We are always told not to judge a book by its cover. This is sometimes given as a fairly broad piece of advice telling us not to judge things
upon face value or on a purely aesthetic level, and on other occasions it is much more
simply that, just because a publisher hired a talented cover artist, it does not
necessarily follow that the author has actual talent and/or readability. This advice is genuinely good and I wish that more people would
take notice of it; to judge to quality of a person’s
character on the attractiveness of their face/size of various body parts is
patently ridiculous and I like to think that most of us realise this. There is a sizeable problem with it sadly – I like pretty things. I like to be able to look at my book shelf and be filled with that
wonderful sense of wonder and superiority when I acknowledge that I am a proud
owner of many beautiful books. Recently, however, the bar was
raised in this field with quite possibly the most stunning book that I have
ever held: the rather unassumingly named S.
S is a collaborative work written by J.J.
Abrams (yes the guy that is in charge of Stars Wars and Trek) and Doug Dorst
(not really famous at all). Attempting to explain
this book is really a rather complicated task as it is really two books within
one single tome. The backbone of the story is a story
called ‘The Ship of Theseus’ supposedly written by a mysterious author called
V.M. Straka. This is the story in the traditional
sense in that it is written in chapters in the place where you would expect the
story to lie. Yet in reality this is not where the
true narrative lies: it exists in the annotations and messages shared between
two people in the margins of the story. It is their story that is most interesting, and it is this that makes
this story truly special.
So this is a standard page in the book. As you can see there is
the traditional text in a standard typed form and the annotations in the
margins. The sections in cursive are written by the girl, Jen, and the ones in
capitals are by the guy, Eric. The colours are also significant the notes were
not all written in one sitting or one read-through. So the bits in blue/black
are the first chronologically with the orange/green coming next and so
on.
Now this makes this story a rather complicated one to read. Do you
read the main story first? Do you read them together? Do you ignore the
main story and just focus on the annotations? Personally I just focussed on the
annotations. Initially I tried to read both at the same time but I
quickly worked out that the main story was really just a vehicle, a taxi really
that provides a launch-pad for the story of Jen and Eric. Their story is
also two-fold. The first is academic, to find out who V.M. Straka was.
Straka seems to be a figure who makes Salinger look like David Beckham and
there is apparently considerable debate as to who he was. The elusive
Straka also was involved in some distinctly shady events during his life and he
left a dark legacy that places both Eric and Jen in considerable danger.
Added to this, perhaps predictably for something written by Abrams, there
is a love story as Jen and Eric gradually fall for each other.
In addtition to this are the inserts. Every now and again you will find
a little something place between the pages of the book. Sometimes its a
letter written between Eric and Jen, something too long and personal to put in
an annotation. Othertimes its a newspaper cutting or a postcard.
One time it is a not written on a napkin. These are my personal
favourite things; they are what makes this book so beautiful and special.
These inserts turn the book into a little treasure chest and add a sense
of wonder to the joy of reading. It reminds me of reading those little
pop-up books as a kid, when the story would come alive in a very visual and
tactile way. Except now I'm old - but it's still awesome!
The production quality of this book is sensational - it truly is a
beautiful thing to behold. The effort that the publishers have gone to
produce everything to do with it is remarkable. The story of Jen, Eric
and the pursuit of Straka is told in a wonderful drip-drip manner, keeping most
of the information back while hinting at it through the mixed-up chronology.
It is a truly unique reading experience, and one that I am sure I will
revisit very soon
9/10
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