Temptation

[megustaleer]

I have just finished the first chapter, and was greatly irritated when it finished in the middle of a sentence.

As it is widely known that the first half of the book consists of the beginning of six stories that continue in reverse order in the second half, ending with the story it started with, I sneaked a look at the start of the last chapter. Yes, the sentence continues there. A quick glance at the next story revealed that the second section seems to be a continuation of the letters in the earlier part.


The Temptation is to read the whole of each story straight off, as though it was just a series of short stories, and not bother with the order in which it is laid out.

Before I give in to this temptation, can someone tell me that there is a point to this strange construction? Am I going to miss something vital if I don't resist?
At the moment I feel that D.M. just took half a dozen short manuscripts and
divided each roughly in half, put them in two piles, stacked one on top of each other and said 'There's a book to set reviewers talking!'

It is not that I have any particular problem with unusually constructed books (I enjoyed 'Time's Arrow'), but I need to believe there's a point to it, and that it's not just a shot at a 'literary' award.

[Adrian]

From what I'd heard about this book beforehand I knew each story stopped abruptly. I too didn't like the sudden cut-off it until I flicked through and saw the structure.

I must say though, it never occurred to me to follow up and read each mini-episode fully before reading the next.

There are aspects that follow through from one story to the next: The diary written by Adam Ewing is found by Frobisher in the Belgian chateau. At first he finds only the first half (obviously the initial Ewing part) and only at the end of the second Frobisher part does he find the second half of Ewing's diary, leading us into the second half of Ewing's story. Later, Frobisher's letters are found by Luisa Rey.

There are others and thus all the stories are interlinked and connect on to one another.

You won't appreciate these clever links if you read each story in its entirety then go onto the next.

[megustaleer]

You won't appreciate these clever links if you read each story in its entirety then go onto the next.

Ok, I'll behave, and read it 'properly', but with my memory I will have forgotten the first bits of the early chapters by the time I reach the second half!

[ChrisG]

I know just how you feel, Megustaleer, because I wanted to do the same thing - especially with the Luisa Rey story! But it really is worth steeling yourself against temptation and reading it the right way round to gain the insights from the 'links', which are done in a quite unique, and often funny, way.