Remainder

A night or two ago, I finally finished Tom McCarthy's Remainder.  According to the note on the front cover, I began the book in late '09. I faintly recall getting somewhere around halfway and putting it down.  Christmas '12 I restarted the book.

I got about 2/3 of the way through and put it back down.

Then on January 2014, I sort of resolved to read more, particularly before I sleep and particularly to avoid just watching TV shows I've already watched. I also cleaned up and organized my ReReads account and decided to start a clean slate of books I've read.  There were far too many books with a simple star rating.  I wanted to remember the books and have a written document of that memory.

This is why it is serendipitous that I am writing this for Remainder.  In Remainder, the narrator has been the victim of an accident that has left him disabled and amnesiac (at this writing I have only suddenly realized the narrator has no name, or that I have no memory of it).

Because of the settlement he receives because of the incident that caused his amnesia (which he cannot recall and is legally unable to discuss), he ends up with several million pounds which become more than that after some excellent investment.  After a night at a party and a crack in a wall, he decides to use his money to make full, 1:1 scale reenactments of a few moments in his and other people's lives.

This is not a book for those who worry about their own authenticity.

If you've seen Synecdoche, NY, the set up is similar.  The book grapples with a person's feelings about authenticity, particularly in their actions.  What the narrator never seems to realize is that the same issues he has with fluidity are not unique to him.

Originally his issues stem from the massive physical therapy he has to undertake, requiring every motion to be a conscious one.  After viewing Pacino in Taxi Driver, the narrator is bothered how fluid the characters motions seem to be.  He obviously could not hear my screams in regards to an actors' movements never being truly genuine.  Having just yelled at pulped tree, I clearly had some re-examining to do.

Because it is late, and I'm typing this on a phone, I'm inspired to close it.  I loved picking up this book with only the shadows of memories of the books plot and characters.  Though I had put the book down twice, neither instance was due to the book being uninteresting.  It felt oddly comforting to come back to(especially since I didn't want to restart the book again). It was a fascinating read.  Unfortunately, I choose to leave you the same way the book left me: unclear on whether it had ended or not.