Despite all the hype this book received in the run up to its release it was always going to be an ambitious project. Following, briefly, the lives of 9 characters through sub episodic chapters, in 9 different locations, keeping together any firm story line was always going to be hard. Of course keeping together a story may not have been the authors sole objective in writing a book such as this one.
The book was first published in 1999, however the copy that I read was published more recently and features a redesigned cover. Of course this doesn't make the book but it's a nice feature. It was designed by
Kai and Sunny.
One of the problems with the structure of a book like this is the difficulty in creative convincing characters. By limiting the episodes and indeed chapter sizes it makes it hard to generate a character that the reader cant truly feel for and because of this it lacks a bit. It's very easy to skim pages instead of giving them your complete attention which is a shame as the book has great potential.
There are instances throughout the book where the lives of each of the 9 subjects are connected or affected by something described in an earlier chapter in the book. Some of these are not so noticeable whereas others trigger a sensation akin to deja vu.
Overall the book is a good attempt but possibly not the best that some may have come to expect. Held together with a thread it can seem baseless at times however, depending on your approach, the book can seem like a good collection of mini stories, and this leaves me debating with myself over whether this book is indeed a novel or a collection of short stories.
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