Review: The end of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas

The end of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

Pages: 416
Published: 2006
Genre: Contemporary Fiction Mystery sci-fi perhaps

A cursed book. A missing professor. Some nefarious men in gray suits. And a dreamworld called the Troposphere? 

Ariel Manto has a fascination with nineteenth-century scientists—especially Thomas Lumas and The End of Mr. Y, a book no one alive has read. When she mysteriously uncovers a copy at a used bookstore, Ariel is launched into an adventure of science and faith, consciousness and death, space and time, and everything in between. 

Seeking answers, Ariel follows in Mr. Y’s footsteps: She swallows a tincture, stares into a black dot, and is transported into the Troposphere—a wonderland where she can travel through time and space using the thoughts of others. There she begins to understand all the mysteries surrounding the book, herself, and the universe. Or is it all just a hallucination? (Goodreads)

How to start? This was one of the most confusing books I have ever read, it was also one of the best books I have read this year. It was amazing in this crazy madness kind of way. It will be hard to review it because it was messy, great and so strange.

Ariel is a woman fascinated by a lot of things. She writes articles for a paper and then she meets Professor Burlem, and agrees to write her Phd under him. But then he disappears and she is left alone with her studies. One day she finds one of the most rare books in the world, a book that those few who has read it, has died. They say the book is curse. But she can't believe her luck and even though she has really no money and is living on noodles she buys it. And here the story starts, a strange story that will take her back in time, and transport her to a strange world of dreams. What is real and what is not? The more she learns about the character Mr Y, and follow in his footstep, the darker it gets.

This book is filled with physics, she is fascinated with it and she talks about it with the professor, she uses it in her PhD, she talks about it with her friend Wolfgang, with her colleagues, of whom one is an ex Catholic priest named Adam (love interest).

I loved the physics, to read about Schrödingers cat, multiuniverses, quarks, Big Bang. It's not hardcore physics because even she says she needs to know more, it's popular science and it's all truly interested. It makes me want to know more about all these things. I do have a lot of knowledge to thank all the sci-fi I have watched, but you don't need to know it all to keep up. She explains it all very good, and all this physics mixed with some philosophy in a way. It makes a very amazing read.

Among all this physics are some sordid sex scenes, oh yes I did not see those coming, they sure took me by surprise. But thinking about it it makes sense. They display her confused and dark state of mind. She is a relationship with a married man and it takes a darker turn so a few scenes are there in here. It shows the spiral down.

This book gives you a lot to think about, it has some fascinated stuff in it, and the ending. I think the author is an genius for creating this world and these thoughts about it. And it all makes sense too, why could it not be like that.

It's an hard to explain kind of book. It's hard to keep out the spoilers, it's a book that needs to be read to understand. And don't let all that physics scare you, I was unsure and I was sucked into this book because the author is a great storyteller. If she writes all her books like this I will keep an lookout for more. They are worth a try to see if the style is for you.

A recommended read, a book that shows that there can be more between heaven and earth that we could ever imagine. Everything is possible, everything has happened and at the same time not. Read it and find out what really happened.