The Raw Shark Texts
Steven Hall
Started September 25, 2007
Finished October 2, 2007
Well, when I saw a shark made out of text on the cover of this book, I knew that I had to check this book out. The protagonist, Eric Sanderson, apparently has chronic amnesia. The major question permeating in the novel is whether or not Eric is experiencing what he's experiencing in his head, or if it's really happening. Or, an even bigger question, if that even matters. I'm not sure... In any case, it's part Jaws part House of Leaves when the conceptual shark attacks.
The scenes with Eric and his girlfriend, Clio, kind of gave me heartache. I know that sounds corny, but I thought Hall portrayed intimacy between lovers quite effectively. I found my reaction especially interesting since a few other reader reviews that I read found the Eric/Clio stuff really lame. Sigh... I guess these things can be rather subjective. In any case, Hall makes a good point when he argues that once someone's gone, you can't capture their essence completely with words... things always get left out, and you just forget things over time. As Regina Spektor sings, "Thought I'd see your face in my mind for all time, But I don't even remember what your ears looked like." In my experience, that's a sad truth.
