Ship of Theseus was presented as an old hardcover book.

Along the way, they’re thrown into a conspiracy story of their own with life-or-death stakes. By delving into Straka’s web of associations and solving hidden messages in the book, Jen and Eric connect over a shared interest in discovering Straka’s identity. Straka’s translator published the novel posthumously in 1949.ĭecades later, two students at Pollard State University meet by writing notes back and forth in a copy of Ship of Theseus left at the university library. His final book, Ship of Theseus, followed a man with amnesia journeying to distant lands to discover his true identity and motivation. Straka wrote many novels, but his true identity remains shrouded in mystery. Impressive construction of story layers.Avid readers who enjoy being immersed in a story’s world.

If you love the feeling of exploring someone’s communications and unlocking a grand story piece by piece, Ship of Theseus was made for you. But even without uncovering all of its secrets, Ship of Theseus had a lot to offer casual readers. Abrams projects, not all the open questions got clear answers. If you’re looking for a straightforward read or clearly delineated puzzles, the setup may feel overwhelming. But mostly the point was to explore and gradually gain familiarity with its rich fictional world of academia and intrigue.ĭue to its length and complexity, Ship of Theseus was intimidating. Abrams and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst, is the chronicle of two readers finding each other in the margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces they don't understand, and it is also Abrams and Dorst's love letter to the written word.There were ciphers embedded in Ship of Theseus, and deciding how to tackle the layers of story required some strategizing. 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. 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.

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 book: 'Ship of Theseus,' the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. 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. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.Ī young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger.

S doug dorst