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Law
One man escapes the world only to rise to absurd infamy while another is shattered and struggles to define himself in the aftermath of his wife’s disappearance. Max volunteers for bizarre surgery which leaves him forever interred in a cocoon of self. In his utter solitude, he recites poetry that mobilizes a movement and threatens the stability of a nation. John, having lost his wife, is unhinged by isolation and remorse. He disintegrates into multiple personalities which fold back into him when he and Max finally meet. Forever in the background, the hand of the Institute conspires to steer the fate of one man toward emergence and the other toward decline. With a nod to the works of Kafka, Céline and Burroughs, “Law” rips through an exploration of art, the extraordinary and the mundane, the compulsion to join in the community of man and the need to stand apart.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 14, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 4, 2012
More of a 1.5 stars, close to 2.
This book is actually well-written,
Synopsis: the book is about the journey of two men through life. On the one hand we have a volunteer for a surgery, doctors tweak his brain. On the other hand we have this man with multiple personality disorder.
Maybe you're wondering, "Okay, we have two characters, and then what? Where is the plot of the story?"
And I will answer, "Exactly."
The title of the book is law, the image on the front cover is that of an eraser hovering over a brain. The image of the front cover was what attracted me to the story. I was thinking of meticulous conspiracy theories in which scientists brainwash the human population, or something. Then I read Law and tried to make sense how the title and the image tied together. Then I read the book and concluded that the title does not tie in with the story. It's a deceiving little book of magnanimous attitude and great premise that just fell short of becoming a super story.
Let me explain further. This is a book about character development. I concluded this because this simply does not have a plot. I started reading the book with no idea what was going on, and I finished it the same way. Up till now, I still haven't figure out what I read. Now, don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I didn't understand anything at all. There are some scenes that are engraved in my mind, quirky character personalities that I cannot quite forget because it's just so strange it's alluring. First off we have Max, who appears at the beginning of the story and who has a brain surgery. Okay, I was prepared of having him as the protagonist and it made sense, the whole surgery thing with the image of the cover. But then we're thrown into the whirlwind of personalities and confusion that is John. Apparently he suffers from multiple personality disorder after the disappearance of his wife. Mind you, I didn't figured this detail out since the very beginning, it took me almost half the book to understand what was going on with John's mind. I suppose if I had to choose my favorite of his personalities is @teenjohnny. He's quirky and funny. He also has a high IQ. The book concentrates a lot on John, and I was hoping it would showcase a little bit of Max too.
Some chapters are short and others are longer, but one thing is certain, there is no visible (or logical) chronological order. Everything is just all over the place, like pieces of puzzles that never seem to fit together. It jumps a lot between characters and the tense change is annoying at times. However, I tried to tolerate it because I guess this is what the author wanted to achieve, to confuse the reader. But I think this can backfire, especially if the reader loses interest.
So to conclude, this book has interesting ideas and uncommon characters. I read in some synopsis that they compare this writing style with Kafka's. I haven't read much about Kafka, but what I've read about him (mostly Metamorphosis) is that the first word that pops up in my mind when Kafka's novels are mentioned are: bizarre and strange. This book kinda embodies these two adjectives, perfectly.
This book is actually well-written,
Synopsis: the book is about the journey of two men through life. On the one hand we have a volunteer for a surgery, doctors tweak his brain. On the other hand we have this man with multiple personality disorder.
Maybe you're wondering, "Okay, we have two characters, and then what? Where is the plot of the story?"
And I will answer, "Exactly."
The title of the book is law, the image on the front cover is that of an eraser hovering over a brain. The image of the front cover was what attracted me to the story. I was thinking of meticulous conspiracy theories in which scientists brainwash the human population, or something. Then I read Law and tried to make sense how the title and the image tied together. Then I read the book and concluded that the title does not tie in with the story. It's a deceiving little book of magnanimous attitude and great premise that just fell short of becoming a super story.
Let me explain further. This is a book about character development. I concluded this because this simply does not have a plot. I started reading the book with no idea what was going on, and I finished it the same way. Up till now, I still haven't figure out what I read. Now, don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I didn't understand anything at all. There are some scenes that are engraved in my mind, quirky character personalities that I cannot quite forget because it's just so strange it's alluring. First off we have Max, who appears at the beginning of the story and who has a brain surgery. Okay, I was prepared of having him as the protagonist and it made sense, the whole surgery thing with the image of the cover. But then we're thrown into the whirlwind of personalities and confusion that is John. Apparently he suffers from multiple personality disorder after the disappearance of his wife. Mind you, I didn't figured this detail out since the very beginning, it took me almost half the book to understand what was going on with John's mind. I suppose if I had to choose my favorite of his personalities is @teenjohnny. He's quirky and funny. He also has a high IQ. The book concentrates a lot on John, and I was hoping it would showcase a little bit of Max too.
Some chapters are short and others are longer, but one thing is certain, there is no visible (or logical) chronological order. Everything is just all over the place, like pieces of puzzles that never seem to fit together. It jumps a lot between characters and the tense change is annoying at times. However, I tried to tolerate it because I guess this is what the author wanted to achieve, to confuse the reader. But I think this can backfire, especially if the reader loses interest.
So to conclude, this book has interesting ideas and uncommon characters. I read in some synopsis that they compare this writing style with Kafka's. I haven't read much about Kafka, but what I've read about him (mostly Metamorphosis) is that the first word that pops up in my mind when Kafka's novels are mentioned are: bizarre and strange. This book kinda embodies these two adjectives, perfectly.
May 23, 2014
This book is very unique compared to others, and for some that may be a good thing, but one thing that makes this novel unique is how confusing it can be.
It's split into three parts, and it starts off with a man named Max who has just agreed to be the subject of a very bizarre surgery, but you don't get very far into that when the book jumps to your next character; John. Now there are many personalities of John. Some of others are referred to as @teenjohnny, Rich Jon, John Classic, etc. The author wastes no time in jumping back and forth between them, Max, and other characters such as Morrie.
Now when I mean jump, you can literally have a one page chapter about one event that seems like a piece of the puzzle, but you're unsure where to place it. With as many of those as you get, you might start to lose interest, and as early in the book as this appears, many readers may end up putting the book down right there. Of course, this also implies everything will be patched up in the next two parts of the books, so let's move on.
Further in, you start to get the interesting characters and you'll get some answers, but with every answer you get, there are two more questions from you. You'll meet Morrie the stenographer and learn about how he ties into the uprising for Max, and some more of John's personalities. With new personalities come bizarre confusing scenes like being able to see from the back of your head, or maybe smashing a bunch of talking heads and stuffing them in your closet. That all adds to the confusion though as you have a hard time telling what's really happening because even normal looking scenes take place during these odd sequences. Plus with all of the plot jumping, it's not so easy to tell the chronological order of events. When you do get answers though, they are brief. For instance, the whole "Max's Maxies" movement is explained in one small chapter.
Now bizarre and confusing is understandable and welcome, especially when it's clear the author intended for the story to be that way, because it usually makes the story more interesting, but does it in this case? There are a few interesting characters, and those ones are generally the ones that have longer, or at least more thoroughly explained sequences. It's easy to recall No-Pardon Johnny with his full plans for assassination, and even @teenjohnny who has relatively small chapters, but a memorably high IQ. When you compare that to the fact that I have to go back into the book to figure out which John is Rich Jon, that shows you how memorable some of the other characters are.
In part three, things start to sum up. The sequences move from bizarre to concluding, but oh wait- back to bizarre. When you get a few answers, and finally feel like you're about to understand everything, you sort of roll back.
So overall it's a very good plot and theme, but when a book is this confusing you want to be interested, and I was only hooked to certain parts of this story, and when you combine that with the ending, you get the feeling that you never really got a conclusion to begin with.
It's split into three parts, and it starts off with a man named Max who has just agreed to be the subject of a very bizarre surgery, but you don't get very far into that when the book jumps to your next character; John. Now there are many personalities of John. Some of others are referred to as @teenjohnny, Rich Jon, John Classic, etc. The author wastes no time in jumping back and forth between them, Max, and other characters such as Morrie.
Now when I mean jump, you can literally have a one page chapter about one event that seems like a piece of the puzzle, but you're unsure where to place it. With as many of those as you get, you might start to lose interest, and as early in the book as this appears, many readers may end up putting the book down right there. Of course, this also implies everything will be patched up in the next two parts of the books, so let's move on.
Further in, you start to get the interesting characters and you'll get some answers, but with every answer you get, there are two more questions from you. You'll meet Morrie the stenographer and learn about how he ties into the uprising for Max, and some more of John's personalities. With new personalities come bizarre confusing scenes like being able to see from the back of your head, or maybe smashing a bunch of talking heads and stuffing them in your closet. That all adds to the confusion though as you have a hard time telling what's really happening because even normal looking scenes take place during these odd sequences. Plus with all of the plot jumping, it's not so easy to tell the chronological order of events. When you do get answers though, they are brief. For instance, the whole "Max's Maxies" movement is explained in one small chapter.
Now bizarre and confusing is understandable and welcome, especially when it's clear the author intended for the story to be that way, because it usually makes the story more interesting, but does it in this case? There are a few interesting characters, and those ones are generally the ones that have longer, or at least more thoroughly explained sequences. It's easy to recall No-Pardon Johnny with his full plans for assassination, and even @teenjohnny who has relatively small chapters, but a memorably high IQ. When you compare that to the fact that I have to go back into the book to figure out which John is Rich Jon, that shows you how memorable some of the other characters are.
In part three, things start to sum up. The sequences move from bizarre to concluding, but oh wait- back to bizarre. When you get a few answers, and finally feel like you're about to understand everything, you sort of roll back.
So overall it's a very good plot and theme, but when a book is this confusing you want to be interested, and I was only hooked to certain parts of this story, and when you combine that with the ending, you get the feeling that you never really got a conclusion to begin with.
July 24, 2012
This book was…not what I expected. Reading the little blurb about it had immediately gotten my attention, but I would have never guessed that the insides of the novel could be so different than the outside. More than anything, I was confused throughout the entire book. From the beginning, I had no idea what was going on, which was sometimes interesting and sometimes really frustrating. When the book introduces Max, I figured that a good chuck of the novel would be about him, and although the person disappears until the end, his character is never quite forgotten. The “secondary” character, John, is all over the place and appears in different forms, like John Classic, Rich Jon, and, my personal favorite, @teenjohnnny. John, to put it nicely, is a mess. Even after reading the book twice, I still have no idea what the plot was. Still, my favorite part was when John was in an apartment full of classy, snobby, “deep” people and they get offended when he tries to start an intelligent, controversial conversation. It was funny to see how those people reacted to the worlds opening up. When asked to explain what the book was about, I replied, “Well, there’s these two guys and they…do stuff. And one’s crazy. I think.” Although very well written, the bouncing all over the place was kind of annoying and was one reason why I had to read it twice, so I could get everything straight. I would recommend this book, but I’m not quite sure to who, because the genre is still a little lost on me.
September 28, 2012
I found this book very confusing. The two main characters seemed to be from two different stories. One chapter would be about one character with one setting and series of events; while the other character had a completely different setting and series of events. The characters were well developed and did not stray from personality types once developed.
I found I would read a few pages and I would have a difficult time understanding what had happened during those pages, or if there was even any significance in what I read when compared to the plot.
I wanted to like this book, but something about it made it hard to do that. The format was easy to follow, as I always knew which character I was reading about, but I still could not get into the story. Perhaps this book is one of those books you have to be in the right state of mind to read.
I found I would read a few pages and I would have a difficult time understanding what had happened during those pages, or if there was even any significance in what I read when compared to the plot.
I wanted to like this book, but something about it made it hard to do that. The format was easy to follow, as I always knew which character I was reading about, but I still could not get into the story. Perhaps this book is one of those books you have to be in the right state of mind to read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews