The End of Mr. Y
by Van
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
I like novels that incorporate the texts of other imaginary books and provide scads of non-fiction detail about topics on which I would be unlikely to read an actual non-fiction book. Add an interesting narrator, a little narrative drive, and The End of Mr. Y becomes an excellent choice to read. The book within the book shares the title and is by the nineteenth-century writer Thomas E. Lumas. The scads of non-fiction detail involve Derrida and French deconstruction, Samuel Butler, Einstein and thought experiments, theoretical physics, and homeopathy. Ariel Manto is a poor graduate student working on a dissertation about Lumas. The library classifies the book as Science Fiction, not unreasonable since it involves the ability to jump into the minds of others in the troposphere (the world of the mind). This ability is brought on by drinking a mixture of Carbo Vegetabilis and holy water then staring at a white card with a small black circle at its center. A fantastical story, most compelling before the author has to bring the story to an end.
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