Monday, April 16, 2007
The Raw Shark Texts
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Eric Sanderson awakes with his memories erased by a traumatic incident. He finds a note in the foyer of his home, apparently written by himself before his memory loss. “If you are reading this,” the message states, “I’m not around any more. Take the phone and speed dial 1.”
The phone call brings him to a Dr. Randle, who tells Sanderson that his amnesia is recurring, and has happened to him ten times before – all as the result of his mental deterioration following the death of his girlfriend. But Dr. Randle warns him: “In the past, you’ve written and left letters for yourself to be read after a recurrence. I must ask you -- and this is very important now, Eric -- under no circumstances, write or read anything like this.”
Soon a letter arrives from the “first Eric Sanderson,” advising him not to trust Dr. Randle. “She is wrong about what is happening to you, Eric. More important, she can neither help nor protect you.” Dozens of these letters come in the following days, each presenting more clues and puzzles. Sanderson is faced with the decision of who to trust, what to believe.
The plot of Steven Hall’s debut novel The Raw Shark Texts unlocks like a Chinese puzzle box, each intriguing twist in the story leading to even greater enigmas and a wider sphere of conspiracy and risks. Soon Sanderson has more to deal with than just the conflict between his doctor and his former self. Every few pages we run into something even stranger than what’s happened before: an odd package with a videotape of a lightbulb flashing on and off, a cell phone call perhaps from his dead girlfriend, an invitation to meet Mr. Nobody in a deserted building, clues found on posters and the tiles of underpasses, and (of course) a deadly shark.
Hall’s imagination is endless, and his ability to pull together these provocative details and incidents into a coherent whole is remarkable. And his creativity applies as much to the form as to the content of The Raw Shark Texts. The book includes various exhibits, diagrams and typographical innovations, and these quirky elements infuse the novel with a piquant avant-garde flavor.
This is not a conventional thriller, but an experimental novel that builds on many of the devices of speculative fiction. Hall takes chances at every corner, and some of his more daring leaps of imagination will present challenges to the filmmakers who will be inevitably attracted to this story given its movie potential. (Apparently Nicole Kidman was so excited by the story that she tried to convince Hall to make the protagonist a woman so she could play the role.) Yet, The Raw Shark Texts is very much, as the title suggests, a text, and its most potent moments are conceptual and literary. Those looking for a mere roller-coaster ride, or a shockfest in the manner of Stephen King, will be surprised at how much more is involved in this multilayered book.
In short, The Raw Shark Texts is a brilliant debut by a promising author. Every so often, a work of imaginative fiction arrives -- such as Gibson’s Neuromancer in 1984 or Stephenson’s Snow Crash in 1992 – that shakes things up and opens up a new universe of possibilities. The Raw Shark Texts is one of these works. Not only will it be widely read. I expect it will be widely imitated.
Posted by nbennett at
06:46 PM
