Our Tragic Universe Audiobook

" I'm not sure what I think. The book has the elements of an ordinary novel or story: a likable woman protagonist; a boyfriend she might breakup with; a best friend who is having an affair; an older man who the protagonist might want to have an affair with; a career she is dissatisfied with; and money problems. Her career is writing, and after an award for a new writer, she is stalled writing anonymous young adult novels and the occasional science fiction novel. When she edits her work on her Serious novel, it keeps getting smaller--currently down to 43 words. She talks about writing, tells jokes to her friends, does not care tat sex with her boyfriend has always been infrequent, and she walks her dog. She has an estranged friend who is said to be developing a theory of the anti-story and this novel seems to be an example of an anti-story, and maybe a bit of a shaggy-dog-story. Events happen, lives change (or maybe they don't), clues are dropped (and then contravened), but they don't add up to a story as I expected it. In being inconclusive the book is like life as we (I) know it, and that may be the point of this novel. I have the urge to reread this book, in part to see how much of the talk about stories is embodies in this novel, and this might result in my upgrading my evaluation. "

" No where near as good as The End of Mr Y. "

" I bought this book for the cover. How could I not? Black, gold, wolf. It's an odd book and I'm not sure how to describe it, nor am I sure what I feel about it. There's not really a story, it just follows a period of time in Meg's life, and we live her life pretty much as she does, detail by detail. So, while it is, I suppose, a nothingy sort of book, it's also compelling, and I was drawn towards Meg in many ways. I found the end rather disappointing but when there's no story as such, the end must be pretty hard to write. I'm glad I read it, and I'm sure it will live with me for some time to come. A thoughtful book. "

" Excellent. Great to read such an excellent novel that is set in current-day England. A big plus for me was that it referenced many subjects I am interested in such as: Metaphysics, Homeopathy, Magic etc. "

" A little too much philosophy for me. I can't even really tell you what the story was about. There were some bits of plot that I enjoyed but overall this was just ok for me. "

" The only reason I am even giving 2 stars is because this book was well written and I enjoyed it to that extent. The story (if you can even call it a 'story', because really it was just a lot of random ideas thrown into nothing) - did nothing for me. "

" Frustrating. Filled with endless amount of name dropping and lacks plot. "

" Very cerebral/philosophical. Maybe a little too much so for me, at least this week. Entertaining all the same, though. "

" A reread, ok but not as good as her other books "

" Thomas has a knack for whipping a little magic into reality without attaining the overused quality that occupies books labelled "magical realism." "

" I might not have liked where she went with it. Enjoyed the first half or so immensely. "

" Not nearly as good as the End of Mr Y ... still good, still Scarlet-style and still enjoyable and hughly-readable. But just not Mr Y. Sorry x "

" rather wanted it to be a bit less of a story, considering, but pleasant none the less "

" Pretty good book. Interesting characters and real emotions. "

" I don't have words of my own to express what I thought, but as Douglas Coupland's blurb on the back cover asserts: "Thomas' prose is so addictive you can't help but fall deeper and deeper under her spell." "

" Very interesting book that pulls together mysticism, science, magic and the supernatural, all grounded in the mundanity of a starving British author trying to make ends meet and decide what to do with her passionless relationship. Doesn't take itself seriously - an enjoyable read. "

" A departure for me, but I mostly really enjoyed this. "

" This book was pleasant in an empty way. It was an easy read and compulsive, but ultimately nothing happened. The plot was wafer thin, held together by long passages of scientific babble that had me glazing over. I found the main character too self-absorbed but I did like her dog, Bess. "

" I found this book much easier to follow than Popco. Perhaps because it was a subject I liked more, or could relate to more. "

" A story-less story about love, multiple universes and the placebo effect. Absolutely loved it. "

" I was really thinking I'd enjoy this book. Intellectualism, nutter theories, literary theory, erudition. But there were a lot of people talking just to sound smart.Plus a little too much of the new age maybe meant to be ironic, but really just annoying. "

" spectacularly uninteresting. i cannot think of a book i enjoyed less in the past year. it had so much promise in the description and reviews but failed to live up to them at all. "

" Scarlet Thomas è sempre una sorpresa in questo libro alcune riflessioni sono più alla portata di tutti. Sto riflettendo rispetto a quanto ha detto sullo scrivere un saggio rispetto allo scrivere un romanzo sullo stesso tema. "