One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.
A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.
The book: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.
The writer: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumors that swirl around him.
The readers: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they’re willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.
I just finished reading “S.” created by J. J. Abrams and written by Doug Dorst. I didn’t know a lot about it other than I had heard someone mention it on a podcast and it sounded intriguing. I received it as a Christmas present, started it in mid-January, and then finished it this past weekend during a trip to the west coast to see my sister.
“S.” is a book inside a book, and it’s a really cool concept. I pretty much do all my reading on my iPhone but this is an experience that would just not translate to an e-book.
