A Best Science Fiction Book of 2017 — The GuardianFrom the widely acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World and Tigerman, comes a virtuosic new novel set in a near-future, high-tech surveillance state, that is equal parts dark comedy, gripping detective story, and mind-bending philosophical puzzle.In the world of Gnomon, citizens are constantly observed and democracy has reached a pinnacle of … observed and democracy has reached a pinnacle of ‘transparency.’ Every action is seen, every word is recorded, and the System has access to its citizens’ thoughts and memories–all in the name of providing the safest society in history.
When suspected dissident Diana Hunter dies in government custody, it marks the first time a citizen has been killed during an interrogation. The System doesn’t make mistakes, but something isn’t right about the circumstances surrounding Hunter’s death. Mielikki Neith, a trusted state inspector and a true believer in the System, is assigned to find out what went wrong. Immersing herself in neural recordings of the interrogation, what she finds isn’t Hunter but rather a panorama of characters within Hunter’s psyche: a lovelorn financier in Athens who has a mystical experience with a shark; a brilliant alchemist in ancient Carthage confronting the unexpected outcome of her invention; an expat Ethiopian painter in London designing a controversial new video game, and a sociopathic disembodied intelligence from the distant future.
Embedded in the memories of these impossible lives lies a code which Neith must decipher to find out what Hunter is hiding. In the static between these stories, Neith begins to catch glimpses of the real Diana Hunter–and, alarmingly, of herself. The staggering consequences of what she finds will reverberate throughout the world.
A dazzling, panoramic achievement, and Nick Harkaway’s most brilliant work to date, Gnomon is peerless and profound, captivating and irreverent, as it pierces through strata of reality and consciousness, and illuminates how to set a mind free. It is a truly accomplished novel from a mind possessing a matchless wit infused with a deep humanity.
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Too violent and unrealistic
Tedious
I am always very happy that my Kindle contains a dictionary. Whenever I read a Harkaway book, my vocabulary increases dramatically with all the new words I learn; this novel has more than its fair share and all of them are quite wonderful.
The challenge of this novel is when the narrative shifts and all of a sudden you find yourself in a very different place and a very different story. It sneaks up on you and until it happens a couple of times it’s hard to understand what is actually going on. By the time you understand what is going on things get very interesting.
This version of a future UK is both terrifying and, for some people, perhaps appealing. It’s my understanding that surveillance is everywhere there today so this future may not be as far away as it seems. With smart phones tracking everywhere we go and artificial intelligence running massive databases, this story is a great warning of the shape of things that might come.
Maybe Harkaway’s best (yet). I’ve only been through it once so far, but I think it will hold up to several readings, as his previous three (The Gone-Away World; Angelmaker; and Tigerman) all have.
This book is so beautifully written and evocative that it would be worth reading just for the pleasure as it goes by… But it also centers around a compelling mystery! The characters are wonderfully full and real, even while they are each iconicaly bizarre. This book is FABULOUS!
As others have noted, this is an unusual book. I didn’t like it, then I did, then I didn’t again, then I just found it wearying to keep flip-flopping back and forth… It felt rather uneven in engagement-level and pacing, and even the writing style felt a bit slap-dash and unusually variable.
I was intrigued by the idea when I first read the description but was also worried, based on other reviews and comparisons, that it would be too conceptual to hold me. At times it was a marvelous piece of storytelling – unusual and intriguing and compelling. Then it would switch, on a dime, and feel unnecessarily convoluted and dense, like the author was trying to impress readers with his art rather than tell a story. I like my stories to be at least a little linear. I enjoy working out a story/puzzle, but only if there’s a sense that you are getting somewhere – this felt like a mobius strip, all twists and curves without a top or bottom or end in sight…
You can read the blurb. It sounds cool, right? But you can probably also see where/how I was a little nervous about the conceptualization… At the end of the day, I just couldn’t engage with the main character and couldn’t get into the flow of the text. I have a pretty good vocabulary, but there were a number of words I had to look up early on. Normally I enjoy this, I love learning new words. But these felt gratuitous, again like the author was trying to impress rather than trying to pick the word that suited the story the best. I’ve seen people compare it to Philip K Dick; it made me think vaguely of Vonnegut and House of Leaves – which are also written in a style that many love and rave about but that I have just never been able to appreciate… It is also entirely possible that I’m not in the right head-space for this one – it may need a more active reader than I could be during the holidays, or may have required a longer reading period each time I picked it up in order to stay engaged (I was lucky to read it in 15 minute spurts, given everything going on lately). Regardless, this one wasn’t a hit with me…
My review copy was provided as part of the Penguin First to Read program.