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The Raw Shark Texts: A Novel


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ISBN: 1847671748 - The Raw Shark Texts: A Novel

Title:	The Raw Shark Texts: A Novel
Author:	Steven Hall
Publisher:	Canongate U.S.
Type:	Book / Paperback
Publication Date:	11 April, 2008
ISBN / ISBN-13:	1847671748 / 9781847671745
List Price:	$14.00
You Save:	$2.80
Amazon Price:	$11.20

This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon.com, from $5.91.

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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:

Product Description

The Raw Shark Texts, called “clever, playful . . . sharp and clear” by the Los Angeles Times and “a horror-dystopic-philosophical mash-up” by the New York Times Magazine, is a novel unlike any other. Eric Sanderson wakes up in a house one day with no idea who or where he is. Instructed by a mysterious note to visit a Dr. Randle, Eric learns that the agony of losing the love of his life in a scuba-diving accident three years before has destroyed his memory. But there may be more to the story, or it may be a different story altogether. As Eric begins to examine letters and papers left in the house by “the first Eric Sanderson,” a staggeringly different explanation for what is happening to Eric emerges, and he and the reader embark on a quest to recover the truth and escape the remorseless predatory forces that threatens to devour him. The Raw Shark Texts is a kaleidoscopic novel about the magnitude of love and the devastating effect of losing that love.

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, March 2007: Not since Fight Club have a I read a book that sizzled with such fierce originality and searing vision as Steven Hall's electrifying debut novel, The Raw Shark Texts. It's a twisting, trippy thriller that tears through the landscape of language, revealing the lurking terrors uncovered in every letter of the written word. Steven Hall swims in the same surreal waters as pop-culture pioneers David Lynch and Michel Gondry, and The Raw Shark Texts deserves to be shelved somewhere between Trainspotting and Life of Pi. It pulls you under like a riptide, leaving you exhausted, exhilarated, and gasping for air.

But don't just take our word for it. We asked Audrey Niffenegger, one of the most creative contemporary writers working today, to share with readers her take on Steven Hall's debut novel, The Raw Shark Texts. Check out her exclusive Amazon guest review below. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Guest Reviewer: Audrey Niffenegger

Audrey Niffenegger is a professor in the Interdisciplinary Books Arts MFA Program at the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. A visual artist, she shows her artwork at Printworks Gallery in Chicago. The Time Traveler's Wife, her first novel, was an international bestseller and was one of Amazon.com's Best Books of 2003. It won several awards and is being made into a major motion picture. Her visual novels, The Three Incestuous Sisters and The Adventuress, were recently published by Harry N. Abrams. Miss Niffenegger is currently hard at work on her second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, a ghost story set in London's Highgate Cemetery.

Eric Sanderson has lost his memory, his girl, his life as he once knew it. His pre-amnesiac self is sending him letters, a sort of correspondence course on how to be Eric Sanderson. Unfortunately, this previous self didn't really have it all together either. This is too bad, because the source of all the trouble is a conceptual shark, a Ludovician shark, no less. Soon Eric is on the run, trying to piece it all together and find true love before his mind gets wiped by the shark for the twelfth and probably final time.

Steven Hall is an inventive, funny and extremely smart writer. I am a letterpress printer and a typophile, and I was drawn to his book because of the typography: The Raw Shark Texts is riddled with typographic games, codes, a flip book, and a boatload of very elegant plot devices that hinge on collisions between the Information Age and the imagination. At one point Eric and Scout, his guide/love interest, are speeding away from the conceptual shark on a motorbike. Scout eludes the shark by exploding a letter bomb, a bomb made out of old metal type; the type diverts the shark into a stream of random letterforms. At this I practically fell off the couch with admiration.

There's plenty to groove on in The Raw Sharks Texts even if you're not a type maven. There's echoes of Cyberpunk, Borges, Auster; there is adventure on the high seas, lost love, an exploration of what it means to be human in the age of intelligent machines. The Raw Sharks Texts is huge fun, and I gleefully recommend it. --Audrey Niffenegger

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Customer Reviews:

• A Wonderful Postmodern Trip

20 November, 2008

Fans of Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves will find echoes of the house in this book. Materialists are free to read this as a purely psychological thriller, while persons with more flexible worldviews take a wild ride through realms of semantic wonder.

- Reviewed by customer ID: A1SCR70O2WGG2

• Have A Bite

23 November, 2008

This is a great story. What I dislike about it was the overuse of typographic flourish. I appreciated it, but also resented it. Overall, it worked for the book, and I enjoyed a special flip-book towards the end. But what I'd really like to address is that Steven Hall wrote this book well. What other people see as "plagiarism" I see as an honest acknowledgment of influence instead of the pseudo-snobbery we see from the Palahniuk-reading crowd which pretends literature begins and ends with sarcastic one-liners and sensational drug reference (turns out books actually HAVE been written before "Fight Club", and Opium was capitalized on well before the 1990s, or so De Quincey may have believed)(and I'm not criticizing Palahniuk's writing; only his readers). With the literary crowd as it is, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. So at least Hall can manage some honesty and integrity about his ideas while truly writing his own book. Now that we're done criticizing Mr. Hall for writing in the 21st century, maybe we can see past the fact that he likes to acknowledge his contemporaries and actually look at the book instead of the company he keeps. Yes, yes, the book starts off like Memento. But the protagonist's mind doesn't reset after everyday, and he doesn't really trust anyone, because he never really left notes about trusting anybody. What I've noticed as criticisms of the plot and writing seems to actually be rooted in sloppy reading. For example, several reviewers weren't clear on why the shark kept attacking Eric, though it is clearly detailed at the end of the book. Why the shark repeated the attacks is obvious if one only examines typical selachian behaviour. Other reviewers, still, couldn't even finish the book. I find the best way to criticize or praise a book is to read it to the end. If you hate something lots, it gives you more ammo. If you love it lots, it helps you affirm your love. Onward! Eric Sanderson is interesting. I must bow my head to the critics that he doesn't really come off as a super "human" character. He is human, but he does mostly what a reader may be yelling out to him instead of messing up horridly and making us shift in our seats in discomfort as we read on watching himself resolve his flubs. Still, though, it's this nondescript imperfection that makes him consistent with not really having a personality. I mean, if everything but the last 4 months of my life were erased, can I guarantee wit, or rash decision made in romantic abandon? Probably not. I imagine I would be as timid and unimposing as Eric Sanderson. Perhaps even as predictable and bland. Eric is a shell of his past self, and is therefore about as interesting as a molted snakeskin. He seems critical of some of the mistakes "he" made in the past, even. Perhaps if he had his memory, though, he would understand them. Sometimes it is our flaws that make us interesting. His meeting with Fidorous and eventual discovery of his true motives (or past motives), shows character growth, and gives us a lot to think about. If we really forgot everything, would we maintain in the same way? Would muscle memory give us the same habits? Would we stop smoking? Would we criticize or be embarrassed of past decisions, or do them again? Would we still be funny? Since he has nothing to lose, Eric lives as though he is already dead. Whether Eric's lack of personality is a mistake or a plan is only known to the author. It seems most people dislike the book because it confuses them, but then they complain that the references are too obvious. This book is an easy read, and very enjoyable. On top of the morbid idea that so many people are dead even while they live, we get a nice love story, and we get a nice shark story. I'm not claiming this was the best book of all times, but it certainly wasn't the worst.

- Reviewed by customer ID: A39OV0A4KSC057

• A Fantastic Read

29 October, 2008

It has been a long time since I've read a book that I found as thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable as The Raw Shark Texts. It is fun, funny, suspenseful, engrossing, bizarre, colorful, sad and exceedingly well written. It reminds me partly of Neverwhere, partly of The Magus. Throw in Jaws in the mix, and spice it up with writing that approaches brilliance and you have The Raw Shark Texts. I read one review here that complains that the story doesn't come together, that big parts are 'left out.' I don't feel this way at all. I found the entire novel to be absolutely cohesive. This isn't to say that the author answers every single question. In fact, Steven Hall seems perfectly fine with allowing his readers to decide what ultimately happened. I love it when an author or film maker trusts the audience that much. Here's a litmus test: If you liked Mulholland Drive, you will probably enjoy Raw Shark Texts. If, however, you thought Mulholland Drive was stupid and a mishmash of incomprehensible images, then you'd be better off with something much simpler, like DaVinci Code. (Note: I loathed The DaVinci Code, and I adore Mulholland Drive) I will be very, very sad if Raw Shark Texts gets made into a movie. Given Hollywood's track record for putting big novels onscreen I will stay far, far away from any film adaptation.

- Reviewed by customer ID: A34YKEQS3HZYHL

• Poseur Fiction

29 November, 2008

I was given this book as a present and it is blatantly--BLATANTLY--from the shelves at HMV, near the till, probably standing in between `Trainspotting' and `Heavier than Heaven'. I don't know if you have HMV shops in the States but imagine if someone gave you a book from Urban Outfitters, I mean, a book that they were giving away free with the clothes or some other hipster paraphernalia-- this is that type of book. The novel is, as one reviewer has already noted, in the same vein as, and with the same streak of, clever-but-not-really, non-sequitur, Young Adult, ersatz-sci-fi as Russell T. Davis' Doctor Who-- there's a lot of `what' and far less of `how' and `why'. I think that both the Ludovican and Mycroft Ward have the potential to be very good, albeit conceptually shallow, villains (although the device by which Ward is explained is all the more heavy handed for seeming like an attempt to mimic a better style of digressive, register-hopping literature. Another reviewer has mentioned Douglas Adams--if only! No in fact, it's feels very awkward) but even they can't help being bogged down with the weight of the story's badly `described' (ha!), illogical progressions. I'll forgive many of the things about Ward that don't make sense (why would he feel the need to increase his desire for self-preservation on top of everything else? And why should this be impossible to undo once it became obvious that it was difficult, consuming and not particularly advantageous?) but I can't forgive the lack of a plausible explanation for his all-convenient desire to trap the Ludovician. Which he does on the apparent off-chance that it might assist his ultimate purpose in some murky ill-defined way. As I say, a little too convenient. Then there is the whole "But off course, matter and anti-matter!" Fringe-esque supposed solution to Eric Sanderson's problem. What on earth? Nothing in way that the Ludovcian is described, at that point, makes it seem the antithesis, in any sense, of Mycroft Ward--the book simply takes to conceiving of these two entities in a completely new way because it provides a neat solution for the heroes (and don't get me started on the logistics of that `solution'). And what about the sudden and incidental conversion of Scout and Fidorous into `designated prey' which is also all too convenient to the plot? This is horrible, horrible Doctor Who calibre stuff, "How do will we destroy the Fear monster Doctor?" "My Universal Deus Ex Machina Screwdriver should do the trick. All I need to do is calibrate its Dilithium Pulsograms to your brain frequency while you think about all your happy memories very hard. Then the Hope-wave it generates will annihilate the Fear monster once and for all! You see?!?!?" I see and yet I wish I didn't. If this was aimed, like Harry Potter, at children and young adults I'd be more inclined to leave these misgivings to the side but it's obviously a novel for grown-ups and that's horrible. In fact the whole way through reading it I was thinking "This guy should write for the new Doctor Who. That is, if he hasn't already used up all his `good' ideas for this book". The novel isn't shy about putting itself out there either in this respect, with the blurb proudly announcing that it's been optioned by FilmFour and the acknowledgments section working itself into a froth of enthusiasm about the people whose job it is to `bring it to life' presumably, on film. Despite essentially agreeing that somehow Hall would be better off writing screenplays and despite thinking these are the same kind of clunking, half-formed thoughts that a movie's momentum could render satisfying (cf. Donnie Darko) I am not sure I can really see how could anyone could film it without it then seeming more obviously mundane, derivative and dare I say it, a little dumb (cf. The Beach). I don't know how many people have read Peter Benchley's `Jaws' but I have some idea how many people have seen the movie. Lots and lots. You might not notice or care about the lifts in book form but seen as a film, I think some would be more than a little annoyed (not least the more litigious Hollywood elements). Speaking of `The Beach', `Raw Shark' is also somewhat derivative of this work (entire sections appear to be an artless play for the backpacker market), and certainly, in the UK paperback edition, it has a shamelessly similar jacket design. The prose is often wretched and overdone. It is much worse than the story, which is propulsive in the manner of many an airport potboiler. An early description of the protagonist, essentially *falling over*, is interminable. "My ears felt like potatoes which were being dug out of the earth, my mouth trembled like a naked child which had just been born, my eyeballs rolled like snooker balls inching towards corner pockets..." that kind of thing. It's very ham-handed and completely superfluous in this, is a novel, seemingly, of ideas (and post-modern typography). The protagonist, as others have noted, has no personality to speak of (though his backstory allows for this) and additionally, the main females share identical, clichéd qualities (one would hope this was intentional but it's not entirely clear that it is). So that's a lot of work the author could have saved himself in writing supposed characterisation. Wouldn't it have been better, for example, to simply point out that Scout was athletic and had a black bob and leave it at that? She's a Pocket Trinity-- we get it. It's also worth mentioning, as other reviewers have, some egregious culture/pop-culture name drops. The author starts off each chapter with snippet from writers like Borges, Murakami, Carver in the attempt to appropriate some of their gravitas and profundity for himself--not to illuminate his own text in anyway, you understand. For the second-hand props. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt on this but that evaporated as soon as the characters started saying things like "I enjoyed `Fight Club' because I'm feisty and non-typically girly in the exact same way as every geeky, fictional, fantasy chick." and "I've got a tenuous relationship with reality so reading Paul Auster can really freak me out." And there is some stuff in there about Eastenders and celebrity chefs which grates and furthermore, will date this book pretty badly. The observations on British TV et al are so bland and generic that they add nothing except a kind of depressing sense of an author attempting once again, to appropriate the renowned, zeitgeisty style of another. Two final points, first, what is the deal with the cat? Maybe I'm to blame here for putting too much weight on blurb but, the hero is accompanied by a cat who is not important to the plot in any way and is frequently and invariably described with adjectives like `cynical', `smug' and `sarcastic'. I may have made the last one up but you get the picture. It amounts to a continuing thread of unwarranted and affected quirkiness (including a tedious running joke about the name "Ian"). And of course, the amount of effort put into maintaining the cat and making sure it is always present centre-stage during all the action strains at the sliver of credibility remaining in the whole knife-edge, do-or-die scenario of the tale. This could have paid off had the cat been material to an audacious twist but he isn't. Although there *is* a twist of sorts and not a very good one, which leads me to my second point. The 'twist' appears to be a garbled rendering of the old "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" ending and unless you've been living in a cave on the moon for the last 20 years you'll already be quite familiar with it. Maybe I'm being unfair and misunderstood what happened although that's still no credit to this novel, IMO. I think the ending is just another unnecessary, try-hard flourish, and a final (failed) attempt at like, totally turning your mind *inside out* . I'd guess that if you asked the author what has happened he would plead intentional ambiguity because he doesn't know himself how he ended the book but hopes that the reader will resolve it for themselves in a manner generous to the work (cf. Donnie Darko, again). No thanks, you lazy jerk.

- Reviewed by customer ID: AFTKS5J2YH9VG

• A Wild Brain Ride

25 October, 2008

This book grabbed my attention when quick flip through it reminded me of House of Leaves. And it actually is House of Leaves meets "Memento" meets Fight Club: A Novel meets The Island of the Day Before. Basically, a guy wakes up to find that he's lost his memory and this is something like the 11th time he's lost it. Unfortunately, there's nothing in his apartment to help him find out who he was or who his friends and family were. He begins to follow clues that his old self has left himself. This leads him to a story about a dead girlfriend, a man who disappears through the floor, a girl with a smiley face tattooed on the bottom of her big toe, a romp through un-space, a tunnel made of paper and phone books, and eventually a Ludovician conceptual sharp. All the concepts in the book stay a little fuzzy around the edges most of the time. It's like you're grasping at these vague concepts along with the character as he tries to remember his past and figure out what's going on. I've heard that this might become a movie. It would certainly be an interesting one. I mainly pictured the part of Eric as being played by Edward Norton (probably thanks to Fight Club), Clio as Zooey Deschanel, and Dr Fidorous as David Tennant.

- Reviewed by customer ID: A1L20MX19ZMNW5

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