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The End of Mr. Y

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 6,181 ratings · 808 reviews

When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed.With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel.

Paperback, 396 pages

Published June 12th 2008 by Canongate Books (first published 2006)

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May 09, 2012 Krissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Conrad

Shelves: favorites

Holy #&*#*$!@ Christ, Scarlett Thomas has taken the top of my head off. I thought PopCo was an awesome mindf!ck, but Mr. Y makes it look like so much People magazine.

I'm really not sure what to say about this novel. I think people that like House of Leaves would probably like it for similar reasons though it's not nearly so hard to follow. Her female lead, as in PopCo, is almost frighteningly intelligent, as I'm beginning to suspect Thomas is herself. It's not the intelligence that's entici...more

28 likes · like · see review

Jun 17, 2008 Judith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh my, I think I am cursed. Today at least I am under a spell. The day starts normally: waking up, checking the alarmclock, seeing the stack of books next to my bed. One book especially grabs my attention. I decide to read one more chapter, as I still have plenty of time before work.

I read and read, one chapter, two chapter, three chapters...
- I can start later, I will work longer -
...Words, letters, paragraphs...
- I am ill, I need to stay in bed, I will work over the weekend -
...Plots, subplots...more

49 likes · like · see review

Jun 03, 2007 Trin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, english-lit

Like Thomas' PopCo, I found this both fascinating and frustrating. Thomas definitely achieves something really special with her ability to make her writing intensely cerebral (some of my favorite parts of Mr. Y were the digressions into quantum physics and other brain-stretching topics) while at the same time creating very human, flawed characters. Still, there's a quality of...coldness that prevents me from becoming emotionally involved. Perhaps the whole thing seems too clever, too orchestrat...more

17 likes · like · see review

Mar 19, 2007 neil rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like to read poorly written sex scenes

This is perhaps the worst book I ever finished. I don't really recommend it. The thought experiment aspect of the book could have been interesting, but was unfortunately written for people who haven't read Baudrillard and don't understand particle physics. Which I don't, but I got it much faster than the people in the book. Plus, the story was absurd, and poorly thought out. The main character was smarter than the writer, and seemed to resent that. Plus, it seemed that the sex scenes were writte...more

16 likes · like · see review

Sep 29, 2011 Charles rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Note to authors: Merely mentioning "Husserl" or "Derrida" does not make a book intellectual or philosophical. Similarly, uttering the name -- much less quoting -- "Einstein," "Heisenberg," or "Schrodinger" does not make a book scientific, or lend credibility to the writing.

To those who have positively reviewed this book noting its intellectualism or creativity or surprise ending, I am glad that you enjoyed it.

I thought the book pointless, rambling, and pseduointellectual. The author quoted the n...more

14 likes · like · see review

Sep 08, 2012 Lauren (Sugar & Snark) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Lauren (Sugar & Snark) by: Lauren Smith

Have you ever been at a party and been cornered by that special breed of person who thinks they are the best read, most highly evolved intellect on the plant and their one goal in life is to convince you and anyone else who will listen of this (in their mind) indisputable fact. This book is the literary equivalent of that party goer. Cue the incessant and often needless name dropping. Any interesting thoughts or ideas on theoretical physics and philosophy are drowned out by the authors constant...more

7 likes · like · see review

Feb 05, 2010 Batsap rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, not-good

I couldn't wait to finish this book... but not because I was hooked, perched on the edge of my seat as I desperately waited to see how everything turned out, I just wanted the tedium to end.

It wasn't even the constant drip-feed of Philosophy and Quantum Physics that had me yawning and searching for the nearest caffiene source. In fact, that was the most interesting part of the book. (If you can overlook the obsessive name-dropping and reference to Derrida on almost every single page.) The way it...more

13 likes · like · see review

Oct 26, 2007 Allycks rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know it's a cop-out but my real rating of this book is 4 and a half.

The plot is simple-- a grad student stumbles across an extremely rare and purportedly cursed book, reads it, and discovers another world, a world 'made up of thought' which she calls the Troposphere.

The protagonist Ariel is characterized by her disdain of luxury, taste for hard sex, and above all an insatiable desire to know everything. Ariel's curiosity drives the book and leads the reader through Derrida, Einstein, Heidegg...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 22, 2010 Lauren Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, philosophy, postmodern, metafiction, science, time-travel, to-re-read, language, science-fiction, pro-fall

This is an adventure in thought experiments. This is idea porn. It's the most cerebral fun I’ve ever had. The End of Mr Y is a cocktail of postmodern philosophy, quantum physics, metafiction, science fiction and adventure. If any of that sounds intimidating, rest assured that this isn’t like reading Derrida, Heidegger, Baudrillard or any of the convoluted philosophies that Ariel Manto likes to immerse herself in. Early on she says that she “quite like[s] the way you can talk about science withou...more

5 likes · like · see review

Oct 29, 2008 Aaron rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Imagine a novel that has never been read by anyone who has lived to talk about it. The only people known to have finished it either died shortly afterward or have disappeared without a trace. The novel in question is so notorious that the only copy known to exist has been locked in a vault in Berlin, preventing anyone from ever reading it again. This novel, for all practical purposes, is cursed. If you read it, you will die.

If such a novel existed and you found a copy in a used bookstore, would...more Imagine a novel that has never been read by anyone who has lived to talk about it. The only people known to have finished it either died shortly afterward or have disappeared without a trace. The novel in question is so notorious that the only copy known to exist has been locked in a vault in Berlin, preventing anyone from ever reading it again. This novel, for all practical purposes, is cursed. If you read it, you will die.

If such a novel existed and you found a copy in a used bookstore, would you read it?

Ariel Manto would. In fact, she does.

This idea, the notion of reading a novel known to be cursed is the premise at the heart of Scarlett Thomas's well-written, thought-provoking, but ultimately disappointing new novel.

The novel within the novel contains a recipe for a tincture that if you mix, drink, and then stare into a hand-drawn black dot allows you to exit this dimension into another (referred to in the novel as The Troposphere). In this dimension, you have access (through a process called paradesis) to the minds of any sentient being who has ever been in any way related to anyone you have ever known. This includes animals as well, especially mice or felines. Anyone who enters this dimension has their minds opened, to heretofore unknown truths about life. Truths about God. Truths about scientific law. Truths about existence itself.

This is a thought-provoking novel full of well-written, well-thought-out, well-organized postulations about reality, philosophy, and religion. One of my favorites is a discussion about whether Einstein's famous energy formula is actually something he proved to be true or something he willed to be true, forcing humanity to accept its veracity.

As it turns out, it isn't the novel itself that will kill you, but the people who want the recipe contained therein and will stop at nothing to get it. If you read the novel and enter The Troposphere, they can find you and they will more than likely catch you.

I have many problems with this novel, despite how thought-provoking it is, the least of which being the protagonist. She is described as a sexual deviant, a self mutilator, and one waits for this to have some bearing on the story being held. But it doesn't. It just is. Shocking material for the sake of shocking material has never really had much appeal for me. The bigger issue is the love story that permeates this novel. It also has no true bearing on the story (other than to allow Romeo to show up at the last minute and fix everything with both guns blazing) and kind of bogs down the philosophical discussion. The discussion is key to what makes this novel so interesting to read, but perhaps too many idea are set forth. The last forty pages go by too quickly with nothing really getting solved. And the ending is abrupt.

In the end, I really only care about the philosophical questions I was left to think about. The novel itself will fade from my memory.
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11 likes · like · see review

Jun 11, 2011 Hirondelle rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, i-quit

I tried to write paragraphs about what precisely I hated on this book and that just made me even more annoyed than the reading experience was. But some details: special relativity and homeopathy both "work" and got equal footing and are treated the same way by our main character, which btw is a lit PhD student who needs several days full time to read a book of about 150 pages. No, she is not taking notes, she does that later. Ah, and I can´t figure out when the book is supposed to be set: it was...more

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 13, 2008 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone with an interest in contemporary philosophy, physics or sci-fi/fantasy crossovers

Shelves: fantasy, philosophy-etc

I bought this book purely because it was offer of the week on Waterstones.com and the customer reviews of it sounded intriguing. I’m definitely going to try such tactics again in the future as The End of Mr Y turned out to be better than even those reviews suggested.

A bold and imaginative concept brings together elements of theoretical physics with the thinking of late 19th and early 20th century philosophers, in particular Derrida and Heidegger. I think the very point of the book is to make the...more I bought this book purely because it was offer of the week on Waterstones.com and the customer reviews of it sounded intriguing. I’m definitely going to try such tactics again in the future as The End of Mr Y turned out to be better than even those reviews suggested.

A bold and imaginative concept brings together elements of theoretical physics with the thinking of late 19th and early 20th century philosophers, in particular Derrida and Heidegger. I think the very point of the book is to make these works accessible to the general reader, someone with no grounding in philosophy (in the same way that Jostein Gaarder brought the history of western philosophy to the general audience through the eyes of Sophie) or particle physics. Author Scarlet Thomas, lecturer at the University of Kent also takes the opportunity to explore her own philosophy, tackling big ideas of conscious, God, beginnings and worlds beyond ours.

As a book it is a taught thriller which leads the reader on a fascinating journey of enlightenment through the eyes of anti-heroine Ariel Manto, a PhD student and follower of free association. Her self-destructive tendencies which clash with her intelligence make for an engaging central character. Most importantly her arts background generally makes her articulation of important scientific ideas understandable, encapsulating them in thought experiments, story and metaphor.

It is this last one that is the most important, for Ariel discovers a world made of metaphor, a world of thought. It is this central idea that Thomas explores whilst sending sinister American agents and mice-gods to hinder or help Ariel on her quest. I like the classical elements of history she introduces, as well as the Victoriana. These certainly make a welcome change from the fashionable oriental elements that have pervaded recent science-fiction (such as the Matrix films).

The book exudes cool; pop culture references abound but it is set amongst the steel-grey skies of an English winter in a small University town. I think it is this remarkable closeness and familiarity, and the fact that the world of the mind is so personal, which make this such a successful book for me.

This is by no means a perfect book (the dénouement is let down by a tacked on epilogue), but it certainly makes you think, has moments of great passion and great pain. More importantly it gives you the tools to access a world of much more abstract thought and might even encourage you to read a bit more about theoretical physics (try Brian Greene or Michio Kaku) or philosophy (Sophie’s World etc).(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 16, 2011 Yvonne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 16, 2007 Mary-Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

I don't know what it is about the life of the graduate student being a popular topic for novelists these days, but it seems to be the case. This novel tends not to glamourize the lifestyle much anyway, as the protagonist spends most of her time finding ways to stretch her money.

The premise is that a graduate student discovers the last copy of an extremely rare book in the world. This book tells the tale of Mr. Y, a gentleman who one night in a seedy fairground discovers the Troposphere, a surrea...more

1 like · like · see review

May 02, 2007 Sam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone, anyone

Shelves: favorites

This book is the best book I have ever read, and I do not give this title away lightly. Franny and Zooey has held that spot since I was 12 so in it took 11 years for me to find a book to supplant its spot, but this book has to.
The ideas that float in and out of the plot line are amazing, taking the reader for a ride through the idea of ideas.
The main character is believable with her flaws and determination. She has a strong voice that you just want to root for, even though you sometimes have no...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 14, 2010 Jade rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

One of the best books I have read in a long time. Intelligent, witty and absolutely charming. Thomas has really pushed the boat out here with a book of such depth, mixed in with religious, philosophical and scientific concepts beautifully interwoven and challenging.

This is the story of Ariel who on getting hold of a copy of The End of My Y in a book shop decides to try a potion mentioned in the book, despite it's supposidly 'cursed' qualities. From this point forward Ariel enters the Tropisphere...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Arundhati Sinha rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Probably the worst book I will ever read... And yes, I have read the twilight series.

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 08, 2008 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My first impression: "Quotations from Baudrillard and Heidegger to start a book - oh, no."

By page 29 I was hooked. Very, very rare are the books that can deal with thought experiments, old books, and the nature of thought and reality without being utterly pretentious or just bad in other ways. The End of Mr. Y is not. It's philosophical, erotic, mind-boggling, exciting, enchanting and great fun.

I haven't loved a book this much since David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas or Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 15, 2008 Doogyjim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Undoubtedly exciting and brimming with ideas about identity and philosophy, the novel is a little slow to start but then takes off into Matrix territory as Ariel Manto is pursued by sinister agents trying to stop her using the knowledge she has discovered by finding a cursed book

Ultimately it did leave me a little cold and addmittedly a lot of the specualtion went over my head. But it's that rare thing, a book full of ideas that also keeps you gripped as a thriller. It's light years better than...more

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 25, 2007 Anica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: douglas adams fans, philosophy/physics geniuses

Shelves: favorites, 2009

there's so much I don't know about quantum physics -- but this book makes me really want to know. it starts off about a slightly salty british PhD student, but quickly becomes about using an acid-like substance to bend the space-time continuum (which happens to be a favorite subject of mine.) there's just enough racy sex and true romance (that is to say, the bare minimum) to weave all the quarks together. it moves at an exciting pace, but you want to stop reading every few pages and just think a...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 04, 2011 Orr Hirschauge added it · review of another edition

The blurbs on the back cover of The End of Mr. Y have all the right names praising it, including Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials) and Douglas Copland. The novel itself could be described as a rough integration of Pullman's philosophico-theological trilogy with Borges's Ficciones scholastic thought experiments with an added dash, or even more than a dash, of Gibson's Neuromancer. Indeed in many ways Thomas succeeds in creating a well written and realistic day-to-day life for her young scholar...more The blurbs on the back cover of The End of Mr. Y have all the right names praising it, including Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials) and Douglas Copland. The novel itself could be described as a rough integration of Pullman's philosophico-theological trilogy with Borges's Ficciones scholastic thought experiments with an added dash, or even more than a dash, of Gibson's Neuromancer. Indeed in many ways Thomas succeeds in creating a well written and realistic day-to-day life for her young scholar heroine in the first half of the book. The heroine herself seems better constructed than almost any character presented in similar books and the scenes of day to day low budget lives and dialogues have more than an edge of acute perceptiveness. This emphasis on the strong realistic tone seems to be one of the things Thomas wanted to put into the book as part of its comprehensive "thought-text experiment" scheme. But the same scheme which brightens the first part of the book is the exact cause of its downfall in the second half. Thomas constrained the writing trying to create a Never Ending Story type of book where reality and text meet. In order to achieve that the heroine delves into a destructive self reckoning on a path that might suggest that suffering for truth might bring on a reality where fantasy really exists (and it does). Such narcissistic goals – and I don't mean this in any bad way – can not be met with anything except failure if one wishes to achieve it with anything but the most religiously intended texts. The couple of points where the text of the first half of the book comes off as unrealistic seem indeed to be misfires more than anything else. Such a moment occurs when two post-grad students in Biology and Theology give the heroine blank stares when she brings up the topic of Quantum Physics. It would be a strange couple indeed if they have managed to assemble so many off-curriculum activities or even in-curriculum activities in order to be able to escape the inevitable occasional mention of the concept in all of their years in the university. Nevertheless, Thomas is very good with creating believable non-identical characters and she exhibits her superior skills in that field delving into the minds of various mice and cats on the scene. The general philosophical outline and suggestions the book brings up could be summed up as a Derrida meets Augustine – an idealistic world where consciousnesses create reality with a very nice use of the "History is but a single moment" theme. Having said that, Derrida indeed read Augustine and did not come up with such a radical philosophy and, besides, the excessive use of the names of Derrida and Heidegger, which seem to pop up every few pages, seem to be intended to give the book a more scholarly feel and achieve in doing the exact opposite. One thing I have realized during the reading of the book is why Scientology is so effective: institutionalized religion has never been able to give a very satisfying answer to the Copernican revolution and to its after affects, namely the belief in the existence of other intelligent species and the existence of inhabited planets besides earth; even Thomas, with a very radical retelling of the story of Genesis has not been able to bridge this gap.(less)

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Dec 25, 2008 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The End of Mr. Y is hard to describe. It's part mystery, part chase thriller, part metaphysical puzzle. Ariel Manto is a graduate student in Britain. Part of her study concerns an obscure 19th Century author who wrote an allegedly cursed book. When a copy falls into her hands, Ariel life begins to change as she discovers a way into an entirely new world of thought. Unfortunately for her, this is a world that others are more than willing to kill to keep to themselves. Ariel has to figure out how...more

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Dec 03, 2008 Shawne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Philosophy students (especially of the metaphysical variety), casual fans of quantum physics

Shelves: fiction

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie and gone, "Wow, that was some mindfuck!" - well, The End Of Mr Y takes that just about as literally as one can go. Thomas has created a complex book within a book, a universe within a universe, teeming with ideas and theorems, hope and life and well... sheer mindfuckery. As her lead character Ariel Manto doggedly discovers the secrets of a purportedly cursed tome (also named The End Of Mr Y), Thomas' fictional world explodes outwards: a metaphorical B...more

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May 17, 2013 Tim Hicks rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a load of old cobblers that was.

I recognized right away the standard British plot with a not-very-successful plodder at a university where things aren't going well and she has no money and she just keeps on with the I-shouldn't-be-doing-this habits, and OF COURSE she spends the last of her money on a book. Someone from about 80 years ago ought to get royalties whenever this tired old plot framework is used.

Thomas has made a bit of an effort to modernize the book. Our heroine has an iPod,...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Craig Stone rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hate the main character, not the book. Hate the main character AND the book. But don't hate the book because of the main character. I mean, to give this book 1 star because you didn't like the main protagonist is crazier than a clown glove reaching out of a cuckoo clock one minute before the hour...because the book, all books, can never be written with "you" specifically in mind. So, in short, get over yourself.

In a literary world engulfed by werewolves and vegetarian vampires, supported by a te...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was such a crushing disappointment for me. On paper, I should have adored this book. It dealt with all the right topics; 19th century literature, the blurring of science and art, quantum physics, consciousness, I love all of these things. And therein lies the problem. I LOVE all of these things, so I like to think I am very well read in them. Ms. Thomas clearly LIKES all of these things without possessing the knowledge required to speak of them with any true authority. Her understandin...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Stevedutch rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a compendium of oddities and influences that, bizarrely, works to great effect. Imagine Woody Allen had written the screen play of The Matrix heavily influenced by The Wizard of Oz and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland just after reading Einstein’s seminal 1905 paper on Special Relativity and you’ll get some idea of its contents and storyline.

I’m not sure if Thomas read Woody’s story The Kugelmass Episode in advance of writing The End of Mr Y but there are some interesting similarities no...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Ally rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some very interesting concepts, ideas and thoughts are explored throughout The End of Mr Y and generally I found it to be an absorbing and entertaining read .... Somewhat heavy subject matter written in a light and lively style. It was a nice introduction for me into quantum physics and thought experiments as I had previously been quite disinterested and clueless.

However ..... I wish, oh how I wish that Scarlett Thomas would just stop being so patronising with her description, and how I wish sh...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Gwen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Oct 11, 2012 Karen Pine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
The End of Mr Y starts off with the reappearance of the only copy of an obscure Victorian novelist's last book - The End of Mr Y – which Ariel discovers unexpectedly in a bookshop. I love the way her ‘find’ is described and was completely drawn into the excitement of such an unlikely discovery. The book seems to have mystical powers, and indeed has a curse on it: anyone who has ever read it has died, including the author, Lumas. There are some passages of faux-V...more The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
The End of Mr Y starts off with the reappearance of the only copy of an obscure Victorian novelist's last book - The End of Mr Y – which Ariel discovers unexpectedly in a bookshop. I love the way her ‘find’ is described and was completely drawn into the excitement of such an unlikely discovery. The book seems to have mystical powers, and indeed has a curse on it: anyone who has ever read it has died, including the author, Lumas. There are some passages of faux-Victorian prose to give us a taste of Lumas's book, and a general sense of the uncanny prevails, though it has to struggle against the voice of the narrator. A graduate student of 30 or so, unloved by her parents and addicted to various self-destructive substances and behaviours, Ariel Manto tells her story in the present tense in a sort of clever whine; the voice expresses a personality, certainly, but not a very winning one. And, however effective it may be in conversation, in written prose the adjective "fucking" never quite replaces other, more exact means of conveying emphasis or emotion. But her descriptions of mornings are right on the button:
“I think it’s fair to say I hate mornings. I hate the honesty of the morning; the time before your consciousness switches on the light and gets rid of all the nasty shadows.”
“Sometimes I wake up with such an immense sense of disappointment that I can hardly breathe.”
“Monday morning, and the sky is the colour of sad weddings.”
Though her affective vocabulary is repetitive and her sex life is only too much like it, Ariel is immensely bright, and very much on the cutting edge; she understands Derrida and différance, reads Heidegger and catches on at once to all the philosophy, physics, and metaphysics hurled about her head by the other characters. So the author tackles some deeply difficult subjects and still remains accessible (although some of the quantum physics and thought experiments lost me). The book reveals the recipe for a potion: a homeopathic mix of charcoal and holy water which transports Ariel's mind to another plane of reality, which she calls the Troposphere and which the evil CIA agents who pursue her there call Mindspace. Speculative explanations of the existence and nature of this region bring us into the science fiction mode; and the mixture of intellectual discussion with a thriller plot.
It seems the more times Ariel swallows her holy water and enters the Troposphere and the more deadly become the perils there, the more the place feels like a computer game. While there, she consults a Console which instructs her as to how many choices she has; these choices are not of any ethical or emotional interest, but, as in the usual action game, tend to be in terms of violence escaped or impending. Given Ariel's self-description as an addictive personality, it is not surprising that she gets hooked. But there is a vast gap between even the most interactive computer game and genuine narrative, and this novel dissipates much of its power in that empty space.
The importance of the Troposphere increases until it appears that the agents of evil there may bring about the end of the world as we know it. So Ariel and her true love, the former priest Adam, undertake to save us. The mode of salvation they arrive at is both a surprise and a letdown, rather like the punchline of a shaggy dog story. However, the idea that the world is the product of thoughts and language, and each individual’s own metaphor, is compelling. Plus the idea that a God can be created from the prayers of people in the Troposphere is echoed through the way religion in the real world appears empty and futile.
Ariel is able to enter the minds of other people around her when in the Troposphere and Thomas conjures up another world for every mind that is infiltrated, very convincingly. What I remember fondly from the book, oddly enough, are the mice. First of all a perfectly charming mouse-god, Apollo Smintheus, kept in virtual existence by the prayers of a small group of young people in Illinois; and then the tormented laboratory mice whose minds Ariel and Adam briefly inhabit on their way back through time to the Victorian age. In this episode, feeling replaces cleverness, and the book escapes from the limitations of brain-games into a quite different Mindspace.
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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
About the Tincture of Water (Spoilers here? Yup.)	3	44	Dec 02, 2012 03:54am
Mic Breaks Only: Mr. Y: The End Of: Fin! (Full Book Discussion)	3	9	Sep 01, 2012 06:06pm
Mic Breaks Only: * Mapping Y to Z! (Free Book Challenge!)	4	12	Sep 01, 2012 09:49am
Mic Breaks Only: Mr. Y: Past the Middle: Chp 14 - 18	4	4	Aug 21, 2012 08:38am
Mic Breaks Only: Mr. Y: Elevenses: Chp 9 - 13	3	6	Aug 13, 2012 03:23pm
Mic Breaks Only: Mr. Y: Beginnings: Chp 1 - 4	4	7	Aug 09, 2012 09:49pm

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About Scarlett Thomas

Scarlett Thomas has taught English Literature at the University of Kent since 2004, and has previously taught at Dartmouth Community College, South East Essex College and the University of East London. She reviews books for the Literary Review, the Independent on Sunday, and Scotland on Sunday. She has written seven novels, including The End of Mr. Y and PopCo.
In 2001 she was named by The Independ...more

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Trivia About El fin de Mr. Y

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Quotes from The End of Mr. Y

“Real life is physical. Give me books instead. Give me the invisibility of the contents of books, the thoughts, the ideas, the images. Let me become part of a book. . . . an intertextual being: a book cyborg, or, considering that books aren't cybernetic, perhaps a bibliorg.” — 62 people liked it

“I wonder if the reason I tend to say yes to everything is because I deeply believe that I can survive anything.” — 26 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2153792.The_End_of_Mr_Y?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347393900l/2153792.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2153792.The_End_of_Mr_Y?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas[/url]

The End of Mr. Y

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