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I just finished Lexicon by Max Barry and what a fun book it is. It starts off with a man named Wil waking up while two other men are poking a needle into his eye. Ouch! From there we have an escape and chase and capture and then another escape and a long and varied chase before a final escape. Except Wil ends up escaping with Eliot, one of the men who stuck the needle in his eye. Confusing? A little. But it is supposed to be because it is told from Wil’s point of view so we learn what’s going on as he discovers it.
But Wil’s is not the only narrative voice in the book. We also have Emily Ruff, a sixteen-year-old street kid who survives on her wits and her fast hands. She is good at parting people from their money by laying out cards and asking the unlucky mark where the queen is. She is discovered and taken off the streets by a mysterious man who gives her a plane ticket to a private school in Washington DC. But this school is not like any other. At this school students learn to use the power of words to compromise people and get them to do what they want.
The best graduates of the school become Poets, sort of like secret agents except they work for no one but themselves. It is never clear why they do what they do or what their ultimate goal is. I suppose I could surmise it is to be a check and balance to power, but they have their own power problems within their ranks and don’t even realize it until much too late.
The story jumps back and forth between Wil who is in the present and Emily who is in the near past. The two narratives bounce off each other, filling in the blanks for the reader until they finally meet up. In Wil’s present Emily is known as Virginia Woolf. She is the best Poet at hunting and attack and she is after Eliot (as in T.S.) and Wil. Wil is in danger because he is what is called an Outlier, someone who is immune to the power of the Poets and their words. Woolf had released a very powerful word in a small town in middle of nowhere Australia and all 3,000 inhabitants, except Wil, died. Why Woolf did what she did we learn as we go along and we think we find out the truth of the matter but, but, well, this is a sort of science fiction thriller so I don’t want to give anything away.
The pacing in the book is good. Barry manages to say some interesting things about language and tell a good story. That the Poets are given names based on their abilities is rather humorous. I chuckled throughout that Woolf and Eliot were trying to kill each other after starting off as friends. Woolf is innovative and always manages to find the right word to get the job done. Eliot is impenetrable. The head of the Poets is named Yeats and he terrifies everyone with his dead eyes. But he has a certain fetish for good shoes and it turns out to be his weakness. His assistant is Plath who, as the novel progresses, is increasing noted to be more and more neurotic and unstable. There are others but you have to find out for yourself.
Lexicon is a fun book, a suspense novel for the bookish crowd. It’s a light, quick read. Not perfect, but enjoyable nonetheless.
I’ve never heard of either the book or the writer, but I’m intrigued. Thank you!
(Sorry I haven’t been around for a while. Have lots of your posts to read!)
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Helen, it’s a fun book. I’ve not read Barry before but he has a bit of a reputation for books that are kind different. And I completely understand about having lots lots to read!
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This sounds like fun, although probably not my thing. It sounds a little Jasper Fforde-ish, and I actually only read one of those and lost interest in the series…. But I’m glad you enjoyed this one!
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Rebecca, it is fun but yeah, you have to either like science fiction or be willing to let Barry reel out to its farthest extent the power that language can have. For all that though, the book does say something about the power of words and the ability to use them to manipulate others. It’s not zany like Jasper Fforde, Barry is 100% serious though the book is not without humor.
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I haven’t come across this at all and if I hadn’t read your review I would definitely have got no further than the first page because my recurrent nightmare is that of having sharp objects stuck into my eyes. I get shaky just walking past a railing fence. Nevertheless, having read your comments I think I might give this a go if I can find a copy in the library.
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Alex, oh dear. It’s rather detailed with the needle in the eye. Made me grimace quite a few times so either have the smelling salts on hand or skip the first two pages. If you find a copy I hope you enjoy it!
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I’ve never heard of this one–it sounds like fun. How can you not like a book where the ultimate goal is to become a poet! 🙂
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Danielle, it is an odd sort of book but fun if you are in the mood for it’s kind. And yeah, it is most excellent that the most powerful secret organization in the world names their agents after famous writers. If only!
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I listened to the audio version and loved it. I didn’t know what to expect, I wasn’t familiar with the author, but I like scifi, thrillers and books and it turned out to be a winner for me.
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Leslie, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the book either but it did turn out to be great fun. I can imagine this would be especially enjoyable on audio!
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