S.

When you pick up S. the first problem you have is how to read the thing! I believe the title page gives you the clue. Having read the initial correspondence between Jen and the stranger, I followed her route of discovery and read the V. M. Straka Ship of Theseus novel first ignoring all the notations. Early in their conversation, before any of their notes back and forth, Jen finishes the novel in one sitting "Thanks! Read the rest in one sitting - wow." The stranger then teases Jen implying she has not seen the real message in the book whereby Jen goes back doing more of an analysis and leaves the first run of commentary starting their dialogue. The only notes in the book when Jen reads it first are the translator’s footnotes and the stranger’s pencil notes.Firstly, the novel. Ship of Theseus. The story is a strange one and I’m not even sure what genre you would put it in... fiction certainly but adventure/horror/mystery/fantasy/supernatural... it has all these elements but none are defining.We first meet S., the title character, in a city by the sea. He is very wet, has no memory of how he got there or who he is. He wanders aimlessly for a time in a surreal atmosphere before entering a tavern. Here he meets a woman reading a book; she seems familiar but professes she does not know S. It is a trap and S. is shanghaied, next waking on a ship at sea. The ship, the woman and the book reoccur throughout the novel as S. tries to escape but always returns. Sounds strange as I say but to go any deeper here would spoil the experience of reading.While I enjoyed the novel I struggled to devise the meaning, if any, behind the story. It seemed to me to be about many things not least unrequited love and loss as well as the greed of humanity and its propensity for evil to obtain what it desires. If the story was a metaphor for something deeper I’m afraid I missed it although the books and the Island struck a chord. Life perhaps? It was certainly intriguing with a seemingly unending war between good and evil where a balance is maintained by bloody action on both sides, with S. becoming a major player towards the end... certainly worth reading.Secondly, we have the book’s footnotes and the margin notes which are an entire story in their own right. As the original manuscript for Ship of Theseus was not in English the book has been translated by one F. X Caldeira. Many readers (in the fictional world of the book) believe the translator’s forward and footnotes are actually messages in code to the author Straka. The first margin notes in the book are Eric’s pencil ones which are then followed by a dialogue between Jen and Eric as they try to identify Straka and unravel Caldeira’s messages. As they delve deeper a sense of threat develops as unseen enemies try to prevent Jen and Eric revealing the truth. Is it paranoia? Is the threat real? Are they about to reveal a clandestine organisation that kills without compunction? Is it simply academic rivalry? The paranoia, real or imagined, drips from the page as you read, becoming more and more involved in Jen and Eric’s quest to learn the truth. Again I’ll say no more as to do so would spoil the fun.The margin notes are handwritten in two distinct styles; Jen’s are lowercase cursive script while Eric’s are all in uppercase block letters. Several colours are used to indicate the different iterations as the book passes back and forth between Jen and Eric.I don’t believe you need to try and read them in the order they were written, i.e. follow a colour, as some have suggested. Not only would this be an almost impossible task it seemed to me each full set of notes on a particular page moved the narrative of Jen and Eric along correctly in time. In truth it would probably spoil it trying to read a single set of colours first as near the end you would undoubtedly read a future note too early. Then again, I could have it completely wrong, that is the beauty of the whole book.And finally, the book’s production. It is simply astounding. Place this in the hands of any book lover and their heart will melt. It arrives sealed in a functional slipcase to ensure the contents remain intact. You open the cellophane and are presented with a perforated seal embossed with an S.. You break this with a letter opener and slide out Ship of Theseus which is a faithful reproduction of an old 1949 library book (the only giveaway is the smallest copyright panel below the library in/out stamps at the back of the book, and even this is disguised to look like the Library’s lending rules). In the book are numerous pieces of ephemera, old letters, postcards, articles, etc., that all expand the story and relate to Jen and Eric’s notes as they try to solve the mystery of Straka and learn more about one another.S. is a rare thing; individually each element is very good in its own right, however, the sum of the parts is breathtaking and every book lover should own a copy, read it and enjoy the experience.• The story• The foot notes• The margin notes• The ephemera• The codes• The quality of productIf you had the time you could spend hours of enjoyment unravelling more and more... and at the end there is one mystery left unanswered... how did we, the reader, get the book?

Have just found out that the novel that inspired the director J J Abrams to think about the germ of an idea for a 'novel' which ended up as 'S', was in fact a book written some years ago by the now deceased Robert Ludlum. (of Bourne Identity fame and writer of 22 books)What however he came up with, together with his collaborative writer, is, it seems, a 'book' to push the boundaries of what constitutes the written novel and how it should or could be read.J J Abrams has said he found Ludlum's book on a seat in an airport transfer lounge. When looking at it, he found written in pen on the inside cover was, paraphrasing, 'whoever finds this book please read it and then leave it somewhere for someone else to red and do the same'. A concept in itself that has become more and more prevalent, though sadly it hasn't happened to me, yet....:J j Abrams 'book' "S" has just been recently published and I ordered it yesterday, {as a side note I believe to get the full effect of his new book anyone wanting to read it should order the actual physical hardback to get the full experience of a perhaps new way of approaching how to read a book (you won't really get this with an electronic version)}Anyway as serendipity would having ordered "S" that very same evening I heard an interview with Abrams by Mark Lawson (radio 4 'Front Row') where he mentioned finding the Ludlum book and how it started him off, etc as I outlined earlier. Annoyingly however the title of which of Ludlum's 22 book's it was, wasn't mentioned but my interest being piqued I emailed 'Front Row' and got the answer, apparently Lawson did ask the question in his interview, but it was cut out of the final edit due to the time demands.So I have just ordered "the Cry of the Halidon' (the book that started it all) to read both books, to see if I can see what led Mr Abrams to do all this. To see if I can see what he saw in a book that's not had too many good reviews written about it on this site, something that makes it all the more intriguing in a way, as I'd imagined it would have been a book of some note to trigger this off, but it seems perhaps not?To me it's an intriguing situation which I'd like (as a former TV director & producer and now screenplay writer - I've never met J J Abrams, and had never met Ludlum either, I believe he died in somewhat strange circumstances so maybe that's another story perhaps? - it just something that caught my curiosity.I thought I'd share it as other folks whether they be writers or aspiring writers or avid readers might too have their interest peaked by it and also want to see for themselves how Ludlum's, not so it seems lauded early book made such an impression on one of the current major TV and Film director, writer, creator. (I have no connections with anybody or any business that is involved with either of these books.)

I’ve just started this great creation and it’s captured my mind on so many levels. If you love a great story with depths you can dive into, you love the accoutrements that necessarily authenticate that journey, the compass and map, the small specialist tools unique for the job, and even more if you’ve actually been a go and do it adventurer (I lived in the Borneo jungles with the Iban Dyak head hunters for two years, investigated war crimes embedded u set over as a refugee in Northern Syria (it was the French!), and escaped with my life and followed by a death sentence from the Chinese communist party, and more as an independent investigative journalist) and dig in deep then this book so far has given me a ‘desk’ adventure second to none. I’ll write more as I progress through this journey. Sam, xxx