Our Tragic Universe

Our Tragic Universe

by ScarlettThomas (Author)

Synopsis

'I was reading about the end of the universe when I got a text message from my friend Libby...' If Kelsey Newman's theory about the end of time is true, we are all going to live forever. But for Meg - locked in a hopeless relationship and with a deadline long-gone for a book that she can't write - this thought fills her with dread. Meg is lost in a labyrinth of her own devising. But could there be an important connection between a wild beast living on Dartmoor, a ship in a bottle, the science of time, a knitting pattern for the shape of the universe and the Cottingley Fairies? Or is her life just one long chain of coincidences? Smart, entrancing and buzzing with big ideas, Our Tragic Universe is a book about how relationships are created and destroyed, and how a story might just save your life.

$3.24

Save:$15.53 (83%)

Quantity

2 in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
Published: 20 May 2010

ISBN 10: 184767089X
ISBN 13: 9781847670892
Book Overview: The brilliant new mind-frazzling adventure from the author of the 150,000 copy-selling The End of Mr. Y

Media Reviews
A delight, not least for the quality of Scarlett Thomas's writing... Full of life and energy. -- Philip Pullman
Ingenious and original. A cracking good yarn, fizzing with intelligence * * Philip Pullman on The End of Mr. Y * *
Our Tragic Universe surprised me, and in such a terrific way. It is so addictive, you can't help but fall deeper and deeper under Scarlett Thomas's spell. She's a genius. -- Douglas Coupland
Richly allusive, freewheeling and enormously satisfying * * Independent on Sunday on The End of Mr. Y * *
Immensely bright and very much on the cutting edge * * Guardian on The End of Mr. Y * *
A masterpiece... A brilliant and engaging story that makes you rethink the nature of existence and the true structure of the world * * Douglas Coupland on The End of Mr. Y * *
Thomas has the mesmerising power of a great story teller - even if you're not always sure what she's telling you is a story. -- Jake Kerridge * * Finacial Times * *
[Thomas's] great asset is a mad grab-bag of a mind whose imprint on the novel leaves it brimming with ideas . . . for those who like their fiction 'meta', this is a veriegated delight. * * Time Out * *
[Our Tragic Universe] is a novel that fizzes with ideas . . . And if you've never read a Thomas novel then let's be clear: the ideas are big. -- Claire Black * * Scotland on Sunday * *
Thomas can discuss quantum physics and philosophy while making you think you're reading a sparkling romantic comedy. -- Kate Saunders * * The Times * *
By virtue of her intellect and playfulness, Thomas now seems to belong in the same school as Borges and Kundera. -- Stephen Phelan * * Scottish Review of Books (Vol 6) * *
Is it odd to describe a book as kind? The commodity itself seems an increasingly rare thing in an internet-frazzled world, and so how unexpectedly wonderful to read Scarlett Thomas's Our Tragic Universe, a book that brims with a compassion and warmth. -- Patrick Ness * * The Guardian * *
Our brains hurt - in a good way - as we read Scarlett Thomas's smarty-pants new novel about time travel, the shape of the universe and possibly the Cottingly fairies. * * The Herald Magazine * *
This is a novel of big ideas, with an engaging and identifiable central character, which will appeal to David Mitchell fans. -- David Wood * * Waterstone's Books Quarterly * *
Thomas . . . a lively writer with a great eye for detail . . . once again excels at handling heavy topics lightly. -- Alice Fisher * * The Observer * *
Our Tragic Universe is a huge, ambitious experiment, carried out by one of the finest minds of her generation. * * SFX Magazine * *
A clever piece of metafiction. * * The Melbourne Age * *
Author Bio
Scarlett Thomas was born in London in 1972. Her other novels include Bright Young Things, Going Out and The End of Mr.Y, which was longlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007. She teaches creative writing at the University of Kent.