its thing for the person who started it up long, long after they've gone."
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Book description

No descriptions found.

The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.

Popular covers

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | 41,229,819 books!