Product Description

A cult classic in the making. 253 is the novel about everyone you've ever met and wished you hadn't or wished you could again. 252 passengers and one driver on the London Underground. They all have their own personal histories, their own thoughts about themselves and their travelling neighbours. And they all have one page devoted to them. Some characters are tragic, some are inspiring, some are mad/proud/foolish/infuriating (delete where appropriate) and some are just like the person near you right now. You'll meet Estelle who's fallen madly in love with Saddam Hussein; James, who anaesthetises sick gorillas for a living; and Who?, a character that doesn't know where, or what, on earth he is. It's a seven-and-a-half minute journey between Embankment and the Elephant & Castle. It's the journey of 253 lifetimes! This is the full text of the celebrated interactive novel that startled the Web when it first went on line. Only it can't crash, the downloading time is quicker and you can read it on the Tube, the train, the bus,, the plane, by foot -- even by car, so long as you're not driving.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65549 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
'A triumph of imagination, interlaced with considerable wit' New Statesman 'Innovative and engrossing' Independent 'Astonishingly vibrant portraits of each person on the train! A disturbing, melancholy work, but also lyrical and totally engaging' Los Angeles Times

About the Author
Geoff Ryman is a Canadian who has lived in London for 20 years. His most recent novel, Was, received ecstatic critical acclaim. A film is in production.

Customer Reviews

Captivating
Anyone who has travelled on the public transport will have played the game: look at the person sitting opposite and try to guess who they are, what they do or what they are thinking. Geoff Ryman obviously played this game a lot. Only he has transformed this simple idea into an acclaimed new novel, leaving him exempt from the nagging question on all our minds as we read 253: 'why didn't I think of doing that?' Geoff Ryman shares with us a colourful array of thoroughly original characters. Two-hundred and fifty-three of them to be precise. And he is precise, every time. "A Bakerloo line tube train with no one standing and no empty seats carries 252 passengers. The driver makes 253." So he devotes exactly 253 words to each of the characters who've embarked on this unexceptional journey. We are offered a glimpse of each passenger's appearance, an essential insight into their background, followed by the exact thoughts they are having at the time we meet them.

Justin is a freelance journalist posing as a homeless person. Estelle wears an X-files T-shirt and is obsessed with Sadam Hussein. Harry Wade resembles a swollen cherub and finds nothing has made sense since childhood. And just who is that curious old lady who tries to get everyone to dance...?

Ryman creates characters more captivating and involving in 253 words than some authors manage in a novel of as many pages. Exposing all ages, nationalities and personalities, the tube train is a microcosm, a snapshot of modern London.

Read 253 on the tube and find yourself staring at the passenger opposite as a couple of hundred words begin to form in your mind...

Hey nosey! Stop staring at me and read this instead!
This book is the most unusual I have EVER read. Absolutely NOTHING happens. The guy has the audacity to just write a book about 253 folk sitting on the tube doing nothing, and carries it off superbly. Either he has loads of friends OR a superb imagination. All the characters are so realistic, and after having read this, you'll never look at a bus full of people the same again. The most original piece of work in a long time, not a lot of depth but totally gripping and thought provoking.

A masterpiece of the Internet age
This is the story of a lifetime. The story of 253 lifetimes to be exact. It is the story of 253 twelve minute train journeys. With 253 words devoted to each and every character, the author is able to intertwine the secret lives of the passengers brilliantly. It is amazing how detailed a picture of someone can be built from so few words. This novel began its life on the internet where it attracted a huge cult following. Since being published in paper form, 253 has been heralded as a modern classic, a seminal work of twenty-first century literature. Join 253 faceless people, as they live twelve minutes of their lives, hurtling towards an inevitable future. This is such an easy book to read wherever you are. Just don't read it on the Underground, you might find yourself staring at people, wondering what secret their stony faced silence conceals.