Yu's critically acclaimed novel is unlike any I've read in a long time. The narrator, also named Charles Yu, is a time machine repairman living in Minor Universe 31, a science fiction universe abandoned by its creator and so a little fuzzy around the edges. Yu's father, an early time machine innovator, has disappeared, and his mother lives in an hour-long time loop of a peaceful dinner with her son. Yu himself has been living in the present-indefinite tense for the last ten years, stuck in an emotional rut. This changes when he finds himself in a time loop and struggles to break it.
The plot is not really the focus of the book, however. Fictional Yu spends much of the narrative ruminating on the past, his relationship with his parents, and more generally on finding meaning in a universe where you can travel back in time but you can't actually change the past. Yu's narration, recursive and repetitive as he works out this thoughts, adds to themes. Adding another layer, his future self gives him a book titled "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe," excerpts of which stud the novel and which fictional Yu reads/writes/remembers all at the same time.
It's an impressive novel, one which plays with metaphysical and philosophical ideas while also being deeply personal, and I can see why it is so highly regarded, yet it left me cold. I admired this book greatly, but I didn't love it.
No comments:
Post a Comment