Our discussion of The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

Congratulations to Brian on joining the Juggernaut Board!

This book was truly a mixed bag – covering many genres, referencing many movies, and displaying a deep (and overwhelming at times!) love of language and its quirks. We, too, were all over the board on this one – a great discussion!

Comments:

• It was the rare book that went from a 2 rating up to a 4 as the book went on.
• The book's rating went up a few days after finishing it.
• Loved it! 
• The brief introduction into “present” day was great, but we were thrown into many chapters of backstory until we circled all the way around. Some of the flashbacks dived deeply into the backstory of minor characters that were destined to be killed off.
• There was very little dialog, which made reading slower. It was as if the whole thing was a story the Unnamed Narrator was telling to someone.
• It was similar to Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace – there were interesting things, but it was a slog with too many tangents.
• This book was like a friend getting you up to go swimming everyday – you would not do it without the friend pressuring you (or in this case, book group).

The Twist:

We didn’t see the big twist coming…

• It was like Fight Club with the alter ego.
• The twist was a little hard to buy since it seemed that the Unnamed Narrator and Gonzo were in different places at times.
• There were a lot of discrepancies throughout the book where the revealed “truth” didn’t hold together.
• The secret about FOX was not surprising, “Soylent Green is people!”

Also:

• The only SF aspect was the Gone-Away bomb.
• It felt like we knew what was going on in the building, but not in the world.
• Geographically, where is the setting? England, Middle East, China, India, U.S.?  How did the characters move from the war zone (in the Middle East?) to Cricklewood Cove? How far does the habitable world extend? What happened to the oceans?
• The whole book is absurdist. It felt cinematic and alludes to a LOT of movies – Mad Max, Despicable Me, Deadpool, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Ocean’s Eleven and also swung through Kung Fu, Ninja, romantic comedy, and heist genres.
• It was also similar to The Sixth Sense where it seemed like Bruce Willis was interacting with various people but then it turns out he wasn’t.
• The Jorgund Company was named after a sea serpent in Norse mythology.

Please add any additional thoughts or comments you may have about The Gone-Away World. We gave this title the codes WAR, DOM, MIL, MONS, NRW, and UTP with an average rating of 3.2.