Product Description

When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed. With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89760 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

Review
"Ingenious and original... A cracking good yarn fizzing with intelligence." Philip Pullman "Scarlett Thomas has one of the rarest of novelist's gifts - the ability to put flesh and blood onto intellectual ideas and bring them to thrilling life. Which means that not only will you have a great time reading this book, but you will finish it a cleverer person than when you started." Jonathan Coe "Mindboggling brainy and playful The End of Mr Y deserves to make [Scarlett Thomas] better known at last." Independent on Sunday "Smart, stylish and dizzying... with a breakneck thriller of a plot... should appeal to a wide popular audience" New York Times Book Review"

Philip Pullman
`Ingenious and original . . . A cracking good yarn fizzing with
intelligence.'

Jonathan Coe
`One of the most exciting novels I have read in recent years.'

Customer Reviews

The ending is a let down
When I started reading this book , I was very excited by the originality of its plot and references to quantum physics and philosophy. But after a while, I got the sense that Thomas was just regurgitating from university lectures she's attended. The endless expositions didn't advance the plot of the book and after a while I found myself skimming through these recitations, even though I'm quite a fan of the subject matter. I also found it hard to be convinced by the main character's insistence on wanting to be classified as "bad" and "damaged". Somehow, I just didn't get the Nancy Spungen vibe off her. The ending was really a let down as it was so unoriginal. Come on, do we really need another literary reference to Adam and Eve and the Tree of Life? A good effort though!

yawn!!!!!!
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............

An acquired taste
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.