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Looking for something a little darker than your average summer blockbuster? Thomas' gripping novel could be just the thing.
A casual glance at Scarlett Thomas’ The End of Mr Y, recently released in the UK in paperback,will tell you that this is no ordinary novel. The pages are edged in black, and the cover is a psychedelic whirl of ornate black lettering on a menacing red background. The strangeness of the content of this inventive novel does not disappoint, transporting us into an extraordinary “thought experiment” through the mysterious world of the Troposphere. The Curse of Thomas LumasThe novel follows the story of Ariel Manto, a young PhD student who is conducting research at a university into a nineteenth century writer called Thomas Lumas, one of whose books, The End of Mr Y, is rumoured to be cursed – anyone who reads it will die. This book, never commercially successful, seems to have disappeared from existence, and Ariel’s supervisor Saul Burlem – one of the very few people to have ever seen a copy of the book – has himself disappeared. The TroposphereDuring a chance visit to a second-hand bookshop, Ariel discovers a copy of this mysterious book, and cannot help reading it, despite her knowledge of the supposed curse. The book tells the story of Mr Y and his discovery of a world called the Troposphere, which can only be reached through the consumption of a particular mixture of ingredients. Once in this world, he finds he is able to enter the minds of other people, and access their thoughts and memories. Ariel, of course, cannot resist following the recipe for entry to the Troposphere, but soon finds that the knowledge she now holds is a dangerous commodity and could put her own life at risk. Character of Ariel MantoThomas’ novel is an intriguing combination of page-turning mystery mixed with a discussion of philosophical and religious ideas. The character of Ariel is sympathetically drawn – she has enough faults and traits to make her realistic as an individual without losing the reader’s support: despite a capacity for self-destruction and a penchant for devious sexual practices, we genuinely want her to escape her pursuers and achieve happiness with Adam, the man she loves. The Troposphere itself is inventively described: no mean feat for a place existing purely as an extension of the thoughts of human – and animal – kind. Critics’ ReactionThe novel was deservedly long-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2008, and received rave reviews from critics perhaps relieved to come across such an ambitious and innovative book, best summed up by the novelist Philip Pullman, who declared it “ingenious and original. A cracking good yarn, fizzing with intelligence.” The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas is published in the UK in paperback by Canongate, 2008, 502 pages, ISBN 978-1-84767-070-0.
The copyright of the article Scarlett Thomas: The End of Mr Y in Modern British Fiction is owned by Elizabeth Gregory. Permission to republish Scarlett Thomas: The End of Mr Y in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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