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Mandibula lui Cain
Șase crime. 100 de pagini. Milioane de combinații posibile... un singur răspuns corect. Poți să rezolvi misterioasa enigmă a lui Torquemada?
În 1934, rebusistul ziarului The Observer, Edward Powys Mathers (cunoscut și ca Torquemada), a publicat romanul Mandibula lui Cain, titlul fiind o trimitere la prima crimă cunoscută, care era în același timp o poveste polițistă și una dintre cele mai dificile enigme literare scrise vreodată.
Paginile au fost tipărite într-o ordine complet aleatorie, dar este posibil – folosindu-te de logică și citind cu atenție cartea – să le pui în ordinea corectă, astfel încât să descoperi cele șase victime și criminalii lor. Există peste 30 de milioane de combinații posibile, însă doar una este corectă.
Doar patru persoane au reușit să rezolve misterul din Mandibula lui Cain. Crezi că poți să te alături acestui grup select? Atenție: acest puzzle literar este incredibil de dificil și nu este recomandat celor slabi de înger.
În 1934, rebusistul ziarului The Observer, Edward Powys Mathers (cunoscut și ca Torquemada), a publicat romanul Mandibula lui Cain, titlul fiind o trimitere la prima crimă cunoscută, care era în același timp o poveste polițistă și una dintre cele mai dificile enigme literare scrise vreodată.
Paginile au fost tipărite într-o ordine complet aleatorie, dar este posibil – folosindu-te de logică și citind cu atenție cartea – să le pui în ordinea corectă, astfel încât să descoperi cele șase victime și criminalii lor. Există peste 30 de milioane de combinații posibile, însă doar una este corectă.
Doar patru persoane au reușit să rezolve misterul din Mandibula lui Cain. Crezi că poți să te alături acestui grup select? Atenție: acest puzzle literar este incredibil de dificil și nu este recomandat celor slabi de înger.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
2947 people are currently reading
49474 people want to read
About the author
E. Powys Mathers
121 books37 followersfrom Wikipedia:
E(dward) Powys Mathers was an English translator and poet, and also a pioneer of compiling advanced cryptic crosswords.
Powys Mathers was born in Forest Hill, London, the son of a newspaper proprietor. He was educated at Loretto and Trinity College, Oxford.
He was the editor with J.C. Mardrus of The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (his 12 volume English translation of the Mardrus adaptation appeared in 1923).
He is known also for the translations The Garden of Bright Waters: One Hundred and Twenty Asiatic Love Poems (1920); and of the Kashmiri poet Bilhana in Bilhana: Black Marigolds (1919), a free interpretation in the tradition of Edward Fitzgerald. These are not scholarly works, and are in some cases based on intermediate versions in European languages. Some of his translations were set to music by Aaron Copland.
He was also a composer of cryptic crosswords for The Observer under the pseudonym "Torquemada" from 1926 until his death.
E(dward) Powys Mathers was an English translator and poet, and also a pioneer of compiling advanced cryptic crosswords.
Powys Mathers was born in Forest Hill, London, the son of a newspaper proprietor. He was educated at Loretto and Trinity College, Oxford.
He was the editor with J.C. Mardrus of The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (his 12 volume English translation of the Mardrus adaptation appeared in 1923).
He is known also for the translations The Garden of Bright Waters: One Hundred and Twenty Asiatic Love Poems (1920); and of the Kashmiri poet Bilhana in Bilhana: Black Marigolds (1919), a free interpretation in the tradition of Edward Fitzgerald. These are not scholarly works, and are in some cases based on intermediate versions in European languages. Some of his translations were set to music by Aaron Copland.
He was also a composer of cryptic crosswords for The Observer under the pseudonym "Torquemada" from 1926 until his death.
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June 16, 2022my toxic trait is thinking i can solve this
November 15, 2022
only three people have solved this literary puzzle/mystery since 1934.
but my character flaw is believing im going to be person #4.
i have the book in my hands. will update as i go along. wish me luck. 🤞🏻
P.S. for those interested in participating, the newly revived competition closes 31 december 2022, so go pick up a copy!
but my character flaw is believing im going to be person #4.
i have the book in my hands. will update as i go along. wish me luck. 🤞🏻
P.S. for those interested in participating, the newly revived competition closes 31 december 2022, so go pick up a copy!
August 9, 2020
This is a strange book, in that I’ve read every page of Cain’s Jawbone but haven’t read Cain’s Jawbone. This is because the book has been printed in a random order, though in this case are printed on cards to make them easier to rearrange. Get the hundred pages in the right order and a coherent novel is revealed with six victims and six murderers.
I was one of the subscribers for this book, having heard of it from Shandy Hall’s twitter and as excited as I was to get it, it wasn’t until recently that I actually opened the box and read the cards.
My plan is to have a read through of the cards, then a read through and make some notes, then to focus more specifically on the areas suggested by the initial read throughs.
Though, how can this book be judged? As a novel it is, at present, pretty incoherent and as a puzzle, it definitely succeeds at being described as ‘fiendish’. At the moment, it’s impossible to tell which features are part of the puzzle and which are mere playfulness.
In terms of style, it’s a pretty funny book. There’s a lot of fun with idiom including such classics as, ‘absinthe makes the heart grow fonder’, ‘count your burdens’ and ‘every good gull loves a sailor’. There’s an amused, world weary tone to the book also, never quite falling into Sam Spade territory but somewhere along the path. I enjoyed the remark that, “Detective Sergeants have their manner but no plural’, or that “It had always been my habit to rise with the lark, if there was one going up about 9.” This all suggests that the finished novel is a fun, witty, thing, written with care and many of the sections are entertaining in and of themselves, though not always clear.
The novel is narrated in the first person throughout but my big suspicion is that it contains multiple first person narrators. I think there are about five narrators, I also think that two of them might be called Henry and one of those Henrys is a dog. I was suspicious a few times.
“It was a pity about Dickens’s insane jealousy of chickens, and one could almost mistrust at his morbid distrust of sheep” is a sentence that only really makes sense if about a dog. I was confirmed in my suspicions near the end when the narrator said, “I put my foot in it, which left three.” The reason I reckon the dog must be called Henry is because the name is used far too often for it just to refer to one person, so is mostly likely the name of the dog.
If the narrators are identified by ticks, then one keeps quoting Oscar Wilde, another Tennyson, another mixes idioms and one often talks about how they admire their namesake - or they all do that and when I untangle the namesakes there are a number.
It also seems like different murders have different locations or themes. One is at a rundown London cabaret, another seems to be by the sea, another has a floral (possible poison) theme and another to be around books and poetry.
These are just my first impressions though, I need far more readings and a little of bit proper, systematic sorting to get even a bit closer to the solution, and I imagine I never shall.
I was one of the subscribers for this book, having heard of it from Shandy Hall’s twitter and as excited as I was to get it, it wasn’t until recently that I actually opened the box and read the cards.
My plan is to have a read through of the cards, then a read through and make some notes, then to focus more specifically on the areas suggested by the initial read throughs.
Though, how can this book be judged? As a novel it is, at present, pretty incoherent and as a puzzle, it definitely succeeds at being described as ‘fiendish’. At the moment, it’s impossible to tell which features are part of the puzzle and which are mere playfulness.
In terms of style, it’s a pretty funny book. There’s a lot of fun with idiom including such classics as, ‘absinthe makes the heart grow fonder’, ‘count your burdens’ and ‘every good gull loves a sailor’. There’s an amused, world weary tone to the book also, never quite falling into Sam Spade territory but somewhere along the path. I enjoyed the remark that, “Detective Sergeants have their manner but no plural’, or that “It had always been my habit to rise with the lark, if there was one going up about 9.” This all suggests that the finished novel is a fun, witty, thing, written with care and many of the sections are entertaining in and of themselves, though not always clear.
The novel is narrated in the first person throughout but my big suspicion is that it contains multiple first person narrators. I think there are about five narrators, I also think that two of them might be called Henry and one of those Henrys is a dog. I was suspicious a few times.
“It was a pity about Dickens’s insane jealousy of chickens, and one could almost mistrust at his morbid distrust of sheep” is a sentence that only really makes sense if about a dog. I was confirmed in my suspicions near the end when the narrator said, “I put my foot in it, which left three.” The reason I reckon the dog must be called Henry is because the name is used far too often for it just to refer to one person, so is mostly likely the name of the dog.
If the narrators are identified by ticks, then one keeps quoting Oscar Wilde, another Tennyson, another mixes idioms and one often talks about how they admire their namesake - or they all do that and when I untangle the namesakes there are a number.
It also seems like different murders have different locations or themes. One is at a rundown London cabaret, another seems to be by the sea, another has a floral (possible poison) theme and another to be around books and poetry.
These are just my first impressions though, I need far more readings and a little of bit proper, systematic sorting to get even a bit closer to the solution, and I imagine I never shall.
May 21, 2021
Reading it is the easy part. Understanding what happened? No clue.
December 29, 2021
4 stars for an excellent concept and highly confusing initial read
If i fail my degree it’s because i’m giving all my mental energy to solving it
If i fail my degree it’s because i’m giving all my mental energy to solving it
August 30, 2023
"I wished for the hundredth time I had a better brain." Me too, Card 8 Narrator, me too.
Well, I've at least read all the words now! But I certainly have no clue who's what and what's whom, how many dogs there truly are, who Mithridatises whom, nor why so many random poetry lines are inserted purely to sound cultured.
At least, not yet I don't. (Or do I?)
Everyone is obsessed with pens, poetry, Henry, jasmine, May, eyes, poisonous horticulture, tea, Sherlock Holmes, cigars, and some terrible--face-palm terrible--attempts at puns. Or some such things. I might know more than I let on, but Henry won't know that.
Well, I've at least read all the words now! But I certainly have no clue who's what and what's whom, how many dogs there truly are, who Mithridatises whom, nor why so many random poetry lines are inserted purely to sound cultured.
At least, not yet I don't. (Or do I?)
Everyone is obsessed with pens, poetry, Henry, jasmine, May, eyes, poisonous horticulture, tea, Sherlock Holmes, cigars, and some terrible--face-palm terrible--attempts at puns. Or some such things. I might know more than I let on, but Henry won't know that.
March 23, 2022
lo segno come letto solo perché ho letto tutte le pagine ma ovviamente rimango sempre stupida e non l’ho risolto. henry rimane un maledetto
July 20, 2022
Have I read this book or not? That's a trick question.
Did I read every word written on the 100 pages? Yes.
Do I know how the story goes? No.
Not so long ago I was joking around with a friend who writes fiction, by telling him it would be original if he wrote a book with the pages in a random order, so that the reader has to put them in the right order and puzzle the story together.
You can imagine my surprise when a few days after our conversation I stumbled upon Cain's Jawbone in which author Torquemada already did this, back in 1934!
Torquemada is the pseudonym of Edward Powys Mathers (1892-1939).
This nom de plume was linked to the Spanish Inquisition, because Edward believed that puzzles should be mind-bendingly difficult but equally rewarding when the solution was found.
He introduced the cryptic crossword to England in 1924 through the pages of the Observer newspaper and in 1934 a selection of his puzzles was published by Gollancz under the title The Torquemada Puzzle Book.
This contained difficult crosswords, spooneristics, verbal games, telacrostics, triple cricket acrostics, anagrams and - in the final 100 pages - Cain's Jawbone (which refers to the first recorded murder weapon).
A prize of £ 15 was offered to the first reader who could re-order the pages and provide an account of the 6 persons murdered in Cain's Jawbone and the full names of their murderers.
In 1935 two people - Mr. S. Sydney-Turner and Mr. W.S. Kennedy - succeeded to find the solution to this puzzle with millions of possible combinations of pages, but with only one correct order.
In the subsequent years the answer to this mystery book was thought to have been lost.
That is until Shandy Hall, an independent literary museum in the UK operated by the Laurence Sterne Trust, received a donation of The Torquemada Puzzle Book.
It came from Geoffrey Day, who is a Trustee of the Laurence Sterne Trust and a Sterne scholar. He had had the book for years but had not been able to solve the puzzle.
Shandy Hall curator Patrick Wildgust gave it a shot, but finding the right answer proved difficult. So he put out a call in The Guardian, which brought him in contact with John Price. The latter had become obsessed with discovering the solution to Cain's Jawbone after coming across a second hand copy. In 1988, he appealed for information in the pages of the magazine run by the national Crossword Club. Amazingly, he received an answer that came 'from an elderly gentleman who lived in a nursing home in Nether Wallop,' who solved the problem in the 30s and even had a written congratulation from Torquemada. Finally, the only correct solution was found again!
Patrick Wildgust then collaborated with the crowdfunding publisher Unbound to re-issue the novel in the fall of 2019, with new artwork by Scottish cartoonist Tom Gauld.
This re-edition consisted of a box with 100 cards. The publisher offered a reward of £ 1.000 to anyone who could solve it.
Throughout the course of the next few months, twelve people submitted their responses.
Only the one of John Finnemore, a British comedy writer and crossword setter, held the correct answer. The funny thing is that he told The Guardian: “The first time I opened the box, I swiftly concluded that it was way out of my league, and the only way I’d even have a shot at it was if I were for some bizarre reason trapped in my own home for months on end, with nowhere to go and no one to see.”
And then there was COVID-19 and the pandemic quarantine. It took him four months to solve the puzzle.
In February 2021 a paperback edition was released.
Apparently a TikTokker named Scannell posted a video about this original book, the post went viral and lots of people wanted to try their luck.
To meet the startling surge in demand, Unbound printed 10.000 additional copies in November and announced an additional 70.000-copy print run early December.
There’s also a new competition: everyone who submits a correct answer before December 31, 2022, will receive a £250 /$350 credit to spend supporting other book projects at https://unbound.com/.
Yours truly decided to put on her detective hat and is now totally hooked!
Having bought the paperback a few weeks ago, I discovered yesterday that there's also an e-book version available now (apparently since this month).
With both versions within easy reach, I'm now able to fully immerse myself in this original murder mystery.
There are lots of literary and historical references, each of which could either be an important clue or simply a red herring.
It's so much fun to find out what these words or sentences are refering to!
Already learned so much in just one day, that - even if I don't find the correct final answer - I'm sure the coming months will provide a very gratifying experience.
Or as they say: it's all about the journey, not the destination.
Although I wouldn't mind to solve this brain teaser 😄
Part of the background info about Torquemada and his work is already covered in this review.
But if you want to know even more and/or read about interesting references I can totally recommend following articles:
- https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2017/oct/30/crossword-blog-a-vintage-mystery-with-a-bizarre-twist
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/653534/cains-jawbone-book-puzzle
Did I read every word written on the 100 pages? Yes.
Do I know how the story goes? No.
Not so long ago I was joking around with a friend who writes fiction, by telling him it would be original if he wrote a book with the pages in a random order, so that the reader has to put them in the right order and puzzle the story together.
You can imagine my surprise when a few days after our conversation I stumbled upon Cain's Jawbone in which author Torquemada already did this, back in 1934!
Torquemada is the pseudonym of Edward Powys Mathers (1892-1939).
This nom de plume was linked to the Spanish Inquisition, because Edward believed that puzzles should be mind-bendingly difficult but equally rewarding when the solution was found.
He introduced the cryptic crossword to England in 1924 through the pages of the Observer newspaper and in 1934 a selection of his puzzles was published by Gollancz under the title The Torquemada Puzzle Book.
This contained difficult crosswords, spooneristics, verbal games, telacrostics, triple cricket acrostics, anagrams and - in the final 100 pages - Cain's Jawbone (which refers to the first recorded murder weapon).
A prize of £ 15 was offered to the first reader who could re-order the pages and provide an account of the 6 persons murdered in Cain's Jawbone and the full names of their murderers.
In 1935 two people - Mr. S. Sydney-Turner and Mr. W.S. Kennedy - succeeded to find the solution to this puzzle with millions of possible combinations of pages, but with only one correct order.
In the subsequent years the answer to this mystery book was thought to have been lost.
That is until Shandy Hall, an independent literary museum in the UK operated by the Laurence Sterne Trust, received a donation of The Torquemada Puzzle Book.
It came from Geoffrey Day, who is a Trustee of the Laurence Sterne Trust and a Sterne scholar. He had had the book for years but had not been able to solve the puzzle.
Shandy Hall curator Patrick Wildgust gave it a shot, but finding the right answer proved difficult. So he put out a call in The Guardian, which brought him in contact with John Price. The latter had become obsessed with discovering the solution to Cain's Jawbone after coming across a second hand copy. In 1988, he appealed for information in the pages of the magazine run by the national Crossword Club. Amazingly, he received an answer that came 'from an elderly gentleman who lived in a nursing home in Nether Wallop,' who solved the problem in the 30s and even had a written congratulation from Torquemada. Finally, the only correct solution was found again!
Patrick Wildgust then collaborated with the crowdfunding publisher Unbound to re-issue the novel in the fall of 2019, with new artwork by Scottish cartoonist Tom Gauld.
This re-edition consisted of a box with 100 cards. The publisher offered a reward of £ 1.000 to anyone who could solve it.
Throughout the course of the next few months, twelve people submitted their responses.
Only the one of John Finnemore, a British comedy writer and crossword setter, held the correct answer. The funny thing is that he told The Guardian: “The first time I opened the box, I swiftly concluded that it was way out of my league, and the only way I’d even have a shot at it was if I were for some bizarre reason trapped in my own home for months on end, with nowhere to go and no one to see.”
And then there was COVID-19 and the pandemic quarantine. It took him four months to solve the puzzle.
In February 2021 a paperback edition was released.
Apparently a TikTokker named Scannell posted a video about this original book, the post went viral and lots of people wanted to try their luck.
To meet the startling surge in demand, Unbound printed 10.000 additional copies in November and announced an additional 70.000-copy print run early December.
There’s also a new competition: everyone who submits a correct answer before December 31, 2022, will receive a £250 /$350 credit to spend supporting other book projects at https://unbound.com/.
Yours truly decided to put on her detective hat and is now totally hooked!
Having bought the paperback a few weeks ago, I discovered yesterday that there's also an e-book version available now (apparently since this month).
With both versions within easy reach, I'm now able to fully immerse myself in this original murder mystery.
There are lots of literary and historical references, each of which could either be an important clue or simply a red herring.
It's so much fun to find out what these words or sentences are refering to!
Already learned so much in just one day, that - even if I don't find the correct final answer - I'm sure the coming months will provide a very gratifying experience.
Or as they say: it's all about the journey, not the destination.
Although I wouldn't mind to solve this brain teaser 😄
Part of the background info about Torquemada and his work is already covered in this review.
But if you want to know even more and/or read about interesting references I can totally recommend following articles:
- https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2017/oct/30/crossword-blog-a-vintage-mystery-with-a-bizarre-twist
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/653534/cains-jawbone-book-puzzle
February 6, 2022
Was tempted to try and solve this but then I remembered that I’m currently supposed to be writing my BA thesis
Currently reading
October 3, 2019For all those not familiar with Cain's Jawbone and like to solve mysteries and puzzles, you should read the introduction and/or Google it. I dare say, you'll be hooked and ordering your own limited edition boxed set.
Mine arrived yesterday! I'm so excited!! I glanced briefly through the pages a.k.a. cards last night and read the introduction booklet and it appears to be just as difficult to solve as I imagined it would. I feel like I need a huge table to spread out on, which I have, but with 100 cards and two 'toddler' cats, you can imagine how challenging that is turning out to be. I then tried locking myself in my room for a little while but locking cats on the outside of a room when you're in it, doesn't work too well either. If you have cats, then you know exactly what I'm going through. I'm going to have to get creative. lol I will continue to update as I progress...
Good luck to all of the other puzzlers out there embarking on this same journey! May your cats give you more peace then mine are giving me.: )
Mine arrived yesterday! I'm so excited!! I glanced briefly through the pages a.k.a. cards last night and read the introduction booklet and it appears to be just as difficult to solve as I imagined it would. I feel like I need a huge table to spread out on, which I have, but with 100 cards and two 'toddler' cats, you can imagine how challenging that is turning out to be. I then tried locking myself in my room for a little while but locking cats on the outside of a room when you're in it, doesn't work too well either. If you have cats, then you know exactly what I'm going through. I'm going to have to get creative. lol I will continue to update as I progress...
Good luck to all of the other puzzlers out there embarking on this same journey! May your cats give you more peace then mine are giving me.: )
March 3, 2022
I genuinely think I have moderate intelligence- and I haven’t got a pissing clue what’s going on. I have about 259 different ideas. Glad I’m a physio not a detective.
April 24, 2022
I love it and I hate it.
Want to read
April 8, 2024Only 4 people have ever solved this mystery: 2 in 1935 and 2 in recent years. It can't be that hard, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czbNt...
May 26, 2021
"I did not quite agree with De Quincey that murders in Ireland did not count..."
Such fun! In 1934, famed crossword compiler Torquemada published a book of puzzles, all as terrifying as each other. But the final 100 pages were even more so: a modernist murder mystery novel, with all the pages out of order. The puzzler's goal is to identify the full names all six victims and the murderer or murderers, as well as the exact order of the pages. Nothing hazy, nothing guessed at. Only the exact solution. Two people achieved it in 1934. Perhaps more impressive - without Google! Perhaps less impressive - they didn't have to investigate the obvious references to mundane aspects of 1930s life which now read like cryptic crosswords themselves!
After 85 years, Unbound has released Cain's Jawbone in a lovely commemorative box, with 100 individual cards so potential detectives can rearrange them to their heart's content. The prize is 1,000 of those fancy British Pounds, and the deadline for completion is 12 months (plus a few weeks for those of us lucky enough to have joined the crowdfunding campaign).
"They had, in the words of the old song, gone the same way home."
It's a challenging task at the best of times. Even the characters' names are hidden behind a shroud of wordplay and literary references. Torquemada (aka Edward Powys Mathers) covers the reader in a deluge of poetry and wit. The narration - in contemporary 1930s style - is often stream-of-consciousness, rendering the connections between pages as discombobulating as trying to figure out the plot. There's a lot of rather queer business going on with small metallic objects, some rather large yews, some gum prunes, and something called Lover's Delight. The solution seems impossible!
But it is there. After spending a delightful (if often headscratching) month in Torquemada's world, I now understand everything... most things... some things... enough things to make a feint at a solution to this demonic confection. Thus I have humbly submitted my answer sheet to Unbound today, and will have to wait patiently until September 2020 (the competition deadline) to find out just how close I got to being completely and utterly incorrect.
No, seriously. I definitely didn't get it completely right; I marvel at the person who can do so. But on reflection I suspect I hit the 90-95% mark. Perhaps, once the competition is over, I will publish a piece on the interwebs about my process and the meaning of it all. Until then, my lips are sealed.
"I always felt a bit dazed on these occasions, and was so then."
This is, as the box says, "not for the faint hearted". You will need to research, think outside the box, be open to scrunching up your pet theories and tossing them into the trash, and occasionally walking around in public berating yourself like a loon when you have a moment of revelation while on the tram. If all of this sounds worthwhile to you (i.e. like me, you have no life), what are you waiting for?
What's that? Really? Okay, if you insist. The only clue I can give you is the clue that is given on the first page of the introductory booklet: there is one correct order. In a puzzle like this, there has to be. Which means: if you're just guessing the link between any two given pages, you're not reading the clues thoroughly enough.
Good luck, and happy puzzling!
Such fun! In 1934, famed crossword compiler Torquemada published a book of puzzles, all as terrifying as each other. But the final 100 pages were even more so: a modernist murder mystery novel, with all the pages out of order. The puzzler's goal is to identify the full names all six victims and the murderer or murderers, as well as the exact order of the pages. Nothing hazy, nothing guessed at. Only the exact solution. Two people achieved it in 1934. Perhaps more impressive - without Google! Perhaps less impressive - they didn't have to investigate the obvious references to mundane aspects of 1930s life which now read like cryptic crosswords themselves!
After 85 years, Unbound has released Cain's Jawbone in a lovely commemorative box, with 100 individual cards so potential detectives can rearrange them to their heart's content. The prize is 1,000 of those fancy British Pounds, and the deadline for completion is 12 months (plus a few weeks for those of us lucky enough to have joined the crowdfunding campaign).
"They had, in the words of the old song, gone the same way home."
It's a challenging task at the best of times. Even the characters' names are hidden behind a shroud of wordplay and literary references. Torquemada (aka Edward Powys Mathers) covers the reader in a deluge of poetry and wit. The narration - in contemporary 1930s style - is often stream-of-consciousness, rendering the connections between pages as discombobulating as trying to figure out the plot. There's a lot of rather queer business going on with small metallic objects, some rather large yews, some gum prunes, and something called Lover's Delight. The solution seems impossible!
But it is there. After spending a delightful (if often headscratching) month in Torquemada's world, I now understand everything... most things... some things... enough things to make a feint at a solution to this demonic confection. Thus I have humbly submitted my answer sheet to Unbound today, and will have to wait patiently until September 2020 (the competition deadline) to find out just how close I got to being completely and utterly incorrect.
No, seriously. I definitely didn't get it completely right; I marvel at the person who can do so. But on reflection I suspect I hit the 90-95% mark. Perhaps, once the competition is over, I will publish a piece on the interwebs about my process and the meaning of it all. Until then, my lips are sealed.
"I always felt a bit dazed on these occasions, and was so then."
This is, as the box says, "not for the faint hearted". You will need to research, think outside the box, be open to scrunching up your pet theories and tossing them into the trash, and occasionally walking around in public berating yourself like a loon when you have a moment of revelation while on the tram. If all of this sounds worthwhile to you (i.e. like me, you have no life), what are you waiting for?
What's that? Really? Okay, if you insist. The only clue I can give you is the clue that is given on the first page of the introductory booklet: there is one correct order. In a puzzle like this, there has to be. Which means: if you're just guessing the link between any two given pages, you're not reading the clues thoroughly enough.
Good luck, and happy puzzling!
Read
January 31, 2022I'm marking "Cain's Jawbone" as read because I suppose by now I've technically read all of the pages. But have I actually READ the book? Hell no. Not a lot of people in the world have done that.
If you've not heard of it, the gist of this book is that every page is printed out of order. In order to solve it you need to put the pages in the correct order and solve the crime. Simple? Not so much!
Good luck to everyone working on this book!
If you've not heard of it, the gist of this book is that every page is printed out of order. In order to solve it you need to put the pages in the correct order and solve the crime. Simple? Not so much!
Good luck to everyone working on this book!
Want to read
April 5, 2022everyone on tiktok seems to be going nuts about this book and i absolutely love tearing out book pages and slamming them on my walls are you kidding me. ive got so much red yarn too i have to have this
March 1, 2024
I solved it.
The solution is... put the book in an air fryer and walk away.
The solution is... put the book in an air fryer and walk away.
December 31, 2022
I got this as a gift and am now wondering if my friend hates me.
November 21, 2024
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐
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• fiction, crime, mystery
• challenging, mysterious, slow paced
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TW: death, murder, body horror, addiction, drug use, toxic relationship
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Am fost fascinată de ideea acestei cărți încă de dinainte să se traducă la noi și, evident că, atunci când a apărut, am zis că mă bag și încerc să o rezolv. Nu pentru premiu, nu pentru a fi următoarea persoană din lume care o rezolvă ci pur și simplu pentru experiența de a încerca să rezolvi o enigmă literară.
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În momentul de față am trecut prin 80% din carte, am selectat nume de personaje, de animale și de locuri. Am tradus fraze din franceză, italiană, greacă și latină. Am căutat referințele ( care sunt o grămadă) din opera lui Shakespeare și Oscar Wilde...și sunt cam în pom și pomul în aer.
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Ideea cărții e foarte frumoasă dar, se simte că nu a fost scrisă în limba română în original, și că limbajul este unul vechi. Personajele au un fel ciudățel și totuși interesant de a vorbi unele despre altele și de cele mai multe ori ți-e aproape imposibil să deslușești numele și prenumele unei persoane având în vedere că rare sunt momentele în care îți dai seama dacă numele este cel al unui personaj sau doar o referință.
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Să rezolvi "Mandibula lui Cain" clar nu este ușor, dar e o experiență foarte captivantă. Problema e că ai nevoie de timp. Mult timp ca să stai cu ea. Iar eu fiind o persoană care are liber 2 zile odată la două săptămâni să stea cu paginile astea, nu înaintez prea repede. Totuși, o recomand. În special oamenilor care deja au o cultură și niște referințe clasice mai puternice decât am eu.
~
• fiction, crime, mystery
• challenging, mysterious, slow paced
~
TW: death, murder, body horror, addiction, drug use, toxic relationship
~
Am fost fascinată de ideea acestei cărți încă de dinainte să se traducă la noi și, evident că, atunci când a apărut, am zis că mă bag și încerc să o rezolv. Nu pentru premiu, nu pentru a fi următoarea persoană din lume care o rezolvă ci pur și simplu pentru experiența de a încerca să rezolvi o enigmă literară.
~
În momentul de față am trecut prin 80% din carte, am selectat nume de personaje, de animale și de locuri. Am tradus fraze din franceză, italiană, greacă și latină. Am căutat referințele ( care sunt o grămadă) din opera lui Shakespeare și Oscar Wilde...și sunt cam în pom și pomul în aer.
~
Ideea cărții e foarte frumoasă dar, se simte că nu a fost scrisă în limba română în original, și că limbajul este unul vechi. Personajele au un fel ciudățel și totuși interesant de a vorbi unele despre altele și de cele mai multe ori ți-e aproape imposibil să deslușești numele și prenumele unei persoane având în vedere că rare sunt momentele în care îți dai seama dacă numele este cel al unui personaj sau doar o referință.
~
Să rezolvi "Mandibula lui Cain" clar nu este ușor, dar e o experiență foarte captivantă. Problema e că ai nevoie de timp. Mult timp ca să stai cu ea. Iar eu fiind o persoană care are liber 2 zile odată la două săptămâni să stea cu paginile astea, nu înaintez prea repede. Totuși, o recomand. În special oamenilor care deja au o cultură și niște referințe clasice mai puternice decât am eu.
December 4, 2022
Even before trying to solve this thing, it was a delightfully surreal reading experience. Let's see what I can do...
February 12, 2023
Já sabia que ia ser uma missão quase impossível solucionar o mistério que se esconde nestas 100 páginas. Já sabia que as páginas não estavam por ordem. Mas não estava à espera de ser uma missão tão difícil. Não sabia por onde começar para tentar colocar por ordem as páginas para que tudo fizesse sentido, por isso não me vou dar a esse trabalho. A ideia pode ser genial mas no meu caso não funcionou. O melhor do livro é, sem dúvida, a capa.
May 29, 2022
finished reading it but Have Zero Idea what was happening the whole time.
Want to read
January 25, 2025BIRTHDAY PRESENTTT 🤩🥳🥳 should i take this on???? i took a look and it looks so impossible 😭
July 19, 2023
Solution Submitted
Waitting for response
Waitting for response
Read
September 6, 2023Pek de uzun olmayan çevirmenlik hayatımın en zor çevirisiydi. Ömrümden en az on yıl almıştır. 🥲
April 7, 2024
100 jumbled pages of interesting prose telling a murder mystery -- if you are one of the 3 people to successful unscramble the order that is. But I really enjoyed the prose, very poetic and intriguing. I only managed to sort the couple pages that end with poetry with the successive page. Unless that's a red herring, who knows!
I picked this up because of the cover by comics creator Tom Gauld.
I picked this up because of the cover by comics creator Tom Gauld.
January 27, 2022
Merda se è difficile sto libro puzzle.. risolverlo sarà la missione 2022
October 13, 2022
Not sure when you can actually say you read this, but at least I read all the words in the book? (Still no clue what it says tho)
Read
December 20, 2022finished my first read-through 👍
I don’t think I’ll be able to solve this but I’m back in my Criminal Minds era so it’s possible
I don’t think I’ll be able to solve this but I’m back in my Criminal Minds era so it’s possible
Displaying 1 - 29 of 873 reviews