2008 Woodie Awards
'Raw Shark' tastes good, reads well
By: James Hansen
Issue date: 5/3/07 Section: Review
Sparkling with ingenuity, bold with its breadth and innovative in its approach, Steven Hall's first novel "The Raw Shark Texts" is one of the great reads of 2007. Reminiscent in many ways to Mark Z. Danielewski's cult novel "House of Leaves," Hall uses experimental techniques combined with strange storytelling elements to make "The Raw Shark Texts" compulsively mind-blowing.
Eric Sanderson's eyes pop "wide O open" to the discovery that he doesn't know where or who he is. Following a series of letters and packages around the house signed "with regret and hope" from the First Eric Sanderson, the Second Eric goes to meet Dr. Randle, a retired psy-chologist who informs him that he has dissociative disorder, which is a strange form of memory loss.
The disorder is merely psychological with no scientific connections or explanation. The First Eric Sanderson's dissociative disorder is connected to an incident on the Greek Island Naxos where his girlfriend Clio was killed.
Although this premise seems rather familiar to the film "Memento" as well as a slew of other memory-loss novels and films, Hall's real adventure begins and departs from this set-up as the Second Eric Sanderson continues to follow the First Eric Sanderson's notes against the will of Dr. Randle.
Hearing of an Un-Space Exploration Committee, Eric goes with his cat Ian to find this un-space where he suspects he will discover what happened to Clio and his memories. At his home, he is attacked by a force that he cannot see, but comes in the shape of a shark made out of words of the memories that he cannot remember.
Eric is eventually saved by a girl named Scout who takes him on a journey to find Dr. Trey Fidorous. Fidorous is the one person who knew the First Eric Sanderson and is the only person they feel can help Eric solve the mysteries of his first life and fight the conceptual fish that haunt everyone throughout the story.
Complicated and confusing as it may sound, above all "The Raw Shark Texts" is fun and utterly compelling. Loaded with reference to films and books and transforming into a 50-page flip book during a conceptual shark attack, Hall's background in the fine arts is always evident and helps carry the book along, even when it steps into the land of clichés.
Eric Sanderson's eyes pop "wide O open" to the discovery that he doesn't know where or who he is. Following a series of letters and packages around the house signed "with regret and hope" from the First Eric Sanderson, the Second Eric goes to meet Dr. Randle, a retired psy-chologist who informs him that he has dissociative disorder, which is a strange form of memory loss.
The disorder is merely psychological with no scientific connections or explanation. The First Eric Sanderson's dissociative disorder is connected to an incident on the Greek Island Naxos where his girlfriend Clio was killed.
Although this premise seems rather familiar to the film "Memento" as well as a slew of other memory-loss novels and films, Hall's real adventure begins and departs from this set-up as the Second Eric Sanderson continues to follow the First Eric Sanderson's notes against the will of Dr. Randle.
Hearing of an Un-Space Exploration Committee, Eric goes with his cat Ian to find this un-space where he suspects he will discover what happened to Clio and his memories. At his home, he is attacked by a force that he cannot see, but comes in the shape of a shark made out of words of the memories that he cannot remember.
Eric is eventually saved by a girl named Scout who takes him on a journey to find Dr. Trey Fidorous. Fidorous is the one person who knew the First Eric Sanderson and is the only person they feel can help Eric solve the mysteries of his first life and fight the conceptual fish that haunt everyone throughout the story.
Complicated and confusing as it may sound, above all "The Raw Shark Texts" is fun and utterly compelling. Loaded with reference to films and books and transforming into a 50-page flip book during a conceptual shark attack, Hall's background in the fine arts is always evident and helps carry the book along, even when it steps into the land of clichés.
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