S. by Abrams and Dorst. Photo by coreanscribe.
S. finally arrived in the mail the other day. It looks great. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a book. Look at this handsome thing. Just look at it!
Elaborate stuff inside the book. Photo by coreanscribe.
S. is described as an elaborate story-within-a-story mystery that’s also full of scribbles, as well as extra photos, maps and notes tucked away in the pages of the book. It was conceived by Hollywood producer and director J.J. Abrams and written by PEN/Hemingway Award-nominated author Doug Dorst. I haven’t read a single word of it yet, but I love its design. It’s been created to look like an old library book.
Scribbles, scribbles, scribbles. Photo by coreanscribe.
The only thing I know about the story is from its trailer and the summary from Amazon. It’s all I want to know. I want to discover the rest on my own. The book has so many loose items in it I couldn’t help but quickly flip through it to get a sense of what I had to look forward to, and it looks dazzling. Not everybody feels the same way, but I love this kind of stuff.
More scribbles. Photo by coreanscribe.
The book reminds me of another one of my favorites, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. This is another elaborate story-within-a-story kind of book that’s really smart and inventive in its narrative structure and construction. S. is so elaborate and detailed, that it looks like there’s a website detailing the works of the fake author — V.M. Straka — which probably works as a kind of companion piece to the book. Who knows how far this whole things goes?
Beautiful book. Photo by coreanscribe.
I can’t wait to start reading this thing. I’m currently finishing up a Nick Hornby novel, which I’m enjoying. He’s one of my favorite contemporary writers. I’m trying to finish it as quickly as possible so I can delve into the pages of S. I just wish some of my friends were also reading it. I know I’m going to want to talk about it, but I won’t be able to. So, please, if you’re reading it, let me know. Let’s discuss how awesome it is.