Title: S
Author: J.J. Abrams, Doug Dorst
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Keywords: thriller, mystery, conspiracy

One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace and desire. A young woman picks up a book left by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.

"S" is not just a book. It went beyond what books are. "S" tells two stories - Ship of Theseus and the relationship of two readers on the margins of the book.

The book - "Ship of Theseus" is said to be the tenth and final book written by a mysterious author with the pen name,V. M. Straka. It followed a character named 'S.' who suffers from amnesia, on a journey to figure out who he is and chase the woman who may hold the answers. He was thrown into a world that is so foreign filled with evil and monstrosity where he was forced to choose - life or death.

The readers, Eric and Jen. They found each other through margin notes in Ship of Theseus. They worked to figure out who Straka is through the clues, believed to have been left behind in the book by the author and the editor, F.X. Caldeira. While their work seems innocent, it brought them to places they never had imagined and enemies they never thought they would have.

When I first saw the book at Dymocks, I knew I had to get it. A book that went beyond the boundaries of a book coupled with intriguing story line is a must buy! J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst paid a lot of attention in the details of this book, from the creation of a fictional 'novel' - Ship of Theseus to the handwriting, margin notes, postcards and letters slipped between the pages.


"S" by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst is a book filled with mysteries and conspiracy theories. Even though it is a fiction, I could not help but placed the events from the book in the real world. Especially when the authors drew my attention to the reality of 'war' and who benefits most from it. It made me looked deeper into the current real world situation. The book delved deeply into the questions of humanity, the extend that human is willing to forsake it, and the extend of others to save it.

To put it in simple words, the authors were successful at capturing my attention. The plot was focused on two things - who 'S.' is and who V.M. Straka is. While there were "conversations" between the readers on other topics (e.g. how assignments are, who burned the barn) that convey the development of their relationship beyond Straka and Ship of Theseus, the plot did not steer far from uncovering the mysteries.


What I love?
The details placed in this book - the plot that is realistic, the margin notes, the handwriting, the photographs, the postcards etc.
The mystery author. While sometimes I was frustrated by the maze of clues, I realised that the mystery is part of what I love about this book.
The real-world relation. Technically, the book is set in a real world - not a world created for the sake of this book. But it is more of how the real world (the one we are living in right now) is relatable to the story Straka is trying to tell, how some events fit in like jigsaw puzzle.

What I hate?
The confusing parts. It took me a long time to read this. It set the record for the longest read (almost 4 months). And it is definitely not a book that you can leave for some time and get back to because you will forget the details - the details are important!
The female character. Somehow I just can't...

tl;dr
Eric and Jen started working together through margin notes in a book written by a mystery author. They set out to find out who the author is by deciphering the clues left behind in the book.

Get the book here.

Labels: book reviews