The Sentence

by Matthew Baker

The Sentence is wholly a graphic novel told in the form of a sentence diagram. A single 6732-word sentence, diagrammed in full.

Set in a parallel-universe United States in which the government has recently been overthrown by a military coup, the story is narrated by a lonely young grammar professor, Riley, who is suddenly branded a traitor by the new regime. Bewildered by the charges, and fearing a death sentence, Riley manages to flee to an anarchist commune in the wilderness. After a lifetime of feeling alienated, of desperately longing for friendship, Riley is astonished to be accepted and loved by the anarchists—to come to love the anarchists in return. But when the anarchists reveal a plot to assassinate the authoritarian dictator of the country, Riley is forced to choose whether to support the plot—to return to the capital and help the anarchists bomb the headquarters—or to lose their newfound family forever.

Genres: Fiction, Graphic Novels, Dystopia

Paperback

Published April 2, 2024

About the author

Named one of Variety's "10 Storytellers To Watch," Matthew Baker is the author of the story collections Why Visit America and Hybrid Creatures and the children's novel Key Of X, originally published as If You Find This. Digital experiments include the temporal fiction "Ephemeral," the interlinked novel Untold, the randomized novel Verses, and the intentionally posthumous Afterthought. Born in the Great Lakes region of the United States, the author currently lives in Iceland.

Reviews

[Neill Robson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept is quite appealing, and Baker did a reasonable (average) job at justifying the unorthodox presentation with a narrative backing. By the end of the book, I had the distinct impression that the narrator needed to tell the story in that way: the presentation was embedded in her character. That experience of discovery and empathy was good.

What I didn't like--and I strongly disliked this--was how little actually happened in the plot of the book. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the exact same words, presented in a standard linear syntax, would have taken up no more than fifty pages. Double spaced. The blurb on the back cover spoils everything but the very final choice the protagonist makes. I didn't realize what a spoiler the blurb was when I first read it, because it truly sounded like an exposition summary.

Turns out, the first 95% of the book was exposition.

Nearly all of the text is written in a "diary" style: lots of description, lots of "telling" over showing. Once again, this style does fit the narrator's character and the narrative overall. But as a reader, I was further disappointed by how little depth and symbolism I could sink my teeth into, once the central challenge of reading sentence diagrams was overcome.

When I first finished the book, I considered giving it three stars. It was a good effort, solid message/moral, and the diagram structure was not a gimmick (it had narrative backing). But the more I reflected, the less I thought I would ever read it again. It was the last sip of an iced lemonade: mildly refreshing, already slightly diluted, destined to be even more watery with each return on a hot day.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I constantly got in trouble in my grammar class and developed a strong distaste for sentence diagrams. Despite that, I thought this was a unique way to tell this story, even if I did end up just staring at the clusters of words to piece it together (it was too jerky otherwise). Dissatisfied with that ending though...

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t remember the last time a book’s ending made me this angry. Was all set to have a lot of beautiful morals and meanings and ended with… not just the reverse of that, but… either ableism or something adjacent to it. Good luck explaining this one to your autistic friends without making them sound like the bad guy.

[Dana * · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a blast , a bit of a challenge to read but the writing style suits the subject so well. I asked my just out of college daughter if she ever had to graph a sentence, she had no idea what that was. Would someone appreciate order and rules so much that they give up their personal freedom?

[Mugren Ohaly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess the trick to getting bad writing published is to disguise it as an experimental book.

[Bekki Fahrer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shit.


This book undid me. I am not ok.

[Chloe Chiado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hey I fear a lot of people are just like Riley and do not realize it until it's too late and the government doesn't care about you either.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a person who delighted in obnoxiously long sentence diagramming sessions in college, this was such a fun read.