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Start giftingOur Tragic Universe
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Learn moreMeg Carpenter is broke. Her novel is years overdue. Her cell phone is out of minutes. And her moody boyfriend's only contribution to the household is his sour attitude. So she jumps at the chance to review a pseudoscientific book that promises life everlasting. Consulting cosmology and physics, tarot cards, koans (and riddles and jokes), new age theories of everything, narrative theory, Nietzsche, Baudrillard, and knitting patterns, Meg wends her way through Our Tragic Universe, asking this and many other questions.
Scarlett Thomas is the author of several books, including The End of Mr. Y and PopCo. She writes for the Independent on Sunday and other magazines and is a recipient of the Elle Style Award. She lives and teaches in Canterbury, England.
Sarah Le Fevre lives in London, where she trained at the Poor School and is a practicing barrister. She divides her working life between these professions, indulges her passions for the Arsenal football club and Bikram yoga, and occasionally escapes for clean air and green fields to the West Country.
Reviews
“A delight, not least for the quality of Scarlett Thomas’ writing, which is full of a very enjoyable life and energy.”
“Touching down on storytelling, magic, coincidence, love, and what it might be like to live forever…Meg’s searching soul is remarkably controlled, making her a protagonist you trust and want to follow.”
“[A] delightfully whimsical novel…[Thomas] dexterously mixes the serious with the humorous and provides a cast of characters who come across as credible owing to their recognizable foibles and fallibility.”
“Few writers can mix science, philosophy, and humor as cleverly as Thomas.”
“For readers who enjoy the ideological push and pull of philosophical fiction, Thomas is definitely worth reading.”
“[A] freewheeling intellectual journey with no destination…For the omnivorous reader who, like Meg, can’t get enough of the insights and passions and theories and inner lives of others, Thomas’s fifth novel should be an addictive delight.”
“Thomas brilliantly reminds us that, despite popular representations, many women are actually staying up half the night talking ideas. One feels alone. And then one reads Our Tragic Universe.”
“Our Tragic Universe surprised me with where it goes, and in such a terrific way. Scarlett Thomas’s prose is so addictive you can’t help but fall deeper and deeper under her spell. How does she do it? She is a genius.”
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