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The Raw Shark Texts: A Novel

by Steven Hall (Goodreads Author)

3.83 · rating details · 4,718 ratings · 945 reviews

Eric Sanderson wakes up in a house one day with no idea who or where he is. A note
instructs him to see a Dr. Randle immediately, who informs him that he is undergoing yet another episode of acute memory loss that is a symptom of his severe dissociative disorder. Eric's been in Dr. Randle's care for two years -- since the tragic death of his great love, Clio, while t...more

Hardcover, 448 pages

Published April 10th 2007 by Canongate U.S. (first published 2007)

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Community Reviews

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Dec 15, 2011

mark monday rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to mark by: Brad

Shelves: this-modern-world, unstable-narratives, soul-sucking-reviews

10.

You are a book, The Raw Shark Texts. You are an unstable narrative. You are a story of loss and love and memory, of a broken heart and a broken mind. You are a mystery; you are a postmodern text; you are equal parts Burroughs and Palahniuk and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. You are a first novel, complete with a first novel's typical weaknesses: a certain stridency and repetitiousness that is occasionally tedious, a tendency towards wanting to amaze the audience with your ...more10.

You are a book, The Raw Shark Texts. You are an unstable narrative. You are a story of loss and love and memory, of a broken heart and a broken mind. You are a mystery; you are a postmodern text; you are equal parts Burroughs and Palahniuk and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. You are a first novel, complete with a first novel's typical weaknesses: a certain stridency and repetitiousness that is occasionally tedious, a tendency towards wanting to amaze the audience with your brilliance, characters and dialogue that are intended to be cheeky & real but often come across as precious & cutesy-poo. You are overlong. Still, your ambition is pleasing. Your level of writing ability is impressive. There is a mad genius to it. You exist on multiple levels. You excited me, then bored me, then excited me anew. You made me think on many things: new ideas and old, what is a person, what is an emotion, what makes a concept real. You are a book that this reviewer rather Liked, well, in a 3-star sort of way. But you get an extra star for all of that wonderful ambition.

(view spoiler)

2.

" - the view becomes the reflection, and the reflection, the view."

(view spoiler)(less)

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Jan 11, 2012

Kinga rated it

· review of another edition

(There might be very minor spoilers here but I doubt they will make any sense to you if you haven't read the book, so read on, unles you are uber-paranoid about spoilers)

“The Raw Shark Texts”. It’s supposed to be a literary psychological thriller where Jorge Luis Borges meets Danielewski meets Matrix meets Fight Club meets Jaws. I thought: Oh dear. Steve, I hope you know what you are running up against and I hope your game is tight.

The book starts with the main character ...more(There might be very minor spoilers here but I doubt they will make any sense to you if you haven't read the book, so read on, unles you are uber-paranoid about spoilers)

“The Raw Shark Texts”. It’s supposed to be a literary psychological thriller where Jorge Luis Borges meets Danielewski meets Matrix meets Fight Club meets Jaws. I thought: Oh dear. Steve, I hope you know what you are running up against and I hope your game is tight.

The book starts with the main character waking up on the floor not knowing who or where he is. His personal memory seems to have been wiped clean. This is a tried and tested opening that is sure to grip anyone from the first page. The problem with it is that you have to back it up. The book has to live up to its premise.

I give credit where credit is due – Steve Hall had a superb idea. Our narrator, Eric Sanderson, is hunted by a kind of conceptual fish (the kind of fish that lives in a purely abstract world and feeds on thoughts, ideas, memories). Somehow he stepped on the toe of the most dangerous conceptual fish out there – the Ludovician, a conceptual equivalent of the great white shark. And it eats his memory. Nom, nom, nom.

There are also very funny/scary (albeit gimmicky) typographical illustrations in the text. They even looked cute on my kindle.

While I think the idea was brilliant, I feel there was a little of wasted opportunity there. We are made to understand that the way to fight the shark (or at least to keep it at bay, so to speak) is to use so some sort of flow of information to throw him off your scent and set up a conceptual loop which works like a shark cage. And our hero uses other people’s post and Dictaphones to do that. Dictaphones? What is it, 1985? What else? Maybe he should fax the shark as well?
Why not set up some computers with facebook and twitter accounts that would constantly get new followers and feedback to each other ad infinitum. Perfect conceptual loop! Or why throw ‘letter bombs’ (made of shredded phone books and such) at your shark? Why not treat it with a stream of penis enlargement and Russian brides spam? That should send it all the way back to last century. Why go through other people’s post where you can just download their blogs, twitters, tumblrs, facebooks, and emails? I mean, if I were looking for tons of pointless information, the Internet would be the first place I would go to.

But fine, Steve. I am with you. Let’s party like it’s 1985, Dictaphones and all. So I am suspending my disbelief, conceptual sharks, some zombie like figures, Un-space (yeah, me neither) until Hall introduces Eric’s love interest in its two incarnations Scout and Clio. And boy, oh, boy, ain’t she a dream come true for any nerdy boy? She’s got boobs and likes to show them, she knows about computers, rides a motorcycle, and talks like she is reading a sitcom script. She never mentions kids or marriage. She is a superhero but also slightly damaged inside so can be occasionally protected. She is Lara Croft meets Leelo from the Fifth Element. And here comes the love story with the extra cheese on top. Here comes the melodrama when Eric decides to sulk for half of the book over something that a PMSing sixteen year old girl would have a hard time sulking over for longer than 40 minutes. I can’t take this. I shout : “Jeez louise, Steve, what are you doing? Why are you doing it?”.

And then at the end, Steve tells my why he was doing it. And it makes sense, and I get it. And he knew that I knew, but I didn’t know that he knew that I knew. And ha, ha, the joke is on me. But you know what, Steve, I could’ve stopped reading there and then if I wasn’t so OCD about finishing every book that I start. I really do get it, but I still don’t know why I was forced to read 100 or so pages of that bad soap-opera. So there goes one star from what could’ve been a four star book.

And then of course there is the ending... Oh.
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May 14, 2011

Brad rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: speculative, to-read-again, weird

For sheer ballsy creativity The Raw Shark Texts is an incendiary word bomb of conceptual fish, mad world hungry pseudo-immortals, movie geekdom, Greek tragedy and cats with mundane names.

To say there is something lacking in Steven Hall's first novel seems unfair and trite, but I can't shake the feeling that something in Eric Sanderson's relationship with Clio/Scout felt too forced and way too indoctrinated by current gender attitudes. If that was by design I can't imagine what the de...more

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May 16, 2008

Rick Monkey rated it

You know what I like?

This whole genre of stuffy British dudes who find themselves unwillingly going on adventures and discovering that there's more to them than just being pasty and flustered.

And, yeah, it's a genre. There's TONS of books with that same damn plot. Thing is, they're often very entertaining.

They're also usually played for laughs. Which is not the case in The Raw Shark Texts. Yes, the protagonist eventually finds himself drawn into a world wh...more

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Mar 29, 2011

Jason rated it

Shelves: all-time-favorites

3/29/11 update:
I want to read it again. I also want Hall to write another book. Come on Steve!!

8/19/09 Update:
I found a copy of the UK version of this book in a used book store the other day and it prompted me to re-read it.
This book is so brilliant it's unbelievable. Reading it a second time brought out, in my mind anyway, what is really going on with this book. I'm truly amazed at Hall's performance here.

==============================================...more

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Jul 12, 2007

Corinne rated it

Shelves: didnt-like-didnt-finish

I give up. I'm nearly halfway through the book and I'm putting it down. Maybe, at another time, I'll pick it up again and feel differently but the action/adventure vibe just isn't sitting with me at all. It's like reading The Celestine Prophecy -which I did many, many moons ago- only without the big morality question leading you through to the end. Or, it's like reading Haruki Murakami without his talent for subtle storytelling. Or -sorry to go overboard on this- it's like reading </i>...more

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Oct 04, 2007

Michael rated it

Recommends it for: Invisibles fans, postmodern nerds, free thinkers

Shelves: slipstream

Mix _A Clockwork Orange_, _VALIS_, and _House of Leaves_ in a blender, and you would get something like this book. It combines a number of my favorite things, not the least of which is the unreliable narrator - and as an aside to some reviewers, if you think 'Memento' did it first, you really ought to read more and do some research. I was a little wary of the kind of 'fontplay' such as in Danielewski's book, but when Hall used it, he used it purposefully and to good effect.

Note to se...more

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Sep 29, 2008

Ryan Chapman rated it

Shelves: fiction

I'd pair this with Remainder by Tom McCarthy: debut novels from the UK by men taking on conceptual literary frameworks. Their work isn't influenced by film so much as engaged by the medium itself. It's certainly not for everyone. In fact, I hated Remainder for the first few months after reading. But I recognize the book--and by extension this one as well--for what is: an avant-garde novel in the 21st century.

This book isn't as finely balanced as it could be, and many of the romant...more

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Jul 13, 2008

Donald rated it

Recommended to Donald by: Henrik

Shelves: 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. First, I'd like to say that the only thing tying this to 'House of Leaves' is that they can be termed concept novels, books that use words to further the texture of the story. Steven Hall has a great ability to tell a story and didn't need the high concept texturizing, but it was a cool deal anyway.

I noticed the similarity of 'Raw Shark' to 'Rorschach' right away. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, it probably was. And like the relatively famous ink blot tests I'm not sure ...more

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Jun 29, 2008

Gray rated it

Recommends it for: No one.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm in the middle, wanted to like this book a lot... the start was fantastic, an intriguing look at madness and memory but once we got to the meta physical self indulgence and then in my words "celestine prophecy adventure proving the crazy are really really deep - blah

Still reading but blah blah
Here's a poem I wrote about this book
Lashing out at people who try to justify their craziness as actually mattering to the rest of us.

So, you show me the madness...more

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Jun 29, 2008

Henrik rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people who are interested in "literary" experiments with a story

Recommended to Henrik by: Amazon.com newsletter

Shelves: magic-realism, philosophy, science-fiction, thriller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 23, 2008

Janet rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2008, highest-recommendations, currently-on-loan

Holy. Crap.

I picked up The Raw Shark Texts this past weekend - not sure if I wanted to tackle something this long since I'm still trying to catch up to a good "38 in '08" pace - and I swear it was like disappearing off the face of the earth for two days. I can't remember the last time I was so absorbed in a book that I opted to postpone plans to stay home and do nothing but read, and despite my copy's 448 pages, I devoured the book in less than 24 hours - pun intended.
...moreHoly. Crap.

I picked up The Raw Shark Texts this past weekend - not sure if I wanted to tackle something this long since I'm still trying to catch up to a good "38 in '08" pace - and I swear it was like disappearing off the face of the earth for two days. I can't remember the last time I was so absorbed in a book that I opted to postpone plans to stay home and do nothing but read, and despite my copy's 448 pages, I devoured the book in less than 24 hours - pun intended.

Without giving away more than what you would find in a description on Amazon, or on the back of the book - basically this story is about Eric Sanderson, who gasps awake one day to discover that he remembers nothing - literally nothing - about who he is. In a house that feels familiar yet sits completely devoid of personal information, all he finds is a letter from "The First Eric Sanderson," who "with regret and also hope" directs him to a psychologist, Dr. Randle. Randle explains that Eric has a dissociative condition, stemming from the loss of a loved one three years prior, and that for the past several years, Eric has been experiencing episodes that leave him remembering less, and less and less. Yet things may not be as clear as just a mental condition, because soon Eric begins receiving letters and packages from "The First Eric Sanderson." Letters he chooses to ignore until one night he is attacked by something bizarre and nearly inexplicable, something he quickly learns is a Ludovician, a conceptual shark that "feeds on human memories and the intrinsic sense of self." A shark that is stalking him.

If that doesn't make your toes curl with intellectual delight, The Raw Shark Texts is probably not for you. But if, like me, you loved The Phantom Tollbooth as a child, step right up because this novel is like one of my favorite children's books adapted for grownups. It's a thriller, a quest and a cleverly nerdy adventure, filled with unspace and metaphysical villains and the lost memories of love. It's basically everything I love in a book, and I'm tempted to pick it up immediately and start reading it again.

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Jul 11, 2007

Bobby J. Hill Jr. rated it

Recommends it for: No one. Okay, read it if you want to.

The book opens as Eric Sanderson wakes up on the floor of a bedroom he doesn't recognize. He then finds a letter from "The First Eric Sanderson" directing him to Dr. Randle, who tells him that he has recurrent dissociative episodes, or repeated and worsening periods of amnesia. As the story progresses you find out that the amnesia is caused by a conceptual shark. A ludovician. It feeds on a person's memories and, many times, gets a bit territorial. It's hunting Eric Sanderson.

...more

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Oct 04, 2008

Laura Nash rated it

Recommends it for: Thriller readers looking for heft (also library users)

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 11, 2010

Jeremy rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Apparently NOT die hard fans of Jaws

Recommended to Jeremy by: Logan

My 5 star rating is my first reaction to the read. I liked it so much that I wasn't really looking for holes in the story or "blatant rip-offs" of other pieces of work. Now I come back and read some negative reviews I start to think to myself, "am I just a sucker for books that try to screw with your mind?" That is a question I can't answer because I could not possibly be that objective about myself. I can tell you this: I loved the movies Fight Club, Memento and MOST re...moreMy 5 star rating is my first reaction to the read. I liked it so much that I wasn't really looking for holes in the story or "blatant rip-offs" of other pieces of work. Now I come back and read some negative reviews I start to think to myself, "am I just a sucker for books that try to screw with your mind?" That is a question I can't answer because I could not possibly be that objective about myself. I can tell you this: I loved the movies Fight Club, Memento and MOST recently Hangover. I enjoy contemporary literature and classics, but I also am enamored by magical realism. The answer to the question may be that this book was written for the likes of me.

I can't believe how many people are pissed off because they think the ending is a blatant rip-off from Jaws. To get that angry I assume that movie would either have to be one of your all tame faves and/or you feel that the author was being lazy or not creative. I am going to give Steven Hall the benefit of the doubt, until proven otherwise, that he was not simply running out of time and finished off his book after having seen the movie. Note that I haven't seen the movie in over 20 years. Assuming that the ending is that close (some would have you think it is word for word) I am also going to give Hall the lenience that he didn't think he was trying to fool anybody. The thing is, tributes are done all of the time in the media. I saw an episode of some sitcom that did a spoof on the ending of The Usual Suspects (another mind twister that I loved). I didn't hate the show for doing it, I thought it was great.

And for the record, I didn't think the romance was that cheesy. For spoiler reasons I will not go into here, I think that is believable. Then again, I am a sucker for "cheesy" chic flics (please man's man friends, don't read this!) such as The Notebook and Definitely, Maybe.

Here is my attempt to defend myself that I am indeed not a sucker for liking this book at the 5 star level. I think the book as a whole is original. Is it a "bastard love child" of other movies/books/ideas? Yes. But that is the case in almost anything you read. Hall puts a new twist on a few different themes and for that - and for keeping me highly entertained over the course of a few days - I thank him. Keep up the good work!(less)

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Mar 13, 2009

Allycks rated it

A brief behind-the-scenes recap of "The Raw Shark Texts":

Steven Hall is inspired. Writes a brilliant one hundred pages of an unfinished novel. The first hundred pages of 'The Raw Shark Texts' are truly a great read, hinting at something avant-garde, something page-turning in the finest sense of the term. We're all clicking off the rusty old disbelief mechanisms because 'The Raw Shark Texts' is putting it all together. OK, sure, it is yet another "piece-my-life-bac...more

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May 05, 2008

Chuckell added it · review of another edition

You know how sometimes you read a book and you just know a character is a direct stand-in for the author? Take this book, for example. I simply could not shake the feeling that the narrator--a sadsack, lonely guy pining over the loss of his great and perfect love--is pretty much the absolute alter-ego of the author: I'm picturing a sadsack, lonely guy pining over the fact that no girl has ever really talked to him.

And no wonder the narrator misses his "Clio" (yes, the muse ...more

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Nov 20, 2007

Paula rated it

I couldn't resist picking up this book, with a lurking shark made completely out of text on the first page. I'm a big believer of judging books by covers, and once again I am proven right. The Raw Shark Texts is like several books you've read, and yet is completely different. It plays with the concept of words like "The Phantom Tollbooth," and its underground is vaguely similar to that of Gaiman's "Neverwhere." The plot starts out as "Memento," morphs into "The...more

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Sep 15, 2007

Glenn rated it

· review of another edition

Mellinger forced this book upon me as well, and he didn't really like it, but thought I might. I believe he's right. Certainly it's weird- a conceptual shark and a collective being that has assumed control of the internet exploding in a "matter-anti-matter" climax collision to save the hero (whose memories the shark had been feeding on), and his girlfriend (who resisted being subsumed into the collective being).

The book was highly readable, drawing me in, and something ab...more

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Nov 05, 2007

Dale rated it

Shelves: metafiction

This is the seventeenth book I read on my commute, and what a wonderfully weird little book it is. I bought it for my dad for his birthday in June, based on the review of it in the Washington Post Book World; he really liked it, and so he loaned it to me in August and in September I finally got around to reading it.

At least it was an easier read than Ulysses.

The Raw Shark Texts really was wildly entertaining, for me at least. I'm pegging it as sci-fi/fantasy, although...more

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Jun 10, 2008

Ruzz rated it

Shelves: 2008

I think this is a book that needs to be read. I think some of the ideas while often wrapped in clunky prose are outstanding and if you're able to surrender any part of your reasoning mind to what's going on you can find yourself in an interesting world.

He has, at least 3 sensational ideas presented which alone are worth the price of the book. And one of them is so insightful i think it may be proved true by science at some point in the distant (probably far) future.

Sadl...more

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Apr 08, 2008

Michael rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone

Try mixing The Matrix with Jaws and Old Man and the Sea and you have a glimpse of what this book is.
One of teh more original pieces of fiction i've read in quite some time.

This is a book not everyone will love but everyone should read. I need to read it again just to brush up on why its so frickin awesome!!!

Can't really say enough about this book other than go find it and sit down with it and read the heck out of it.

*Update*

Well, after a seco...more

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Jun 29, 2010

Justin rated it

Recommends it for: folks who like the rollercoaster and don't care how it works.

Recommended to Justin by: Tommy

For the most part I enjoyed reading this, but the only reason I was able to give it three stars is because it is the type of story that I like. If it doesn't bug you that there are major logic problems in the story or that the author chooses to regularly employ figures of speech as adjectives, you will be able to dive into a sort of comfortable mindless escape. Don't try to reason with it though or you'll get a "confusing waste of time" feeling. The structural novelty the author uses i...more

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Aug 14, 2008

ScottK rated it

Recommends it for: people who like something different.

Recommended to ScottK by: A friend at work and a few friends on GR

This was perhaps one of the most Interesting books I have read in a long time. Not to say that the other stuff I have been reading has been crap because it has not been.This book,however,well it being a Borders ORIGINAL VOICES winner should tell you something. It was completely original, Very much like the movie Memento but at the same time not really like anything I have ever read. I am still trying to sort out some of the things in my mind, but one thing I do know is I will eagerly await Mr. H...more

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Sep 22, 2011

Taimi added it · review of another edition

Haiteksti antaa olettaa itsestään jotain aivan muuta. Ensimmäiset sivut menemät muistinsa menettänen miehen yksinäistä ja yksinkertaista elämää kuvatessa. Tutustutaan Clio Aamesin etäiseen ja traagiseen muistoon, saamatta silti mitään kosketuspintaa seuraaviin tapahtumiin. Eric Sanderson ei edes tunnista itseään Eric Sandersoniksi. Entinen elämä on mysteeri, mutta täysin päähenkilöstä riippumattomalta tuntuva mysteeri. Eric kuvittelee voivansa rakentaa täysin uuden elämän, ajattelee, että se on ...moreHaiteksti antaa olettaa itsestään jotain aivan muuta. Ensimmäiset sivut menemät muistinsa menettänen miehen yksinäistä ja yksinkertaista elämää kuvatessa. Tutustutaan Clio Aamesin etäiseen ja traagiseen muistoon, saamatta silti mitään kosketuspintaa seuraaviin tapahtumiin. Eric Sanderson ei edes tunnista itseään Eric Sandersoniksi. Entinen elämä on mysteeri, mutta täysin päähenkilöstä riippumattomalta tuntuva mysteeri. Eric kuvittelee voivansa rakentaa täysin uuden elämän, ajattelee, että se on varmasti ainoa vaihtoehto. Entisestä kun ei ole jäljellä peruskiveäkään.

Muutaman psykologisen termin avaamisen jälkeen tapahtuu jotain merkillistä. Eric Sanderson herää sohvalta, hyvin tietoisena ympäristöstään, tarkkaavaisena, valppaana, pian tapahtuu jotain... Valkoisen kohinan syvyyksissä oli jotain etäistä ja elävää - ajatusten eloisa lento, käsitteiden ja puoliksi aistittujen kuvien liikkuva hahmo ui kohti. Jokin ui televisiosta ulos, TV keikahtaa lattialle ja huone jää pimeyteen. Pohjantähtenä loistaa vain palohälyttimen valo. Lattia katoaa, Eric Sanderson tipahtaa käsitteiden mereen ja hengenvaarallinen taistelu loduvocaania vastaan alkaa.

Itse, henkilökohtaisesti uskon käsitteellisten kalojen olemassaoloon. Olen nähnyt niitä unen ja valveen välitilassa usein. Mieleeni tulee aina ensin assosiaatio kahdesta taulusta, jotka olivat lapsuudessani talomme seinällä, vielä kun perheeni asui Jyväskylässä. Taulut olivat lähes abstrakteja, ja ne herättivät monia mielikuvia vilkasmieliselle lapselle. Näistä tauluista syöksyi ulos monia käsitteitä, ne vilisivät kuin kalalauma. Käsitteelliset kalat ovat ilmeisesti kuitenkin aina saalistamassa muistoja, eivätkä nämä käsitteet kuitenkaan olleet samaa vihamielistä laatua, päätellen siitä että en ole menettänyt muistiani, ainakaan lopullisesti.

Eric Sanderson ensimmäinen oli väärässä tietyissä uskomuksissaan. Hän kuvitteli voivansa muuttaa menneisyyden tapahtumia muuttamalla menneisyytensä muistoja, ja tuo on nyt sanottu hyvin voimakkaasti tätä käsiteviidakkoa karsimalla, ja oli tietenkin väärässä. Mutta hän oli oikeassa kuitenkin osittain. Me emme muista pelkästään menneisyyttä, muistamme myös tulevaisuuden. Puolet muististamme on varattu aivan muulle kuin sille, mitä on jo tapahtunut, nimittäin sille, mitä seuraavaksi tapahtuu.

Toisin sanoen, kun unohdamme asioita tai muistamme ne jotenkin väärin, ei kukaan ole keksinyt sitä kutsua muistin menetykseksi. Muisto on alunperinkin ollut subjektiivisesta näkökulmasta koettu tapahtuman heijastus, eikä siinä mielessä oikea tai väärä. Varmasti se on vähemmän todellinen kuin itse todellisuus, mutta ei oikea, ei väärä. Siksi... Vain nykyhetken veitsenterä on missään määrin "kova".

Olen tähän kirjaan hyvinkin ihastunut. Hitto vie, Stevel Hall, häneltä haluan lukea jotain muuta joskus myöhemminkin. Kirja on loppujen lopuksi "vain trilleri", seikkailu, dekkari. Henkilöhahmot ovat varmaan hirveän mustavalkoisia, hyväuskoinen ja vilpitön sankari, teräväkielinen ja sähäkkä naiskaunotar, äkäinen mutta äärimmäisen viisas tiedemies ja munkkiluostariin kietoutuva vapaamuurarilaitos... Aines on silti mureaa ja käsitteellisten kalojen virta vie mennessään. Mikä ajatus!
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Jan 14, 2009

Dietmar rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Dietmar by: METRO newspaper review

Shelves: urban-fantasy, thriller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 20, 2012

Hank rated it

Recommended to Hank by: Kristiana Rodriguez

"...the view becomes the reflection, and the reflection, the view." Hall had me enraptured from page one, in this very postmodern story of a man in search of himself. It was unusual and so creative; I could actually imagine being Eric Sanderson - lost, alone, confused, utterly distraught, and yet courageous. I think what I appreciate most about the book was that at the heart of it, it was a story about love and loss, and dealing with all the emotions that come with it. It was really sa...more

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Jan 10, 2012

Michael Brown rated it

· review of another edition

There's a review about 2 entries back which says that it's trite to say there's something lacking in this book. No it isn't - it's dead on. Of course, to feel there's something lacking you have to be expecting a full and polished performance. And it promised a lot. The sheer bloody cheek of it for a start, the in-your-face look-at-me metafiction, the self-awareness, and yet the appearance of a story just so it didn't have a shortest route SatNav pointer to its own arse - I was well up for it...more

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Dec 20, 2011

Natalye rated it

"The Raw Shark Texts" - Steven Hall (2007)

Based solely on the back jacket description of this book, I was relatively skeptical when I began reading it. However, living in Germany, beggars can't be choosers when it comes to reading from the personal libraries of nationals, and this was one of the few books at a friend's house that was in English and that I hadn't already read.

It took a bit of reading to get into, although perhaps that's also because I only read ...more

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Oct 03, 2011

Romeo rated it

I have to admit that usually when I read books I’m looking for greatness. I’m looking for that little spark of really amazing writing that makes you look at the world in a slightly different way. If a book can do that a few times during the course of me reading it I feel the read has been worthwhile. Sometimes a book can do it a few times and I find it was enjoyable, sometimes the book can do it throughout the whole book and I find the work genius.

The book The Raw Shark Texts by Ste...moreI have to admit that usually when I read books I’m looking for greatness. I’m looking for that little spark of really amazing writing that makes you look at the world in a slightly different way. If a book can do that a few times during the course of me reading it I feel the read has been worthwhile. Sometimes a book can do it a few times and I find it was enjoyable, sometimes the book can do it throughout the whole book and I find the work genius.

The book The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall wasn’t completely genius, but it did have it’s moments.

The book is about a man who is being pursued by a shark made out of words and language and can erase your mind. The man wakes up one day and can’t remember anything from his past. He starts trying to reconstruct his life by finding people that may know about it as well as trying to figure out clues that his old self left him. This is where the book gets a little lost and doesn’t always make sense, there are even a few riddles that never go anywhere. Then there are lines like:

“I love you,” Clio said out of nowhere as I reached across the table for the guidebook.

“I know,” I nodded, taking the book and leafing through it. “And I enjoy spending time with you too.”

“Wanker,” she laughed.

Or lines like this one where he describes the death of his love and the aftermath:

For so long I didn’t touch anything. Timelessness again, the house like a secret temple as dust built up on things that were never meant to have dust on them. Clee’s toothbrush and hairdryer and left-out-of-the-box CDs and deodorant on the bathroom window ledge. Ordinary things carefully kept in place because the last person to touch them would never put a cup down on the edge of the table again, or ever leave a book half-read. The world strained to move on without her and I strained to hold back the tide. My dad came over to see me not too long ago. He’s not too good at talking, my dad, but he did try to tidy up a bit as I made him a coffee. He moved one of Clio’s books and I screamed at him until I almost lost my voice but he still didn’t understand and tried to put the book back where it was, saying there, look, it’s alright, see? You’d never know. In the end he just held onto me as I sobbed and I knew he was crying too, but silently, white stripes down his tough stubbly face.

It has mistakes and it loses itself many times, but it’s a cerebral romp through a rough and weird world and every now and then it has magic shine through.(less)

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About Steven Hall

Steven Hall was born in 1975. After completing a fine arts degree, he became one of the founding members of Manchester's Wet Nana and has produced a number of plays, music videos, conceptual art pieces and short stories. He lives in Hull.

If you want to know more about Steven and his work or to ask him a question, you can go directly to his forums by clicking [here].

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“I looked at her and a voice inside me said, we only see starlight because all the stars are bleeding.” — 15 people liked it

“Already the dream was coming apart, its bright silk strands unwinding into nebulous emotions, little coloured clouds of feeling being dispersed by the movement of my waking-up mind. This is how it's always been with Light Bulb Fragment dreams; by the time I'm fully awake, they're gone.” — 7 people liked it

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