Play Book Tag discussion

Lexicon starts with a young man, Wil Parke, who has a needle in his eye. People are after him, people die, the ones apparently trying to keep him safe are jackasses, and he has not a single clue about what’s going on. And neither do we, for that matter.

Parallel to that, we have the story of Emily Ruff, a young woman who was picked up by strange men to go to a school where she would learn the art of persuasion, using words.

In the midst of that, there’s the story of Broken Hill, a mining town in Australia where all 3,000 inhabitants mysteriously died. Not only that, but anyone who tries to go in later also dies. Emily and Wil are both connected to Broken Hill, but you don’t learn how and why until about halfway through the book. I remember actually gasping out loud when we learn one thing (or get confirmation of it, because it can be guessed), so I had to think long and hard about how to write this review without spoiling anything!

I picked this book up last year totally randomly, it was for sale and it was a book about words, so hey! I loved it, this is my second read. Not only is the story really well constructed–Max Barry has a way of playing with different threads and tying them all together way later that keeps you on your toes for hundreds of pages–but the chapters are separated by blog posts, chat transcripts, newspaper articles, that are all made up but make so much sense. They could easily exist in our world, and sometimes that’s freaky.

Anyone interested in language, linguistics, or marketing, should be interested in this book!

And read the acknowledgments at the end. They’re awesome :D

The second rave review of this. I must add it! Thanks.

Oh yes, awesome acknowledgements!

Ellie wrote: "Lexicon starts with a young man, Wil Parke, who has a needle in his eye. People are after him, people die, the ones apparently trying to keep him safe are jackasses, and he has not a single clue ab..."

Oh, you have me very interested.

Loved this book a lot.

I have had this one on my TBR list for awhile. Thanks for the review. I'll be moving it up.

Susie wrote: "The second rave review of this. I must add it! Thanks."

Same. I was intrigued by the first review I saw here. Now I have to add this one.

Ok, so now I have a question. I just noticed that those of you who are commenting on the book - - your star rating is showing for the book. Has that been here the ENTIRE time? I don't recollect noticing that before.

It has been there for quite awhile. Easy to overlook though.

Kathy wrote: "It has been there for quite awhile. Easy to overlook though."

LOL, figures . . .So funny that I never noticed it before. It's a nice feature. I guess I am so focused on what people are actually saying that I never looked beyond that! Thanks, Kathy.