Not a terribly innovative or 'deep' book, despite its attempts. A definite pastiche of the po-mo/intellectual/post-Danielewski lit from a few years ago. But, I will admit that it was a nice end-of-summer read. Perched on the back of my toilet, 'The Raw Shark Texts' (*groan* at that pun) was sufficiently engaging in the 'oh no, my legs fell asleep on the crapper!' sort of way. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have that happen. ( )

What an excellent book. I could not put this one down. I would put this book in the same space as the House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. A very interesting concept, and fascinating way of dealing with grief. I am very looking forward to other works by this author. ( )

was easy to read quickly. it kept moving, even if I thought the original idea of a conceptual shark got a bit old after a bit. ( )

The Raw Shark Texts is a hugely successful book released in 2007 by first time U.K. author, Steven Hall. Raw Shark has often been referred as some bizarre cross between Jaws and The Matrix with perhaps a little Da Vinci Code thrown in there for good measure. Raw Shark follows the story of Eric Saunderson who awakes on his bedroom floor without any personal memories or ideas. The man remembers his basic motor functions but nothing resembling emotions or sense of identity. Shortly upon awaking, Eric finds a note left by the "first Eric Saunderson" with basic instructions on how to resume his life. From this point forward a proverbial can of worms is opened and the mystery unfolds itself in an addictive way, by which I mean, it's really hard to put this book down.

As I said earlier, I had an experience like this a few months back when I read "House of Leaves". The stories are quite different but the layout is just as ambitious. While Danielewski goes above and beyond with liner and foot notes as well as scratches and interchanging fonts, Hall goes with long gaps of pages with little to no words as well as diagrams and exhibits. The changing style throughout the novel really adds to the experiment and gets the reader more and more involved in what is happening to Eric's world.

Apparently, the novel has been shopped around in Hollywood for the last two years with hopes of a silver screen adaptation to be placed in the works but it has yet to be purchased. There is, however, a screen play written by the same person behind "Slumdog Millionaire". Some people might say that it would be a challenge to film, while I agree it has it's difficult areas, I would say this book is just screaming to be a feature film.

Continuing with what I had said in the opening, Matty has led me to yet another terrific author. While Hall is working on a second book, whether he can produce something on par to Raw Shark Texts remains to be seen but I know that I'll be checking it out. So, it was a good read, a repeat read for me at some point. ( )

The one thing bothering me most is that the book is full of potential, but unfortunately the author doesn't seem to notice it. The potential lies in the theory that the world, society, gender, whatever, is a construction of words and language - what will happen when the basic construction material is taken away by a word/memory-eating shark, when someone sees the "matrix" and can finally question it? But blah, as I read further, it became clearer and clearer that this was going to turn out to be a general dull-minded romance without a "deeper meaning" (or at least the meaning got lost along the way). ( )

An incredible concept, full marks for imaginative effort. In the end he starts too many narrative hares to be able to chase them all down, and the massive plot holes left me asking a lot of questions for a long time afterward - but well worth reading anyway for a completely mind-blowing experience. ( )

This book starts out strong with an interesting idea. It creates a conceptual world where the idea of a shark is just as damaging as a real shark. This shark and other conceptual animals can eat your memories, make you more passive, or keep you in a mental rut. (The Shark even accounts for Alzheimer patients.) However, throughout the book, you are left to wonder if this is real, or is he crazy. It treats the conceptual ideas of things very seriously in the beginning, but as the story gets more far-fetched (even to the main character), you begin to wonder if his psychiatrist is right and that he has a mental disorder. The ending will also re-inforce that with its ambiguous ending. More than anything, I think the ending sequence (but not the ending itself), was very annoying. It's one thing to hint or allude to something, but when you re-create the ending of Jaws and just insert the devices of the book, it isn't very interesting. That may be the point of the ending, I just didn't enjoy it as much.Overall, I enjoyed the book and concepts. It just fell apart in the last quarter.quotes:"This was a girl--a woman--who could make or unmake the world however she wanted. It was the most compelling thing I'd ever seen." — p 189"the books were even older, they made me think of the old British army abandoned and left behind still standing in their dusty formations." p. 221 ( )

Scintillating story of identity, conspiracy, and complexity. ( )

When my colleague recommended this book to me she added a word of caution, which I now pass on to you. Beware; this is possibly the weirdest book I have read. I have read many strange books, I revel in books that push the limits, that are different and unique, but this book surpasses them all. It is not just in the narrative either; the book’s format and the pictorial representations are also a thing of wonder.

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall is a thrilling force of imagination gone wild. It begins with Eric Sanderson (not the first) who awakes one morning without any knowledge of who or where he is. There follows a tale about self-preservation and one man’s quest to reclaim a lost identity. Instructions from The First Eric Sanderson arriving like clock work, a mysterious locked room and references to the alluring Clio, a girl he once loved, spur our Eric on to venture outside of his elaborately protected house in a search for his own true self and his past. However, Eric soon realizes that in order to survive he must first find an escape from his allusive predator; a cognitive shark that is swimming up the stream of language and identity to deprive him of his memories, scattered and new born as they are.

In Raw Shark Texts you will never quite know what is going on. You must accept this from the beginning. However, the very mystery, both as experienced by the reader and that of the character’s past, make this a book that you will have trouble putting down.

I wanted to like this book... I like the writing style and thought it had great potential, but the story... blah. ( )

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 ? ( )

'Jaws's plot plus 'Matrix's one.
Original ( )

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... ( )

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. ( )

This is a novel that is somewhat "Matrix" like and is an extended allegory of external influences on our life. Its kind of a nature vs. nurture story somewhat entangled but very imaginative and interesting ( )

Bizarre. ( )

A man wakes up on the floor at the foot of a double bed without any memory of who or where he is. He finds a wallet in his pocket with a driver license that says "Eric Sanderson" -- but the name doesn't ring any bells. He wanders into the hall down the stairs and spies a small table with an envelope and a phone. From the envelope he pulls out two sheets of paper and reads,

"Eric,

First things first, stay calm.

If you are reading this, then I'm not around anymore."

The pages direct him to press speed dial one on the phone and to not explore the house. Signed by The First Eric Sanderson.

"The Raw Shark Texts" follows the Second Eric Sanderson as he tries to piece together what happened to his memory. His trek takes him across England, deep into the Un-Space in search of Dr. Trey Fidorous who may hold the key to his memory loss and to the strange creature that's hunting him -- the Ludovician, a shark created from words, concepts and ideas but is all too real.

Steven Hall creates a fantastic world -- the Un-Space -- in which words and ideas take form in what resembles sea life: lampropini, flatwolds, jarhaphish, and ludovicians (what would be great white sharks in the real world). Words also can protect, such as by repeating a mantra, stacking books around you so the ideas confuse predators or gathering a bunch of old typewriter letters into a ball and using them as a word bomb. His characters are very well drawn from the woman Scout who assists Eric on his quest to find Dr. Fidorous and somehow resembles a woman he should know, to Eric Sanderson as a man with nothing to loose and everything to gain, to the Ludovician and Mr. Nobody, creatures of the Un-Space, made of words but teeming with life.

"The Raw Shark Texts" is a fast-paced thrill ride that anyone who loves words and ideas and what can be done with them will definitely enjoy. ( )

Smart, paranoid, lots of philosophy but also a compelling read. ( )

Um. I really liked this book, but I'm not completely sure I know what it was about. It's exciting, imaginative & smart. It begins like the movie "Memento", where a man wakes up with no memory, but finds notes he has written to himself. Strange packages arrive in the mail, a conceptual shark is hunting him for his memories, he discovers a world within a world, etc. I couldn't put it down, but did I understand it? Not really. ( )

Although the ideas aren't particularly original and the writing is a little bland, I have to say I really enjoyed The Raw Shark Texts. Given the scope, it's surprisingly unpretentious, and the unashamedly deliberate nod to Jaws in the final chapters actually works pretty well in the context of the story.

It's Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End Of The World meets The House of Leaves meets Jaws. ( )

I wanted to love this book... but I just couldn't get it going. I liked the first chapter or two and the mystery of the guy who didn't know who he was. But the mind fish thing lost me. ( )

A wonderful read. Truly a clever conceit, but it drags a bit at the end when he has to get Alice back out of the looking glass. Nice twist at the end.

Sort of a horror story for intellectuals, the main character is being pursued by a *conceptual shark* which is shown through clever letter graphics. ( )

This is most original book I have read in a very long time. Stephen Hall takes some very deep philosophical ideas about memory and identity and wraps them up in this neat little thriller/mystery. If you're a fairly open minded reader, this book will really give you some interesting food for thought. I highly recommend it. ( )

One more decent Sci-Fi writer. Thank goodness!

Why why why does this book only have a 3.5 star average on Amazon? Do these people have any idea how rare it is that anyone manages to produce good science fiction?

A great (or even decent) sci-fi novel is almost impossible to find. The genre suffers from a dearth of honed talent. In this respect, sci fi is a lot like romance - the books are produced by "storytellers" rather than "real" writers, who lack the irrepressible drive (and talent, and training) to produce great works. Hence, there is very, very little sci-fi out there that is not pulp fiction. I don't like to read pulp fiction because it doesn't satisfy me. I don't care if that makes me sound snobby. I love sci-fi but I can't stand to read stuff that is poorly written or boring.

_Shark Texts_ is literature. Independent from its genre it is a great book: original, vivid, well-written, and intense. The kind of book you buy overpriced at the airport and feel like you got your money's worth. The characters are well-developed, the settings are clearly-rendered enough to imagine yourself in them. Add that to the fact that there's only about two dozen sci-fi novels in the world that are of this quality and you have something amazing.

If you love Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, and Geof Ryman, you'll love this. ( )

I won't lie: I'm pretty sure I didn't understand some of the more in-depth word-based allusions (both those that developed into creatures that tormented our protagonist, as well as those that assisted him in fighting those same creatures) that were made throughout the book, which caused me to rate this a little lower than I wanted to. Because, though I very much enjoyed the subject matter and stylistic elements of the book, I felt that, in some cases, the writer was writing above my head...that I had a grasp upon what was going on, but not one that was as firm as I would have liked. Having said that, I will also suggest that this may have been the author's intent all the while, as this feeling of slight confusion plays a central role in the main character's understanding of himself and his situation throughout the book; we're sure the sum equals all the parts, but we're just not sure how those parts came to be. ( )