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Strange Bodies (2013)

by Marcel Theroux(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0571297897 (ISBN13: 9780571297894)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Faber and Faber

review 1: This was a really interesting book. It doesn't rate 5 stars because it was a bit difficult to read, but wow, does it stay with you. The protagonist, Nicholas Slopen, is an English lit professor, specializing in Samuel Johnson. He's asked to verify some old documents that supposedly were written by Johnson. It gets very interesting from there, with Russian mafia, a very modern Frankenstein-like plot and the over-arching concept of what makes you "you" and not someone else. The language sent me to the dictionary a few times, but it was appropriate because it was coming from the English prof main character. Well done, including the structure of the book, starting more or less with the end and then sorting out what really happened.
review 2: Shades of Byatt's Persu... moreasion, Frankenstein, and Mann's Magic Mountain are at play here. Great discussions of modern-day academia and scholarship (yay, Internet as a valid medium for research!) and even better conflicts between separation of body and soul. Readers familiar with Samuel Johnson as a scholar, or Russian culture will likely be rewarded, but it's not a deal breaker for those that haven't. A compelling read, and librarian bonus points for archival and preservation stuff! less

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