Thursday, November 04, 2004

Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff
It's no accident the characters in this novel work at a virtual reality company. The book is itself virtual reality. I'm enveloped in the tumult of the lives of two multiples—people with multiple personality disorder. The way one character handles her difficulties reminds me of the guy with no short-term memory in "Memento"—and the book is as engrossing as that movie. Like, when I'm reading it, I'll think I'll just read one more page before I go turn on the music or get some food or whatever, and next thing I know I've read ten pages. It's as if my mind that wants to read is split off from my body and from the minds that listen to music and wander off, contemplating tomorrow. Brings home how in our fragmented consciousnesses we all suffer a bit from split personalities.