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If you are an avid reader who enjoys puzzling over experimental (but accessible) fiction - and you are not put off by existential philosophy - this one is definitely worth a look. The story is untraditional because it is structured, as the book’s title suggests, around a number of famous thought experiments. It is this narrative in parallel with the philosophy which I think really makes the book succeed as a rounded novel. At the heart of the book is a couple named Rachel and Eliza whose desire to have a child results in a multitude of unforeseen consequences. Also, the chapter doesn’t necessarily explore the thought experiment itself but often uses ideas from that experiment to trigger the next phase of the story.
De cualquier manera, más que de temas fantásticos, el libro habla de relaciones entre pareja y entre madre e hijo, especialmente, sobre cómo estas relaciones se mantienen ante el paso del tiempo y enfrentándose a circunstancias adversas. The scenario of mutual cooperation is also presented as the best scenario when in fact it’s the second best outcome for each person in the Prisoner’s Dilemma (sorry if this sounds too technical: the entire paradox of the PD game is that this is a Pareto optimal outcome but not a Nash equilibrium, that is, there is the tension between collective and individual rationality), etc.I suppose that while I like the idea of more casual rep in fiction that’s probably better as an end-game goal and not as helpful while publishing still has a lot of transitioning to do in making sure marginalized voices are being given an equal platform. I found it a bit of a hodgepodge of styles and themes, the last quarter confused the hell out of me. Starts off conventionally enough, about a lesbian couple, one of whom keeps insisting that she has an ant in her eye that is too small to see.
Then it was just a load of futuristic ramblings which I found too long winded, boring and all a bit silly.Later on there’s another story in which we approach a main character’s imminent death, but while appropriately disturbing, it does not quite land with the same blow to the reader’s feelings. But there is also an overarching plot: Rachel and Eliza are a lesbian couple, and Rachel is firmly convinced that an ant has entered her body through her eye - which leads to contention in their relationship because Eliza, the scientist, has trouble believing her.
Por la noche, Rachel se despierta con un dolor en el ojo y está convencida de que una hormiga ha entrado en su interior usando ese órgano, algo que cuenta con toda la incredulidad por parte de su mujer Eliza. This book is original, entertaining and thought provoking, and exactly the kind of welcome surprise I look for on any prize list.The forking paths reminded me of Borges’ El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan, and the novel as a whole has some similarities. The novel consists of a series of connected short episodes, each based around a philosophical thought experiments which is explicitly explained at the start of each chapter.
It all makes a kind of sense at the end, but along the way you might find yourself wondering what is happening. However, this novel revealed itself to actually be an unpleasant smorgasbord of several wildly different texts it was trying to be. Everything after that is complicated, as we have one chapter narrated by the ant, which is nibbling away on Rachel’s tumour and we have Arthur who becomes an astronaut flying missions to Mars.Other stories are magical or science fictional, and a couple are very philosophical- focused primarily on conveying a single experimental idea. There is a comprehensive source list at the end of the novel, but some of the influences are more opaque to me, for example Olivia Manning’s The Balkan Trilogy, which seems to be key but I’m unclear why. In one version, as a young adult, he meets Elizabeth, an English tourist, who is the subject of the next chapter in which she is Rachel's mother, living in retirement in Brazil.
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