Helpful Score: 3
Unlike any book I have ever read. Trippy, confusing, crazy. I loved it, but I don't think it is for everyone. If you want something different, have an open mind and don't want the same old run of the mill book, I highly recommend it. The concepts and use of language are truly inventive, captivating and original.
Helpful Score: 3
Very interesting. I loved the freedom of writing style that Hall has, and the concept of the book was definitely unique. It was attention-grabbing and intriguing, if at times hard to follow precisely. Definitely a reading "experience". I enjoyed reading this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an easy, fun, sci-fi-like read.
Helpful Score: 3
This was a unique book with a questionable twist in the end, but a little too much over the top for me. One of the reviews of the book cover says "Jaws meets Alice in Wonderland" and that is an accurate description, just too far down the rabbit hole in my opinion. If you want a believable story, this is not the book, but if you enjoy a wild ride of a completely "out there" fantasy tale, this would be enjoyable.
Helpful Score: 2
This is an amazing, amazing book, the kind of book that makes me keep reading novels. In literature, unlike non-fiction, truly ANYTHING can happen, and Steven Hall's "The Raw Shark Texts" proves that in fiction, a good writer can craft a believable world with believable characters doing absolutely impossible things in a believable way. "The Raw Shark Texts" introduces a modern-day England where a small group of people surround Eric Sanderson (the second), a young man who awakens one day who doesn't know where he is or how he gets there. He has no memory of himself or of his past. Guided by letters written by Eric Sanderson (the first), Eric (the second) seeks the truth of his life while avoiding being killed by a very strange, and very real, shark, a shark made up of words and ideas rather than of cartilage and nerves. This book is written in a very straightforward and down-to-earth way. Eric realizes that he is not in a dream world. He comes to understand that he is not insane. He knows that he is not on drugs. He finds that he, and he alone, is being pursued by a man-eating shark, but a shark unlike any that Eric has ever heard of, and a type I've ever read about before. By the way, "The Raw Shark Texts" is also a wonderful love story, or perhaps two wonderful love stories (you'll have to read it to make up your own mind). I have never read anything that gave me goosebumps both for the quality of the prose and for the tension in the narrative.
Helpful Score: 2
A very strange book but very interesting. It's highly conceptual, so it takes a little while to kind of understand what Hall is getting at, but it's very exciting and quite action-packed. I usually find myself reading in bed and once I finish a chapter I'll have to say to myself "Well, maybe just one more chapter." A couple of late nights were had with this book! If you liked the movies "The Matrix" and "Memento" then you will love this book.
Helpful Score: 2
You'll either love it or hate it. There is no other book like it that I have ever read, but I've only recommended it to men under 30 or very adventurous readers. I am a woman in my 50's, but I would not recommend it to my book club. All that being said, I loved this book. I couldn't put it down, but I also can't describe it. It drags you back and forth over the boundary between the real and the imagined, and you never know where you are and neither does the main character. Is it a psychological fantasy? The ultimate love story? A very high tech nightmare? I dare you to try it!
This book was very original and quite unique. Readers who enjoy mind-bending books will really like it. Someone compared it to one of Harakami's novels crossed with Moby Dick and that is quite a good description. I loved it and would highly recommend it.
Like Jaws on acid. A complex plot. Crazy goodness. Mmmmmmm. Watch out for the conceptual sharks though. Read it or die.
Hard to follow from the get go, I didn't make it halfway through before giving up on this book.
