Saturday, December 18, 2010

253 by Geoff Ryman

This is a brilliant book. Spanning only seven-and-a-half minutes in real time, this novel describes the lives of 253 passengers on a London Underground train from Embankment to Elephant and Castle station. Using a highly-original narrative format, Ryman recounts his tale by describing each passenger one-by-one, with each story being 253 words, while making connections among the various characters.

Among the countless people that we met are a criminal, a man who has a vision of William Blake, a madman who wants to kill his step-daughter, a pigeon, an IRA operative who is tracking the wife of an informant, a modern theater troupe that illegally busks on the train, and a love chain involving a homeless (or is he?) man who sells the Big Issue magazine.

This is the third Ryman book that I have read, and without a doubt, it reinforces why I think he is one of the best English-language novelists writing today.

4 out of 5 stars