I was in love with this book until midway through, when the plot fell apart. The writing itself is great - the character's voice and thought processes are so distinct - but somewhere in the tale of EOE's journey westward, I lost interest in TSS's journey eastward. The last section of the book was a mess. However, I can't say that I would discourage people from reading it and I'll definitely pick up the author's next book, whatever it may be.
A wonderfully executed, unique new concept from a first time novelist, TS Spivet is a young boy with remarkable skills of illustration and map-making -- many of which appear in the margins of the book's pages. My highest recommendation.
If this book consisted only of the first half, I would give it five stars. I enjoyed the first half immensely, and was riveted by the protagonist's dialogue and drawings. Then something happened....
About the middle, when T.S. goes through the "Wormhole" from Nebraska to Chicago, the author goes off track. While I enjoyed the story line about his female ancestor, I couldn't understand the "murder attempt" in Chicago, the secret society, the lies told by the Smithsonian and other inane plot lines. I felt the author lost track of where he and T.S. was going and just winged it to add more pages to the novel.
About the middle, when T.S. goes through the "Wormhole" from Nebraska to Chicago, the author goes off track. While I enjoyed the story line about his female ancestor, I couldn't understand the "murder attempt" in Chicago, the secret society, the lies told by the Smithsonian and other inane plot lines. I felt the author lost track of where he and T.S. was going and just winged it to add more pages to the novel.
