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Half World
A “beautiful literary thriller” ( Los Angeles Review of Books ) inspired by the shocking history of a secret CIA mind-control program, Half World is “the perfect book for our present moment” ( The Daily Beast ).In the 1950s the CIA began a decades-long clandestine operation, known as Project MKULTRA, in which unwitting American citizens were subjected to insidious drug and mind-control experiments. Haunted by these real-life events, acclaimed novelist Scott O’Connor has crafted a riveting novel that vividly imagines the devastating emotional legacy of such a program through the eyes of one of its more unexpected victims. CIA analyst Henry March, an unassuming “company man” forced to spearhead MKULTRA’s San Francisco branch, finds himself bridging an untenable divide between his devotion to his wife and children and the brutality of his daily task. Torn between duty and conscience, Henry March chooses neither, instead disappearing without a trace. He takes with him the evidence of his sins and thus becomes the deepest MKULTRA mystery of all.Twenty years later, as the country struggles under the weight of the Vietnam War, another troubled young agent will risk everything to find Henry, protect his family, and piece together the staggering aftermath of the crimes before it’s too late.Hailed as “one to watch” ( Los Angeles Times ) for his ability “to make something beautiful of unspeakable matters” ( The New York Times ), O’Connor has crafted a stunning, sensitive, and psychologically astute look at the depths to which a government will sink in service of its own power and the strength required of the human spirit to set itself free. Gorgeous and unflinching, Half World is both a page-turning drama and a transcendent celebration of our enduring capacity for hope.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 18, 2014
6 people are currently reading
1396 people want to read
About the author
Scott O'Connor
17 books95 followersScott O’Connor is the author of the novels 'Zero Zone', 'Untouchable', and 'Half World', and the story collection 'A Perfect Universe'.
He has been awarded the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, and his stories have been shortlisted for the Sunday Times/EFG Story Prize and cited as Distinguished in Best American Short Stories. Additional work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Zyzzyva, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.
He has been awarded the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, and his stories have been shortlisted for the Sunday Times/EFG Story Prize and cited as Distinguished in Best American Short Stories. Additional work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Zyzzyva, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
April 20, 2017
Half World is one of those books that bites off way more than it can chew. The premise was promising, but at the same time I wondered how O'Connor would manage to fit everything that the book claims to be about between its two covers. The answer: He didn't manage. What resulted was a semi-enjoyable government conspiracy novel that will probably not stick with me for much longer than it takes to read the next book on my shelf.
There are three distinct sections that make up Half World:
The setup: The first 30% of the book is as dry and methodical as I assume Henry's ledger would have been. The episodes are repetitive and, as a veteran of the tv show Fringe, not particularly horrifying or surprising. I HATED Dorne and Clark. Additionally, Henry is awful as a narrative subject (and as a human being). He is dreadfully boring and has the emotional range of a brick wall. If we were supposed to empathize with his identity struggles and despair in his descent into the void of MKULTRA and subsequent disappearance...then something got lost in translation because I didn't give two shits about Henry March.
The meat: The middle third is why Half World merits 3 stars. The plot here is populated by dynamic, interesting characters with compelling backgrounds that clearly defined their motivations and actions. I'm a huge fan of showing rather than telling and this is where O'Connor actually excelled. In the first third we are constantly told things. We are told about Henry's past, we are told about the early stages of MKULTRA, we are told that these are bad men doing terrible things to (mostly) innocent people. Boring. In the middle section of the book we are shown how Hannah's and Dickie's pasts have shaped them. We are shown what has become of MKULTRA test subjects. Through Dickie, we actually see and understand these former test subjects as human beings, better than we ever did through Henry's eyes (because he's awful).
The let-down: The ending of the book was trying so hard to be The Bourne Identity. Cross country road trips with near strangers. Changing cars and appearances. Losing tails. Tracking a ghostly memory that holds all the answers. It even had the same open-ended non-ending. I blame this hodgepodge on the author desperately trying to tie up all the loose ends left throughout the plot and not quite managing.
I'm still not really sure what the title is supposed to mean in relation to the plot....but I know what it means in relation with the book overall and my opinion of it. Half World: because we never really get the full story on anything.
There are three distinct sections that make up Half World:
The setup: The first 30% of the book is as dry and methodical as I assume Henry's ledger would have been. The episodes are repetitive and, as a veteran of the tv show Fringe, not particularly horrifying or surprising. I HATED Dorne and Clark. Additionally, Henry is awful as a narrative subject (and as a human being). He is dreadfully boring and has the emotional range of a brick wall. If we were supposed to empathize with his identity struggles and despair in his descent into the void of MKULTRA and subsequent disappearance...then something got lost in translation because I didn't give two shits about Henry March.
The meat: The middle third is why Half World merits 3 stars. The plot here is populated by dynamic, interesting characters with compelling backgrounds that clearly defined their motivations and actions. I'm a huge fan of showing rather than telling and this is where O'Connor actually excelled. In the first third we are constantly told things. We are told about Henry's past, we are told about the early stages of MKULTRA, we are told that these are bad men doing terrible things to (mostly) innocent people. Boring. In the middle section of the book we are shown how Hannah's and Dickie's pasts have shaped them. We are shown what has become of MKULTRA test subjects. Through Dickie, we actually see and understand these former test subjects as human beings, better than we ever did through Henry's eyes (because he's awful).
The let-down: The ending of the book was trying so hard to be The Bourne Identity. Cross country road trips with near strangers. Changing cars and appearances. Losing tails. Tracking a ghostly memory that holds all the answers. It even had the same open-ended non-ending. I blame this hodgepodge on the author desperately trying to tie up all the loose ends left throughout the plot and not quite managing.
I'm still not really sure what the title is supposed to mean in relation to the plot....but I know what it means in relation with the book overall and my opinion of it. Half World: because we never really get the full story on anything.
January 7, 2014
“Half World” by Scott O’Connor, published by Simon and Schuster.
Category – Fiction/Literature Publication Date – February 18, 2014
Henry March is an analyst for the CIA in the 1950’s and he becomes an integral part of a project that uses drug and mind control experiments on unknowing and unwitting American Citizens.
Henry is torn between his duty to his country and his belief in what is right and wrong. His devotion to his family also plays into his decision to abandon his part in the program. Unfortunately, a tremendous amount of damage has already been done and there seems no way to undue the damage.
Henry, although devoted to his family, disappears. Henry not only disappears from the project but also from his family. He takes with him all the evidence of his culpability in the project.
Twenty years after his disappearance an attempt is made to find Henry ad protect his family, which has now taken on not only hard times but the question of what Henry was involved in.
I venture to say that readers who pick up this book will have put it down by the hundredth page. It took me forever to read it as I kept debating if it was worth going on. The book is not very well put together and does little to keep the readers interest. The characters are confusing and hard to keep within the continuity of the story. The story does little to explain the experiments that were carried out and their consequences.
Unless I missed something very vital to the novel I was disappointed in a novel that might have had some promise.
Category – Fiction/Literature Publication Date – February 18, 2014
Henry March is an analyst for the CIA in the 1950’s and he becomes an integral part of a project that uses drug and mind control experiments on unknowing and unwitting American Citizens.
Henry is torn between his duty to his country and his belief in what is right and wrong. His devotion to his family also plays into his decision to abandon his part in the program. Unfortunately, a tremendous amount of damage has already been done and there seems no way to undue the damage.
Henry, although devoted to his family, disappears. Henry not only disappears from the project but also from his family. He takes with him all the evidence of his culpability in the project.
Twenty years after his disappearance an attempt is made to find Henry ad protect his family, which has now taken on not only hard times but the question of what Henry was involved in.
I venture to say that readers who pick up this book will have put it down by the hundredth page. It took me forever to read it as I kept debating if it was worth going on. The book is not very well put together and does little to keep the readers interest. The characters are confusing and hard to keep within the continuity of the story. The story does little to explain the experiments that were carried out and their consequences.
Unless I missed something very vital to the novel I was disappointed in a novel that might have had some promise.
June 23, 2021
Interesting premise and mostly well-written, but ultimately unsatisfying. The stream of consciousness style gets old very quickly, as do the constantly shifting verb tenses and character perspectives.
I get that it's all supposed to be very vague and mysterious, but for me it just needed something more--some kind of revelation or at least just more of the missing pieces falling closer into place. I'm not asking for everything to spelled out bluntly in capital letters and for all loose ends to be tied up neatly in a pretty bow. I do think that to create elaborate characters with multiple identities and motivations and do nothing with why or how those came to be and why they're even needed does a disservice to this truly compelling and deeply unsettling subject matter.
Maybe I just wanted something more salacious and gruesome, more conspiracy theory than patiently worded literary thriller.
(I received a copy of this book through the GoodReads Program.)
I get that it's all supposed to be very vague and mysterious, but for me it just needed something more--some kind of revelation or at least just more of the missing pieces falling closer into place. I'm not asking for everything to spelled out bluntly in capital letters and for all loose ends to be tied up neatly in a pretty bow. I do think that to create elaborate characters with multiple identities and motivations and do nothing with why or how those came to be and why they're even needed does a disservice to this truly compelling and deeply unsettling subject matter.
Maybe I just wanted something more salacious and gruesome, more conspiracy theory than patiently worded literary thriller.
(I received a copy of this book through the GoodReads Program.)
April 11, 2017
Too much mystery and insignificant description
I don't know what to think. The story was good but I felt the author was trying to hard to be mysterious that he lost me so many times. I do t really understand many parts of this book and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to. I feel like the author was trying to put the reader in the same mental state of the people who were being experimented on...maybe he succeeded but the story was just confusing and boring for almost the first 60%. I liked Untouchable by the same author but both books were relatively slow reads.
I don't know what to think. The story was good but I felt the author was trying to hard to be mysterious that he lost me so many times. I do t really understand many parts of this book and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to. I feel like the author was trying to put the reader in the same mental state of the people who were being experimented on...maybe he succeeded but the story was just confusing and boring for almost the first 60%. I liked Untouchable by the same author but both books were relatively slow reads.
April 13, 2015
Normally, when I make the FTC required disclosure that I am writing a review based on a free review copy of a book, I throw in a canned disclosure at the end of the review. Not so with Half-World by Scott O'Connor. While most of the books I get to review for free are decent enough, O'Connor's writing is so compelling that I will be purchasing his (few) previous works and anything new that he pens. O'Connor is good. Really, really good. So then. This review is based off of a free review copy provided by the publisher.
Half World is a stylized novel tracing the lives of a few individuals involved in, and impacted by, Cold War-era experiments with mind control. Rather than questioning the over-arching policies of a government that would sanction such experimentation on its citizens, and rather than pretending to assign some sinister reasoning to the agencies that would carry out such orders, O'Connor goes right to the front lines and lays out a 25 year long drama with very real consequences for those involved.
O'Connor tells this story in multiple parts, often clipped and chilling, not unlike the perspiration on a cold bottle of beer. O'Connor, clearly talented, chose layers and shades over the heavy breathing and novelties all too commonly employed in edge of your seat drama. Half World doesn't suffer from this decision, as the story that O'Connor tells carries its own weight and refuses to let itself drag.
Half World is a stylized novel tracing the lives of a few individuals involved in, and impacted by, Cold War-era experiments with mind control. Rather than questioning the over-arching policies of a government that would sanction such experimentation on its citizens, and rather than pretending to assign some sinister reasoning to the agencies that would carry out such orders, O'Connor goes right to the front lines and lays out a 25 year long drama with very real consequences for those involved.
O'Connor tells this story in multiple parts, often clipped and chilling, not unlike the perspiration on a cold bottle of beer. O'Connor, clearly talented, chose layers and shades over the heavy breathing and novelties all too commonly employed in edge of your seat drama. Half World doesn't suffer from this decision, as the story that O'Connor tells carries its own weight and refuses to let itself drag.
October 5, 2014
I generally don't like to read thrillers or spy novels, but I got drawn into this one. It's based on the CIA's MKultra experiments of the Cold War era (look MKultra up if you haven't heard of it, it's stranger than any fiction and very disturbing). O'Conner did a good job showing how participating in torture can transform people who are otherwise good into something different. The characters were interesting and the story kept me wanting to know what would happen next. The only drawback for me was the depiction of the "Sons of Liberty". I liked the idea of the group, but they didn't seem as real as the other characters. This was a goodreads giveaway and I recommend it. It would make a good movie.
May 5, 2014
A literary thriller with surreal elements, which handled the ambiguous theme of identity with disarming clarity. Found this incredibly gripping, especially how O'Connor handles the different eras with cinematic precision. The first third of the book takes place in the 50s, which felt deeply Kubrickian, meticulous, haunting and unsettling. The later events felt like they mirrored the acid-washed, hallucinatory exploitation films of the early '70s.
Also, this has one of the best villains I've read in a long time.
Also, this has one of the best villains I've read in a long time.
December 28, 2016
Why Read: Ask anyone and they will regal you with tales of how much I adore the Cold War. Whether it's stories of espionage or wartime recollections, I am immediately caught without fail. Half World was no different. It was one of the books that has been on my TBR list for quite some time, and this winter holiday season felt like the perfect time to read it.
Review: When you start reading Half World, it begins with a bit of a confused vibe. Who is Henry, what is happening to him, and why does the American dream family of four seem to have so much wrong with them? You don't know. What happened in Arlington, and why are they moving to California? Uncertainty reigns. Then slowly a picture begins to form. Something horrible is happening and Henry is a part of it... In fact, the part of the synopsis that covers a young agent working with Hannah to uncover the horrors of MKULTRA doesn't actually begin until quite late in the book.
On one hand, I enjoyed that. The distinct amount of uncertainty whenever a new chapter began was exciting. Whether or not O'Connor meant it as such, the book radiated out the same confusion and lack of coherent strategy as MKULTRA drug effects - even matching the autism of Henry's son. Beyond being confusing, the book was entrancing. One of my favourite moments that stuck with me was watching Henry attempting to create a separation between himself as an agent and himself as a person. If he let them come together, there would be a danger presented not only to his family,but also to his own sanity.
The pace of the book went quickly, although in the second half: there is much to be said for character development. The secondary agent who changes his mind about what he's meant to be doing (whether through unwanted drug therapy or not) undergoes drastic changes that seem perplexing until you think about the dramatic impacts of psychological manipulation. In short, there's a lot of good in this book, but if you want to read it- there's a certain about of work you have to put in yourself. I could not speed-read this book to any great affect. Instead, it took significant effort to push myself and think "Okay, this character isn't acting as I expect her to... which means there could be a MKULTRA reason or there could be a "life" reason, which is the one that I want to focus on." Overall, an interesting read.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Review: When you start reading Half World, it begins with a bit of a confused vibe. Who is Henry, what is happening to him, and why does the American dream family of four seem to have so much wrong with them? You don't know. What happened in Arlington, and why are they moving to California? Uncertainty reigns. Then slowly a picture begins to form. Something horrible is happening and Henry is a part of it... In fact, the part of the synopsis that covers a young agent working with Hannah to uncover the horrors of MKULTRA doesn't actually begin until quite late in the book.
On one hand, I enjoyed that. The distinct amount of uncertainty whenever a new chapter began was exciting. Whether or not O'Connor meant it as such, the book radiated out the same confusion and lack of coherent strategy as MKULTRA drug effects - even matching the autism of Henry's son. Beyond being confusing, the book was entrancing. One of my favourite moments that stuck with me was watching Henry attempting to create a separation between himself as an agent and himself as a person. If he let them come together, there would be a danger presented not only to his family,but also to his own sanity.
The pace of the book went quickly, although in the second half: there is much to be said for character development. The secondary agent who changes his mind about what he's meant to be doing (whether through unwanted drug therapy or not) undergoes drastic changes that seem perplexing until you think about the dramatic impacts of psychological manipulation. In short, there's a lot of good in this book, but if you want to read it- there's a certain about of work you have to put in yourself. I could not speed-read this book to any great affect. Instead, it took significant effort to push myself and think "Okay, this character isn't acting as I expect her to... which means there could be a MKULTRA reason or there could be a "life" reason, which is the one that I want to focus on." Overall, an interesting read.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
May 4, 2017
It was a good story but a tough read.
March 7, 2016
I bought this book from Dollar Tree because I needed something to read for my recent trip to Miami, and it was cheaper than buying a magazine at the airport. I buy a fair number of books from the Dollar Tree, because sometimes it's cheaper than paying a large late fee on a library book you barely read. Not surprisingly, the books tend to be a mixed bag, tending towards the lower side of average in both literary merit and entertainment value. Likewise, this book was also kind of a disappointment.
The summary on the inner flap is what made me pick this one up. It's framed as a thriller (and for some reason, airport book vendors sell a lot of the genre) about Project MKULTRA. I had heard of Project MKULTRA before; I follow a lot of websites about murder victims and missing persons, and somehow I had fallen into an internet rabbit hole about Ted Kaczynski, AKA the Unabomber. Kaczynski at one point was a promising mathematical prodigy--he was accepted to Harvard at 16. It was there that he took part in psychological experiments by Dr. Henry Murray that are now believed to be part of Project MKULTRA. MKULTRA was a CIA-conducted series of experiments on mind control; unwitting subjects were basically subjected to unimaginably cruel physical and mental torture. Reading about it, and one can kind of get an idea where Kaczynski's mental state switched from relatively normal to cold-blooded killer--it sounds like a movie plot but is horrifyingly true.
O'Connor's story centers around family man Henry March. Betrayed by a boss he trusted (the boss had sent CIA intelligence information to the USSR), he is sent to San Francisco to head up a branch of Project MKULTRA. While he does his job, he is deeply troubled by the fact that he's torturing civilians without their knowledge or consent, and it causes him to distance himself from his wife, autistic son, and struggling adolescent daughter. At one point, the experiment crosses the line, and March disappears, leaving behind a family that slowly falls apart. The second half of the book deals with a mess of characters, including a new intelligence worker who sets out to find March.
Let's start my criticism of the book from the second half, which is a whole big mess. Ashby's drug-addled exploits make it hard to follow the story; it makes me wonder how he managed to be an agent in the first place, if he was hallucinating and getting high so much. The rebel storyline is completely unnecessary and could have been changed or eliminated to give it a tighter plot. Plot points connect, but only in the loosest way.
The first half is annoying because March and his family don't mesh well. I never get a sense of March being a 3D character. He's a mild, unassuming dude, and I can't feel any passion towards his wife and kids, merely that they exist and provide him with a background. Something about the characters doesn't seem to click; there's no warmth between them or depth among them. The way the writer described the experiments and March's reactions to them also seemed hollow. The book told us he felt bad torturing those people, but as a reader, I didn't FEEL that emotion come across at all.
I am being generous and giving this one an extra star, making it a total of two stars rather than a single one, because of two storylines. The first is of Thomas's journey and finding himself after the death of his mother. Thomas was the closest character to being a real, 3D person; I know several people on the spectrum, and Thomas' behavior seemed pretty accurate. The second is of one of the MKULTRA victims, and the brilliant new life he had started after his torture. I don't know how to format spoilers on here, so I won't say much more, but that plot twist DID provide an interesting element to the book.
The summary on the inner flap is what made me pick this one up. It's framed as a thriller (and for some reason, airport book vendors sell a lot of the genre) about Project MKULTRA. I had heard of Project MKULTRA before; I follow a lot of websites about murder victims and missing persons, and somehow I had fallen into an internet rabbit hole about Ted Kaczynski, AKA the Unabomber. Kaczynski at one point was a promising mathematical prodigy--he was accepted to Harvard at 16. It was there that he took part in psychological experiments by Dr. Henry Murray that are now believed to be part of Project MKULTRA. MKULTRA was a CIA-conducted series of experiments on mind control; unwitting subjects were basically subjected to unimaginably cruel physical and mental torture. Reading about it, and one can kind of get an idea where Kaczynski's mental state switched from relatively normal to cold-blooded killer--it sounds like a movie plot but is horrifyingly true.
O'Connor's story centers around family man Henry March. Betrayed by a boss he trusted (the boss had sent CIA intelligence information to the USSR), he is sent to San Francisco to head up a branch of Project MKULTRA. While he does his job, he is deeply troubled by the fact that he's torturing civilians without their knowledge or consent, and it causes him to distance himself from his wife, autistic son, and struggling adolescent daughter. At one point, the experiment crosses the line, and March disappears, leaving behind a family that slowly falls apart. The second half of the book deals with a mess of characters, including a new intelligence worker who sets out to find March.
Let's start my criticism of the book from the second half, which is a whole big mess. Ashby's drug-addled exploits make it hard to follow the story; it makes me wonder how he managed to be an agent in the first place, if he was hallucinating and getting high so much. The rebel storyline is completely unnecessary and could have been changed or eliminated to give it a tighter plot. Plot points connect, but only in the loosest way.
The first half is annoying because March and his family don't mesh well. I never get a sense of March being a 3D character. He's a mild, unassuming dude, and I can't feel any passion towards his wife and kids, merely that they exist and provide him with a background. Something about the characters doesn't seem to click; there's no warmth between them or depth among them. The way the writer described the experiments and March's reactions to them also seemed hollow. The book told us he felt bad torturing those people, but as a reader, I didn't FEEL that emotion come across at all.
I am being generous and giving this one an extra star, making it a total of two stars rather than a single one, because of two storylines. The first is of Thomas's journey and finding himself after the death of his mother. Thomas was the closest character to being a real, 3D person; I know several people on the spectrum, and Thomas' behavior seemed pretty accurate. The second is of one of the MKULTRA victims, and the brilliant new life he had started after his torture. I don't know how to format spoilers on here, so I won't say much more, but that plot twist DID provide an interesting element to the book.
November 10, 2014
Via Goodreads First Reads:
Having done some rudimentary reading about the American MKULTRA project in the 50's and 60's, I anticipated reading this novel, anxious to see how what's reported to be reality would be incorporated into the story.
I'll say that Scott O'Connor did his research, and did a very nice job of blending what we know and what he conjured for his book.
Henry March is a CIA operative sullied and tarnished by the defection to the USSR of his direct boss, and his penance seems to be working the frontline for the MKULTRA project that included such charming tactics as heavily dosing transients, the homeless, and just generally exposed individuals, unknowingly, with Stormy (LSD), and various other substances, as well as subjecting them to psychological and physical abuses designed to wipe their minds clean and then rewrite their identities.
In doing so, Henry, having moved his wife, daughter, and son west to San Francisco, teams up with an amoral cop-thug names Jimmy Dorn and a doctor Clark, who seems more fascinated by the anecdotal experiences of their victims than with any real medical ramifications.
And when the project falls apart, exposing the Company to possible exposure, Henry hightails it for parts unknown, leaving his family behind and disappearing.
His wife is left wondering where he was for decades before she dies. Hannah, the daughter, becomes a bit of a gadfly, a semi-transient photographer, having inherited her father's shutterbug tendencies, though of a decidedly more artistic bent. Thomas, his intellectually challenged son, moves off to Chicago and is drawn into what appears to be a religious cult, if a rather innocuous one.
Meanwhile, perhaps 15 years later, Dickie Ashby, a Vietnam washout, is freelancing for the CIA, and after many literary gesticulations, ends up being tasked with finding Henry. He hooks up, eventually, with Hannah, who herself has been targeted by the CIA for interrogation in order to locate her father. The tool for that operation is a bitter, cancer-ridden Jimmy Dorn, who is no more moral than he was years before.
And of course, they all come together at the end, with and ending just ambiguous enough to deliver satisfaction no matter your rooting interest, and the flexibility to accommodate whatever your ultimate wish might be for the parties involved. And therein lies one of the novel's strengths: your ideology is aptly coddled, whichever slant you might prefer. Though, once all is said and done, it's obvious that O'Connor's sympathies lies more with the victims, and for my money, as well they should.
The real demons are excised from society, the heroes may or may not live happy lives, but at least they live, and the victims move along, or they don't. But no matter the end result, or how you interpret it, the book is a deliberate adventure.
Having done some rudimentary reading about the American MKULTRA project in the 50's and 60's, I anticipated reading this novel, anxious to see how what's reported to be reality would be incorporated into the story.
I'll say that Scott O'Connor did his research, and did a very nice job of blending what we know and what he conjured for his book.
Henry March is a CIA operative sullied and tarnished by the defection to the USSR of his direct boss, and his penance seems to be working the frontline for the MKULTRA project that included such charming tactics as heavily dosing transients, the homeless, and just generally exposed individuals, unknowingly, with Stormy (LSD), and various other substances, as well as subjecting them to psychological and physical abuses designed to wipe their minds clean and then rewrite their identities.
In doing so, Henry, having moved his wife, daughter, and son west to San Francisco, teams up with an amoral cop-thug names Jimmy Dorn and a doctor Clark, who seems more fascinated by the anecdotal experiences of their victims than with any real medical ramifications.
And when the project falls apart, exposing the Company to possible exposure, Henry hightails it for parts unknown, leaving his family behind and disappearing.
His wife is left wondering where he was for decades before she dies. Hannah, the daughter, becomes a bit of a gadfly, a semi-transient photographer, having inherited her father's shutterbug tendencies, though of a decidedly more artistic bent. Thomas, his intellectually challenged son, moves off to Chicago and is drawn into what appears to be a religious cult, if a rather innocuous one.
Meanwhile, perhaps 15 years later, Dickie Ashby, a Vietnam washout, is freelancing for the CIA, and after many literary gesticulations, ends up being tasked with finding Henry. He hooks up, eventually, with Hannah, who herself has been targeted by the CIA for interrogation in order to locate her father. The tool for that operation is a bitter, cancer-ridden Jimmy Dorn, who is no more moral than he was years before.
And of course, they all come together at the end, with and ending just ambiguous enough to deliver satisfaction no matter your rooting interest, and the flexibility to accommodate whatever your ultimate wish might be for the parties involved. And therein lies one of the novel's strengths: your ideology is aptly coddled, whichever slant you might prefer. Though, once all is said and done, it's obvious that O'Connor's sympathies lies more with the victims, and for my money, as well they should.
The real demons are excised from society, the heroes may or may not live happy lives, but at least they live, and the victims move along, or they don't. But no matter the end result, or how you interpret it, the book is a deliberate adventure.
December 13, 2013
O'Connor's novel takes a real historical event, the MKULTRA program conducted by the CIA from the 50s to the 70s, and uses it as a starting point for historical fiction. While some of this is pretty good, I'm not sure all of it works, and in particular the later chapters, in which a confusing muddle of past victims of the programs are perpetuating the drugging, brainwashing, and behavior modification experiments by in turn using them on additional generations of victims, seem a bit far-fetched.
The book starts with Henry March, a CIA operative whose recruiter has been implicated as a double agent. March is under suspicion and behaving a little erratically as well, so he is shipped off (with family in tow) to the Bay area to start a new program, which ends up being ULTRA. The program progresses, getting more and more abusive and out of control, and ultimately leading to several disintegrations. The story is the most effective when it remains more tightly focused, looking at the cost of the experiments on both the victims and perhaps most interestingly, on the man who performs them and his family.
The plot then jumps forward several years, with Henry split from his family, following what happens to mother, son, and especially daughter after he goes. But there are also new generations of ULTRA victims getting mixed into the story, and an attempt to clean up the loose ends of ULTRA past. This part reads like one of Philip K. Dick's less successful science fictions, with drugs, paranoia, and reality all mixing together in a hazy blend.
O'Connor is an able writer, and for style and characters I almost gave this a higher rating, but as most of the files on ULTRA were destroyed before they could be made public, the history on this will always remain the territory of conspiracy theorists, and much of the plot of this novel reads more like that than something I could believe.
The book starts with Henry March, a CIA operative whose recruiter has been implicated as a double agent. March is under suspicion and behaving a little erratically as well, so he is shipped off (with family in tow) to the Bay area to start a new program, which ends up being ULTRA. The program progresses, getting more and more abusive and out of control, and ultimately leading to several disintegrations. The story is the most effective when it remains more tightly focused, looking at the cost of the experiments on both the victims and perhaps most interestingly, on the man who performs them and his family.
The plot then jumps forward several years, with Henry split from his family, following what happens to mother, son, and especially daughter after he goes. But there are also new generations of ULTRA victims getting mixed into the story, and an attempt to clean up the loose ends of ULTRA past. This part reads like one of Philip K. Dick's less successful science fictions, with drugs, paranoia, and reality all mixing together in a hazy blend.
O'Connor is an able writer, and for style and characters I almost gave this a higher rating, but as most of the files on ULTRA were destroyed before they could be made public, the history on this will always remain the territory of conspiracy theorists, and much of the plot of this novel reads more like that than something I could believe.
August 19, 2015
This is a haunting novel, proving more poignant because of the real-life MKUltra operations of the 1950s and 60s, when unwitting victims were fed mind-altering drugs. Whilst the characters in Half World are fictional, it's pretty sobering to realise how many people (and their families) must have been affected by the CIA's actions.
The novel focuses on Henry, a 1950s CIA agent who is flailing in the wake of his boss being exposed as a traitor (feeding their work to the Soviets). He becomes increasingly detached from his family as a defence mechanism, disturbed by his work on MKUltra and his own private project to document his boss' fall from grace. His final severing of family ties sees him disappear without trace after yet another man is drugged and monitored with shocking results.
The action then moves to the 1970s as a new agent, compromised by a drugs habit, begins sniffing around MKUltra victims who have become violent activists. There's also a great deal of focus on Henry's abandoned family and their own fraught relationships. It's emotionally messy but beautifully written.
Many parts of the novel were difficult to read because the subject matter was so uncomfortable, and there were a few loose ends that felt unsettling, but this was not the right setting for a happy ending.
I have to admit I'd never heard of MKUltra before reading the novel, but I was encouraged to buy Half World after hearing a short story by Scott O'Connor shortlisted for The Times EFG Short Story Award. There's no denying O'Connor is a talented writer, unafraid to confront awkward human interactions and psychological issues, and his characters really do jump off the page.
The novel focuses on Henry, a 1950s CIA agent who is flailing in the wake of his boss being exposed as a traitor (feeding their work to the Soviets). He becomes increasingly detached from his family as a defence mechanism, disturbed by his work on MKUltra and his own private project to document his boss' fall from grace. His final severing of family ties sees him disappear without trace after yet another man is drugged and monitored with shocking results.
The action then moves to the 1970s as a new agent, compromised by a drugs habit, begins sniffing around MKUltra victims who have become violent activists. There's also a great deal of focus on Henry's abandoned family and their own fraught relationships. It's emotionally messy but beautifully written.
Many parts of the novel were difficult to read because the subject matter was so uncomfortable, and there were a few loose ends that felt unsettling, but this was not the right setting for a happy ending.
I have to admit I'd never heard of MKUltra before reading the novel, but I was encouraged to buy Half World after hearing a short story by Scott O'Connor shortlisted for The Times EFG Short Story Award. There's no denying O'Connor is a talented writer, unafraid to confront awkward human interactions and psychological issues, and his characters really do jump off the page.
December 11, 2014
Bits and pieces of this novel are beautifully written and stand alone like poetic prose, but the book as a whole was too fractured for me to enjoy. It is about mind control and experiments done by the government in the fifties and sixties where a subject’s personality was erased by using drugs, torture, and fear tactics, and another personality was instilled. Because the characters in O’Connor’s novel are either victims or perpetrators of this experimentation, it was difficult for me to grasp just who they were or what they were about. Like his title “Half World”—they were only half there and I felt I only half understood what was going on—definitely not one of my favorite reads.
The transitions are rough and the characters hard to grasp and not fully explained. It sort of reminds me of an epic poem on acid—to be studied, digested and figured out. Trouble is—I didn’t care enough about his characters to want to spend more time with them. Maybe Thomas was the exception. Thomas was interesting as he envisioned himself an electric train moving along imaginary tracks and plugging himself in at night before going to bed. I like the way his youthful fixation of being a train was resolved into finding a place for him in the adult world. My two stars are for Thomas—the others get zero
The transitions are rough and the characters hard to grasp and not fully explained. It sort of reminds me of an epic poem on acid—to be studied, digested and figured out. Trouble is—I didn’t care enough about his characters to want to spend more time with them. Maybe Thomas was the exception. Thomas was interesting as he envisioned himself an electric train moving along imaginary tracks and plugging himself in at night before going to bed. I like the way his youthful fixation of being a train was resolved into finding a place for him in the adult world. My two stars are for Thomas—the others get zero
December 2, 2014
This is an interesting spy thriller that is not like most spy thrillers out there. It starts off in the 1950s with a CIA agent, Henry Marsh, moves to the San Francisco area with his family. He sets up a program of taking people from off the street (with the aid of some prostitutes) and performing mind control experiments, drug experiments, etc. This program disturbed the already unbalanced Marsh, and he ends up leaving his wife and family and disappearing. Years later, another CIA agent is sent to LA to research reports of a group that is publishing information about mind control experiments that they were subjected to. He is drawn into this group, and in the process, befriends Marsh's daughter. With her, he attempts to track down Marsh. The book is told from different characters perspectives, and sometimes you do not know who is telling the story, at least initially. The book draws you in, and the characters are very fleshed out. The book is based on real-life experiments that the CIA did in the 1950s so that is definitely creepy to think about.
I won this copy in one of the Goodreads giveaways.
I won this copy in one of the Goodreads giveaways.
July 19, 2016
A bit of DeLillo style behind the scenes secret history stuff, married to some puply business. The books' first section, the mostly straight ahead, terse record of a CIA analyst there at the creation of a LSD fueled brain washing program, is kind of dull. The books later two thirds, about the fall out, bring out a couple compelling characters, a drug addicted former underground double agent and a sci fi author that mixes elements of Philip K Dick and Bob Heinlein, are compelling portraits, even if they aren't totally fresh. The novel rockets, more or less, to a strong conclusion after that dull intro.
It's hard to know how seriously to take this-- it wants to talk about the nature of identity, I think, but doesn't really get there, or at least couches its revelations in such extreme circumstances they shed little light on the average condition. Abd the LSD fuelled stuff feels a little dated, even though I liked it and the way the seventies gave rise to these odd politically minded criminal orgs. A fun thriller, but I don't know if that's enough.
It's hard to know how seriously to take this-- it wants to talk about the nature of identity, I think, but doesn't really get there, or at least couches its revelations in such extreme circumstances they shed little light on the average condition. Abd the LSD fuelled stuff feels a little dated, even though I liked it and the way the seventies gave rise to these odd politically minded criminal orgs. A fun thriller, but I don't know if that's enough.
June 23, 2014
4 1/2 stars
This novel, inspired by the brain-washing program run by the CIA will haunt me for some time. The writing is lyrical, and turns what could have been a run-of-the-mill thriller into a deeply poetic work on the mind. Still, if you enjoy a good spy story this will leave you satisfied. The inspiration being the inspiration of the book the CIA's deeply disturbing MKultra program using LSD and other drugs and tactics to bend and twist minds, to break minds.
This is a deeply good book, the writing was the most surprising thing. I still feel the echos of this book and may even re-read it for those moments where the action pauses briefly to highlight the real and flawed characters. It is also worth reflecting on this book and the events that have occurred rin the world recently. It is a novel of the past and a novel of modern times. Highly recommended.
(Note - I received this book free as a giveaway through Goodreads.com)
This novel, inspired by the brain-washing program run by the CIA will haunt me for some time. The writing is lyrical, and turns what could have been a run-of-the-mill thriller into a deeply poetic work on the mind. Still, if you enjoy a good spy story this will leave you satisfied. The inspiration being the inspiration of the book the CIA's deeply disturbing MKultra program using LSD and other drugs and tactics to bend and twist minds, to break minds.
This is a deeply good book, the writing was the most surprising thing. I still feel the echos of this book and may even re-read it for those moments where the action pauses briefly to highlight the real and flawed characters. It is also worth reflecting on this book and the events that have occurred rin the world recently. It is a novel of the past and a novel of modern times. Highly recommended.
(Note - I received this book free as a giveaway through Goodreads.com)
July 5, 2015
In the 1950s, the CIA was conducting illegal experiments on unsuspecting people, without their consent. Henry March is put on the job without understanding what he is doing. When he becomes fully immersed in the documentation of these experiments, he vanishes leaving behind a family. Twenty years later, another agent tries to track him down.
This book was exciting. The reader is wondering what happened to Henry, and how could he leave his family. I felt bad for Henry. He is torn between doing what is right, and he tries to get out, but is forced to continue doing experiments. I also felt bad for Hannah, his daughter, who has no idea what happened to her father. Dickie is thrown into hell and back and is trying his best to protect Hannah but knows he is being followed. This book was hard to put down, and I enjoyed the ending!
I received a copy of this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
This book was exciting. The reader is wondering what happened to Henry, and how could he leave his family. I felt bad for Henry. He is torn between doing what is right, and he tries to get out, but is forced to continue doing experiments. I also felt bad for Hannah, his daughter, who has no idea what happened to her father. Dickie is thrown into hell and back and is trying his best to protect Hannah but knows he is being followed. This book was hard to put down, and I enjoyed the ending!
I received a copy of this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
April 6, 2014
Audiobook Reivew
In a richly sensual and dark narrative, O'Connor unfolds the tale of an unraveling CIA agent, Henry March, his damaged family, and secret mind-control experiments in the 1950's. Unbreathably rich and tactile, sometimes employing stream of consciousness, this is one of the most superb stories of the year. If you are expecting a spy v. spy CIA spook read, this is NOT it. As in many of the subjects of the experiment, the reader is slowly drawn into a complex reality, soothed with the drugs of narrative, then explosively tossed into another existence. At no time are any of the reader's predictions fulfilled.
Bravo to Bronson Pinchot for his audio performance. He became the breath of the story -- hypnotizing, mesmerizing.
A truly experiential read. A day later, I still feel the lingering sensation of the hallucinogenics of Half World.
In a richly sensual and dark narrative, O'Connor unfolds the tale of an unraveling CIA agent, Henry March, his damaged family, and secret mind-control experiments in the 1950's. Unbreathably rich and tactile, sometimes employing stream of consciousness, this is one of the most superb stories of the year. If you are expecting a spy v. spy CIA spook read, this is NOT it. As in many of the subjects of the experiment, the reader is slowly drawn into a complex reality, soothed with the drugs of narrative, then explosively tossed into another existence. At no time are any of the reader's predictions fulfilled.
Bravo to Bronson Pinchot for his audio performance. He became the breath of the story -- hypnotizing, mesmerizing.
A truly experiential read. A day later, I still feel the lingering sensation of the hallucinogenics of Half World.
April 12, 2015
What a strange book. I started it without any real knowledge of what it was about, and now that I'm finished I feel like I know even less about it! It centers around some government experiments with LSD on unwitting subjects in San Francisco in the 50's, apparently based on fact. The character development, which is always a huge factor for me in liking a book or not was phenomenal, you really get to know the characters in the book. The plot was a little muddied though and I don't really feel like the author explained enough. Perhaps that's what I'm taking away from it ultimately though, the mystery of it. All in all, it was a good read, but not as recommendable as othr books in the genre, a solid 3 stars from me.
March 8, 2014
The premise of HALF WORLD is interesting. A fictional story based on factual CIA drug and mind-control experiments from the 1950s - 1970s. The book started out well with well-rounded charactors, excellent description and enough tension to keep me interested.
About half-way through, the story became garbled and hard to follow. Scott O'Connor started chapters with the pronoun "he" - but not naming the character. I would read several pages and still not know who's voice or thoughts I was reading.
Great premise, not as good execution as it could be.
I received this book via a giveaway on Goodreads.com.
About half-way through, the story became garbled and hard to follow. Scott O'Connor started chapters with the pronoun "he" - but not naming the character. I would read several pages and still not know who's voice or thoughts I was reading.
Great premise, not as good execution as it could be.
I received this book via a giveaway on Goodreads.com.
July 12, 2016
Based on covert CIA mind control experiments done on unsuspecting U.S. citizens from the 1940's to the early 70's, this work by O'Connor was part "X-File", part expose of what measures governments will take in order to protect state secrets as well as extract information from our enemies. If this period of U.S. history was not well documented, I would have found this story hard to believe as any thing other than pure fiction. O'Connor writes with a fever and I found myself drawn back to the book due to its fast pace and engaging characters.
July 14, 2014
All those paranoid moments that show up in the spy thriller are given a grandfather and a history through one man's life as a special operator.
The use of drugs and the avrage guy picked up off the street to become part of the great experiment is a novel that hits most of the nails and throws many hammers to succeed.
Too much of the story has been told before but there is enough in this to merit a romp through pseudo memeory lane.
The use of drugs and the avrage guy picked up off the street to become part of the great experiment is a novel that hits most of the nails and throws many hammers to succeed.
Too much of the story has been told before but there is enough in this to merit a romp through pseudo memeory lane.
September 24, 2014
Goodreads win. Will read and review once received.
A really interesting fictional book to read that was definitely worth the time spent on the book. The author did a good job on the writing and telling of the story. I found it to be interesting that it was set during the cold war and involved the CIA. I will admit this was not a typical read for me, but it was very good and a nice change. A great read.
A really interesting fictional book to read that was definitely worth the time spent on the book. The author did a good job on the writing and telling of the story. I found it to be interesting that it was set during the cold war and involved the CIA. I will admit this was not a typical read for me, but it was very good and a nice change. A great read.
January 15, 2017
I was in the mood for a gripping narrative that brings to life a fully realized world, and Half World delivered. (Nothing halfway about it.) Reading this novel, when I wasn't caught up in the plot and the character motivations, I kept thinking how much work must have gone into all the layers of the story. The ending was the best surprise because once it got going, I couldn't put the book down, and endings rarely feel that satisfying to me. Highly recommended.
October 29, 2013
I don't even know what to say about this story. It is disturbing yet not so surprising. As a college student I learned about the use of LSD on soldiers in the 1950's and 60's. The soldiers later had flashbacks and went a little crazy. This is much worse.
Read more review at www.amusingreviews.blogspot.com
Read more review at www.amusingreviews.blogspot.com
May 16, 2014
Completely captivating read.
With MK Ultra as a launching point, O'Connor explores the depths of what torture does to people - both the victims and the perpetrators. Through his carefully drawn characters and a ripple effect that covers years, he shows us that when we allow ourselves to be open to such cruelty, it fragments the very meaning of what it is to be human.
With MK Ultra as a launching point, O'Connor explores the depths of what torture does to people - both the victims and the perpetrators. Through his carefully drawn characters and a ripple effect that covers years, he shows us that when we allow ourselves to be open to such cruelty, it fragments the very meaning of what it is to be human.
February 9, 2015
Something I nearly gave up on at least three times, but am glad I persevered. I like the mystery element to the book and that the chapters change to focus on different peoples lives and viewpoints. The ending was satisfactory but left me wanting more, contrary to my initial feelings of not wanting ANY MORE! An unusual read, and something to different to what I would usually pick up.
August 4, 2014
Ok, I would give the first part 5 stars, and then I was disappointed in the remainder of the novel. It went from interesting to dragging on and on, and I just wanted to go back and read more of the first part that I enjoyed so much.
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