On rare occasion, you can pick up a book that you've never heard of (even in passing) before and find that it is inspiring, clever and entirely engrossing at the same time. This book (which I heartily recommend as it has prevented me doing any work for the past three days) is one of those.
Initially, I have to admit I was sceptical. The blurb on the back is a frankly shocking representation of it so I admit to some initial internal dread. Judging a book by its cover is something we all do, but all wish we could avoid, and I'm glad, now, the book was given to me as a present, or I mightn't have picked it up at all... Additionally, upon discovering (early on) that the protagonist was a red-haired girly called Ariel, I raised my eyebrows a few times. But it is all justified eventually - and even amusing name puns here and there don't manage to ruin the feel of the book.
The End of Mr Y tells the story of a PhD student who finds herself sucked into a world of life-changing philosophy and scientific discovery through the chance finding of a book in a second-hand book store. This is simplifying it considerably - this isn't a fantasy along the lines of The Never-Ending Story. The book combines intelligent theoretical scientific and philosophical discussions within a very humanistic and down-to-Earth narrative, which makes even the hard science upon which it is based a delight to digest.
This is the sort of fiction you read and, afterwards, come out feeling as though you have not only enjoyed reading it, but you have tangibly learned a lot along the way about quantum physics, literature, philosophy, theology and, in a way, about life in general. I can't count the number of times I read things which made me think, 'Oh God, I wish so-and-so had read this' and 'Ooh, I must tell such and such' because there is such a broad spectrum of interest within it.
So yes, I recommend it wholeheartedly and have tried to extol its virtues without ruining all the juicy surprises along the way.
