@@ultureWhat makes you say that? I admittedly haven't read S, but from what I've heard about it here, it seems pretty ridiculous to call it a pastiche of House of Leaves. Heavily influenced for sure, but not a pastiche
@@JacksonNovem Have you read the book? Because unless you have information I'm not privy to (which is more or less what I was asking for in the first place) your statement is flat out stupid
I think S is much better than House of Leaves - it's much more readable and so much more enjoyable. Also, going through all the extra notes and clues is so fun. 😁
I stinkin' love books like this that blend fiction and reality, I would have never found out books like this exist without you. Thank you, Austin, you rock!
Time to dedicate your life to learning how to study it, accidentally leave it in a library one time and meet someone else through notes in the margins...oh wait....
Or you could just read 'The Waves' by Virginia Wolf, or 'Pale Fire' by Vladimir Nabokov, or 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewsky, 'Zettel's Traum' by Arno Schmidt, '1982, Janine' by Alasdair Grey...
this book *just* came up on my social media timeline yesterday and i put a hold on it at my library immediately. what great timing! thank u so much for the tips, would’ve gotten really frustrated otherwise
Very fascinating video. I appreciate this new “out-of-the-box books” series, especially since I haven’t read any books in the past few years and had no clue that books like these even existed. This one sounds right up my alley. Thanks!
I hope you keep coming to us with these type of books as this one or Cathy's book, really enjoying these books that have a history of people owning it, writing in it, reading it a spart of the experience. loving these videos.
One of my favorite books presentations despite not getting... probably most of it. Also led me to discover another book you'd covered, House of Leaves. Both very unique, for very different reasons. Folks should definitely give it a read! Thanks for sharing Austin! As always, great overview.
It’s interesting learning about these odd books. I don’t think I could get through it, but I’m glad they exist. Reading unfinished Tolkien stories with footnotes is the closest I’ll get.
I’ve seen this book on the shelf at my local library so many times (mainly because it’s early in the alphabetical-by-author shelf & interesting), but never checked it out. Maybe now will be the day :)
I JUST finished reading S. ! What a coincidence. It was really good, but I checked it out of my local library which comes with some downsides. All the maps and such were crammed in the front, and I couldn't take my time because I only had three weeks with it. I read the Ship of Theseus story with FXC's notes first, one chapter per day, then went through all the Jen/Eric notes from month one and two, one chapter per day. I actually enjoyed reading the month one and two notes together because the beginning of the Jen/Eric story is fairly slow. Then I read all the final notes on the last day.
There must be others in my area who watch your videos, because 2 of the 3 bookstores in my area were sold out or had their only copy on hold. Luckily I managed to snag one! The concept is just so unique and cool! Excited to work my way through it.
I remember the first time I saw this book: I used to shelve books at my local library, and one day found this book on the shelf. I at first couldn't make sense of how this book was in the A's when the "author's name was Straka, nor did I understand why someone would've penciled in that the book's true author was J.J. Abrams, when, again, the author's name was clearly on the front cover. Also I think it was missing its dust jacket. I kept thinking I was shelving it wrong to place it where I had found it (in the As), and it took me a bit staring at the inside before I noticed that what I originally took for writing in a library book was in fact printed and therefore on purpose, so it was a "fake" book. I finally asked a fellow librarian and got it explained. Pretty clever, but also totally frustrating 🙄😛
SPOILERS. The main question of who is VM Straka is never really solved. There are some interesting threads that also never get followed up on. Jen and Eric’s story is compelling though. I wish there was a sequel tbh to answer all of the lingering questions.
I was just thinking about this book the other day! My roommate read it and told me about it in college. I’ve soured on JJ Abrams since then, but maybe this is my sign to finally pick this one up!
Seeing you like the Experimental format like S., the TV series Mr. Robot did something similar with a tie-in novel called Red Wheelbarrow, which is a recreation of Elliot’s journal seen at the start of Season 2 of the show, which also included the main text by Elliot, margin notes by the pyro girl who is seen burning books near the basketball court and inserts including a newspaper clipping and additional notes and clippings. Might want to check that out.
This isn't really my kinda thing. But, it does remind me of Watchmen wherein which I read a comic book, a memoir, and an article written by characters in the the universe. Not quite as convoluted as this but in the graphic novel format it was quite immersive.
I had to stop listening before the four-minute mark for fear of spoilers, but I thank you for drawing attention to the book. I'd never heard of it before, but am now looking forward to getting into it.
You need to check out the book "Cain's Jawbone". It is a murder mystery/ puzzle book where All the pages were printed out of order. Supposedly there is a prize that has never been claimed if you arrange the pages correctly.
After the really poor reception to The Rise of Skywalker, it's probably going to be a while before we see any of them. The faults in his writing style were laid bare for the world to see (exacerbated by BATMAN V SUPERMAN's writer proving to also be terrible), so I'd wager his reputation took a massive hit.
@@KetsubanSoloI don’t know how anyone who has done even a modicum of reading into the making of that movie can blame JJ for the outcome. His strength has never been as a writer. He still directs the hell out of that movie and has some great set pieces and moments throughout. The studio needed either a clear plan for the trilogy, or a looser release schedule (ie the movie gets made and released when it’s ready). Ideally both. Creating a fixed “every two years” schedule when you don’t even know what the story is going to be is madness.
I love the concept of this book! Not sure how I'd access the content (visually impaired), but might just check out the audio of Ship of Theseus. Reminds me of Possession by A.S. Byatt, which is similarly about scholarship and the instability of texts.
So glad you brought this book to my attention! This concept of having supplementary materials for a normal novel absolutely fascinates me. I always learn something new from your content, which is a breath of fresh air from how much content is recycled nowadays.
I remember being super hyped for the book, I found it just after Christmas and it was deeply discounted. I read the first chapter, developed a Roaring migraine, then shelved the book where it remains to this day.
If you’re fond of experimental fiction, have you heard of Cain’s Jawbone? It’s a swift read, but a near-lifelong fascination, considering each of the 100 pages is presented out of order! I recommend if you want to lose your mind!
S. is amazing. I read it over Winter Break, and have spent so much time just vibing with it. I especially love all of the other books that Straka wrote, and the supplementary material online is amazing to dive into. So glad I got to see this video! Also recognized the book just from the cover background lol
It’s like if House of Leaves was a library book haha, I wonder if JJ read it and thought to himself, “I can do this and I can make it even more immersive!”
I watched this video back when it came out and finally got around to reading it like a month ago. I haven't finished quite yet, but I'm nearly there. I ended up reading all the layers at the same time and honestly it's been a blast. I know I'd never be able to resist not reading the margin notes and it's been really fun trying to piece together essentially like five stories at once. (When I'm done I do intend to go back through the margin notes in order to make sure I understand as much as possible.) If you're like me, I would still recommend reading the base story by itself until you find a good place to pause and go back for the notes: otherwise you'll be stopping every other sentence and have no clue what's going on in the story (I know from experience lol)
I love books that put me right in the story and this seems like it’s right up my alley! I’ll have to check it out, definitely feeling the vibes of this book. Thanks Austin for the video, I’m discovering there’s things I never knew I’d enjoy until watching your videos.
Excellent review/summary. I had a little trouble at first with this book, but by the time I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed the experience. As other commenters noted, this reminded me of House of Leaves (though S. didn't get into my head and unnerve me the way HoL did). Books like this can be a bit gimmicky, but I admired and enjoyed the bold attempt at remixing and challenging the conventions of the format/genre.
Okay, so I had to close this vid and add this to my To Read list. I'm planning a small book-and-graphic novels binge and now it's going to include this one.
@@greggoat6570 I'm basing it off of everything I've seen of Abrams' work. He relies on the Mystery Box premise _a lot,_ and his stories seldom reaches a satisfying conclusion because of it. If you disagree, make a case for a specific story that you think pays off. Otherwise, you're just one of those "people online who say shit haha."
Lol, had to look that up, because at first I thought you meant Ivan Goncharov, author of Oblomov. Failed to see the connection. And now you sent me down another Internet rabbit hole. 😁
It doesn't get commented on much, but the other casualty of the Star Wars sequel trilogy (that isn't Star Wars itself, to be clear) seems to be Abrams' reputation and career. He was always a contentious figure - there was no shortage of online commenters, myself included, willing to savage his work - but he had his fans who would stand up for his work and anticipate whatever project he was working on. He drove news cycles. That's all gone now. I don't see people stepping up to argue with detractors any more, and I can't remember the last time I saw a headline hyping something he's attached to. I'm biased since I never liked his work, but I believe that The Rise of Skywalker exposed him for the flim-flam man he always was.
Great video as always Austin. In the vein of "experimental fiction", Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu is a pretty cool recent example that's (writers strike permitting) being adapted into a Hulu series.
I enjoyed Interior Chinatown, but totally regret doing the audiobook version. I feel like print version would have been a more immersive reading experience.
Ah, yeah I think print is probably ideal. I'd imagine an audiobook could play a bit more with aural "scenery" and things that print just can't, but seeing the lines blur between literary formats, genres, narrative voice, etc as you're reading is a unique experience, if less labor-intensive than a project like "S". I think we're in a really cool time for transmedia storytelling and it's been cool getting to watch you curate some of the highlights!
I just bought this book a few days ago! I still haven’t broken the seal on it so I haven’t read it, I’m trying to figure out a way to get it out without breaking the seal lol
I bought this book immediately after I learned about it when it first came out. It's incredible, overwhelming, and I need to read it again because I almost assuredly missed many things
This book really made me think, as if you just read through the “Ship of Theseus” story at face value, you won’t get much. It’s when you analyze what you read, and truly understand the conflicts in the novel.
The ergodic literature downward spiral continues. I guess the next video will be about Illuminae or Bats of the Republic if we're going down the list of the best known novels in the genre.
I read through this book and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I still can't help but feel like it's missing a concrete "ending" page for those who get really into it. I will admit that I didn't 100% solve all the puzzles, but I found most of the important in and out of book bits and through researching it online could not find any mention of any form of "climactic secret end page" for completionists who want to see a little more of the story unfolded. I could entirely be wrong because, again, I sort of did things in a strange order and had to do some looking up of answers, but it still just sort of left me with a bit of an empty feeling rather than one that was entirely concise. EDIT: To elaborate, I'm not asking for all the answers to be revealed. I'm a huge fan of stories with open endings for interpretations. But at the same time, it's possible to have stories that are open but also very clear about having a concrete end, especially in the sort of context that the book is presenting itself with. I am a pretty huge gamer: I study games for my college major and made an entire ARG with the campus population as the players. It just reads as strange for a piece of media to present itself in a game-esque way but then not having a major point of satisfaction for those who are willing to player the game and "master" its "mechanics". Maybe this is part of the point; if there was a concrete ending people wouldn't still be talking about it, but I also think it's a little silly to have people talk for years about trying to find a "final page" but then not actually have one out there to find, since at that point you're just leading people on about what the story could be rather than letting them make sense of what the final presented story is.
This whole time I kept thinking "wow, this sounds confusing and terrible" and then I remembered it was written by JJ Abrams, so of course it's confusing and terrible
"S?" I wonder if the idea was influenced based off the origins, or lackthere of if i remember correctly, of the infamous stylized "S" every middle schooler used to draw in thier text and note books
Would you recommend a similar approach to reading the Layers when trying to get through House of Leaves? I remember I spent like three hours trying to parse a footnote within a footnote within a footnote in that bad boy and completely forgot what part of the story I was trying to understand.
I was just wondering how I was going to top my overly literal dad’s gift of Alan Moore’s Jerusalem. Thank you 🙏 you kindly Brain Boy! I can’t wait for you’re comic omnibus!
There was a book about the video game The Division that has many of the same overlapping elements. The base book was a survival guide. It was pretty amazing.
So just like almost all other J.J. Abrams productions it's overly complex for no real purpose, mistakes style for substance, and meanders to a non-conclusion that leaves the reader/viewer confused and/or disappointed, yet still manages to have a lot of fanboys.
I appreciate that JJ skipped all the formalities in this instance and just made the entire product the Mystery Box
*slaps cover* This bad boy can fit so many mysteries inside.
Well, he can’t have a disappointing and underwhelming ending if his mystery box doesn’t even have a beginning
@@harrylane4if you can’t open the box, you won’t know if it’s bad! That’s what we call fnaf storytelling, fellas.
Except he just ripped off the house of leaves which is the superior version of that story.
@@Plxlinixy house of leaves is insane
I thought this was going to be a disappointing “it was only a book!” trailer, but this book is actually really cool.
“S.” was so unique, it’s kind of daunting considering there’s three different stories going on in one novel.
it's a pastiche of House of Leaves
there are 4 stories
@@ultureWhat makes you say that? I admittedly haven't read S, but from what I've heard about it here, it seems pretty ridiculous to call it a pastiche of House of Leaves. Heavily influenced for sure, but not a pastiche
@@mechalukeheavily influenced to the point this is a tacky and lame recreation from a professional fanboy
@@JacksonNovem Have you read the book? Because unless you have information I'm not privy to (which is more or less what I was asking for in the first place) your statement is flat out stupid
This sounds like some House Of Leaves-esque deep rabbit hole kinda book. Gonna check it out! I had no idea this existed
House of Leaves-esque, for sure! But also...not, I suppose. I came across House of Leaves after reading S and was not disappointed.
I think S is much better than House of Leaves - it's much more readable and so much more enjoyable. Also, going through all the extra notes and clues is so fun. 😁
Absolutely what I was thinking! Seems cool
I stinkin' love books like this that blend fiction and reality, I would have never found out books like this exist without you. Thank you, Austin, you rock!
This looks like an ARG
I loved this book and it took me basically all of highschool finish and I’m still not sure if I’m finished or not
Time to dedicate your life to learning how to study it, accidentally leave it in a library one time and meet someone else through notes in the margins...oh wait....
Or you could just read 'The Waves' by Virginia Wolf, or 'Pale Fire' by Vladimir Nabokov, or 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewsky, 'Zettel's Traum' by Arno Schmidt, '1982, Janine' by Alasdair Grey...
@@eth3792 That would genuinely be a super exciting project, to turn the fictional story into a real version of it.
That's a majestic mustache
I lost my mustache:/
Hmm... That was an adequate alliteration. 😄
this book *just* came up on my social media timeline yesterday and i put a hold on it at my library immediately. what great timing! thank u so much for the tips, would’ve gotten really frustrated otherwise
Very fascinating video. I appreciate this new “out-of-the-box books” series, especially since I haven’t read any books in the past few years and had no clue that books like these even existed. This one sounds right up my alley. Thanks!
I hope you keep coming to us with these type of books as this one or Cathy's book, really enjoying these books that have a history of people owning it, writing in it, reading it a spart of the experience. loving these videos.
One of my favorite books presentations despite not getting... probably most of it. Also led me to discover another book you'd covered, House of Leaves. Both very unique, for very different reasons. Folks should definitely give it a read! Thanks for sharing Austin! As always, great overview.
This video is only 7 seconds old, yet your comment is 21hrs old.
How?
@@quokka_ytmagic
@@quokka_yt
Time travel is the only logical answer.
@quokka_yt Early access Patreon perk, probably
@@abigailchiesa1337 Makes sense, early access.
But is he really the only patron who commented?
It’s interesting learning about these odd books.
I don’t think I could get through it, but I’m glad they exist.
Reading unfinished Tolkien stories with footnotes is the closest I’ll get.
I’ve seen this book on the shelf at my local library so many times (mainly because it’s early in the alphabetical-by-author shelf & interesting), but never checked it out.
Maybe now will be the day :)
I JUST finished reading S. ! What a coincidence. It was really good, but I checked it out of my local library which comes with some downsides. All the maps and such were crammed in the front, and I couldn't take my time because I only had three weeks with it. I read the Ship of Theseus story with FXC's notes first, one chapter per day, then went through all the Jen/Eric notes from month one and two, one chapter per day. I actually enjoyed reading the month one and two notes together because the beginning of the Jen/Eric story is fairly slow. Then I read all the final notes on the last day.
Sounds like the perfect Abrams project. Layers upon layers of useless mysteries all without the pretext of actually coming up with a plausible ending.
There must be others in my area who watch your videos, because 2 of the 3 bookstores in my area were sold out or had their only copy on hold. Luckily I managed to snag one! The concept is just so unique and cool! Excited to work my way through it.
I remember the first time I saw this book: I used to shelve books at my local library, and one day found this book on the shelf. I at first couldn't make sense of how this book was in the A's when the "author's name was Straka, nor did I understand why someone would've penciled in that the book's true author was J.J. Abrams, when, again, the author's name was clearly on the front cover. Also I think it was missing its dust jacket. I kept thinking I was shelving it wrong to place it where I had found it (in the As), and it took me a bit staring at the inside before I noticed that what I originally took for writing in a library book was in fact printed and therefore on purpose, so it was a "fake" book. I finally asked a fellow librarian and got it explained. Pretty clever, but also totally frustrating 🙄😛
This book almost gives off House of Leaves vibes. I might get this book.
They’re both ergodic literature!
Does it pay off? I'm always skeptical with JJ. Is it a mystery for mystery's sake or does it contain something meaningful to discover?
My question is the same. Once everything is read, all layers from start to finish, is it worth the effort? Is it satisfying?
SPOILERS. The main question of who is VM Straka is never really solved. There are some interesting threads that also never get followed up on. Jen and Eric’s story is compelling though. I wish there was a sequel tbh to answer all of the lingering questions.
My wife bought me this for my birthday. I’m going to dive into it this weekend
In my comment on the last video I mentioned "House of Leaves" and "S", so seeing this video now is really funny for me 😁
YESSSSS im so glad austin is doing more vids on these kindsa books!
I was just thinking about this book the other day! My roommate read it and told me about it in college. I’ve soured on JJ Abrams since then, but maybe this is my sign to finally pick this one up!
Seeing you like the Experimental format like S., the TV series Mr. Robot did something similar with a tie-in novel called Red Wheelbarrow, which is a recreation of Elliot’s journal seen at the start of Season 2 of the show, which also included the main text by Elliot, margin notes by the pyro girl who is seen burning books near the basketball court and inserts including a newspaper clipping and additional notes and clippings. Might want to check that out.
This isn't really my kinda thing. But, it does remind me of Watchmen wherein which I read a comic book, a memoir, and an article written by characters in the the universe. Not quite as convoluted as this but in the graphic novel format it was quite immersive.
I had to stop listening before the four-minute mark for fear of spoilers, but I thank you for drawing attention to the book. I'd never heard of it before, but am now looking forward to getting into it.
You need to check out the book "Cain's Jawbone".
It is a murder mystery/ puzzle book where All the pages were printed out of order. Supposedly there is a prize that has never been claimed if you arrange the pages correctly.
There are a handful of people (maybe 5?) who have solved "Cain's Jawbone", including writer John Finnemore, who did so during 2020's lockdown.
I remember a kid in my class being obsessed with this back in the day. It honestly sounds like a work of genius
oh my god thank you for talking about this! ive never heard of it, but it sounds incredible! I definitely need to check this out when i have the cash
To be fair, a ton of projects that Abrams has been attached to since The Force Awakens haven't come out. So those are the REAL fake movies.
lol. Fair... :)
After the really poor reception to The Rise of Skywalker, it's probably going to be a while before we see any of them. The faults in his writing style were laid bare for the world to see (exacerbated by BATMAN V SUPERMAN's writer proving to also be terrible), so I'd wager his reputation took a massive hit.
@@KetsubanSoloI don’t know how anyone who has done even a modicum of reading into the making of that movie can blame JJ for the outcome. His strength has never been as a writer. He still directs the hell out of that movie and has some great set pieces and moments throughout. The studio needed either a clear plan for the trilogy, or a looser release schedule (ie the movie gets made and released when it’s ready). Ideally both. Creating a fixed “every two years” schedule when you don’t even know what the story is going to be is madness.
I am not going to lie, the last 5 or so videos from Austin have been bangers. Amazing. Thank you Austin
I love the concept of this book! Not sure how I'd access the content (visually impaired), but might just check out the audio of Ship of Theseus. Reminds me of Possession by A.S. Byatt, which is similarly about scholarship and the instability of texts.
I love the layers to this, it seems like a lot to read at once, but once you get into the swing of it, the experience can be a lot of fun
So glad you brought this book to my attention! This concept of having supplementary materials for a normal novel absolutely fascinates me. I always learn something new from your content, which is a breath of fresh air from how much content is recycled nowadays.
This sounds like the coolest book ever. Thank you so much for making this video. Can't wait to take it slow and enjoy the book over the next year.
I read house of leaves a couple years ago on your recommendation and fell in love with it excited to give this a read
J.J. "A Ton of Ambiguity" Abrams
I remember being super hyped for the book, I found it just after Christmas and it was deeply discounted. I read the first chapter, developed a Roaring migraine, then shelved the book where it remains to this day.
This is definitely not my kind of book but it is still a really cool concept.
If you’re fond of experimental fiction, have you heard of Cain’s Jawbone? It’s a swift read, but a near-lifelong fascination, considering each of the 100 pages is presented out of order! I recommend if you want to lose your mind!
S. is amazing. I read it over Winter Break, and have spent so much time just vibing with it. I especially love all of the other books that Straka wrote, and the supplementary material online is amazing to dive into. So glad I got to see this video!
Also recognized the book just from the cover background lol
A book called "Pale Fire" by Vladimir Nabokov was my first foray into this kind of book.
I'm surprised Austin didn't mention House of Leaves in this video. It seems like such an obvious connection
It’s like if House of Leaves was a library book haha, I wonder if JJ read it and thought to himself, “I can do this and I can make it even more immersive!”
You were so good with telling this story that I bought the book even before seeing the whole video lmao
If after reading this you want some other unique books
"Scorched Atlas" and "house of leaves" are plenty of trippy fun
This is a amazing concept
I watched this video back when it came out and finally got around to reading it like a month ago. I haven't finished quite yet, but I'm nearly there. I ended up reading all the layers at the same time and honestly it's been a blast. I know I'd never be able to resist not reading the margin notes and it's been really fun trying to piece together essentially like five stories at once. (When I'm done I do intend to go back through the margin notes in order to make sure I understand as much as possible.)
If you're like me, I would still recommend reading the base story by itself until you find a good place to pause and go back for the notes: otherwise you'll be stopping every other sentence and have no clue what's going on in the story (I know from experience lol)
I love books that put me right in the story and this seems like it’s right up my alley! I’ll have to check it out, definitely feeling the vibes of this book. Thanks Austin for the video, I’m discovering there’s things I never knew I’d enjoy until watching your videos.
I totally forgot about this book! I never finished it, though I still have it sitting on my shelf. Maybe I should pick it up again
These are very easily my favorites versions of your videos! Thanks for the recommendation, I look forward to reading this very soon. :D
Absolutely incredible intro to this!
This reminds me of House of Leaves, with the different layers of story and narrators. Thanks for the recommendation!
Excellent review/summary. I had a little trouble at first with this book, but by the time I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed the experience. As other commenters noted, this reminded me of House of Leaves (though S. didn't get into my head and unnerve me the way HoL did). Books like this can be a bit gimmicky, but I admired and enjoyed the bold attempt at remixing and challenging the conventions of the format/genre.
You should read Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. It is, by a considerable margin, the best example of this kind of book.
Okay, so I had to close this vid and add this to my To Read list. I'm planning a small book-and-graphic novels binge and now it's going to include this one.
The ad for this video was for House of Leaves… the most appropriate ad of all time
lol
Abrams made a Mystery Box Book, and like all his mystery box stories, it lacks an ending and never pays off.
9:56 As Austin even talks about right here too, this being done through the medium of a book honestly seems cooler though
“Lacks an ending and never pays off” I swear people online just say shit haha. You are basing that off memes and nothing else.
@@greggoat6570 I'm basing it off of everything I've seen of Abrams' work. He relies on the Mystery Box premise _a lot,_ and his stories seldom reaches a satisfying conclusion because of it. If you disagree, make a case for a specific story that you think pays off. Otherwise, you're just one of those "people online who say shit haha."
Ok, i’m curious enough based on this video to get a copy of it off of eBay! I’m excited to dive into it!
Not sure what it says about me that I recognized the cover of the book in the thumbnail before I recognized Abrams. 🙈
thought this was gonna be like goncharov when i saw the title lol
Lol, had to look that up, because at first I thought you meant Ivan Goncharov, author of Oblomov. Failed to see the connection.
And now you sent me down another Internet rabbit hole. 😁
Reading House of Leaves and thinking “I can do it better” is the most JJ Abrams thing I can think of
I lost all respect for JJ Abrams a long time ago but the book was actually neat. These mystery gimmick books are always a delight to go through.
It doesn't get commented on much, but the other casualty of the Star Wars sequel trilogy (that isn't Star Wars itself, to be clear) seems to be Abrams' reputation and career. He was always a contentious figure - there was no shortage of online commenters, myself included, willing to savage his work - but he had his fans who would stand up for his work and anticipate whatever project he was working on. He drove news cycles. That's all gone now. I don't see people stepping up to argue with detractors any more, and I can't remember the last time I saw a headline hyping something he's attached to. I'm biased since I never liked his work, but I believe that The Rise of Skywalker exposed him for the flim-flam man he always was.
Great video as always Austin. In the vein of "experimental fiction", Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu is a pretty cool recent example that's (writers strike permitting) being adapted into a Hulu series.
I enjoyed Interior Chinatown, but totally regret doing the audiobook version. I feel like print version would have been a more immersive reading experience.
Ah, yeah I think print is probably ideal. I'd imagine an audiobook could play a bit more with aural "scenery" and things that print just can't, but seeing the lines blur between literary formats, genres, narrative voice, etc as you're reading is a unique experience, if less labor-intensive than a project like "S".
I think we're in a really cool time for transmedia storytelling and it's been cool getting to watch you curate some of the highlights!
There is a lot of mixed feelings I have toward Abrams, however this is some truly phenomenal
This is a super cool idea, ill have to pick it up, thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Reading this book sounds like what it's like being a Swiftie. Sometimes it takes years for the extra meaning of lyrics to make sense.
Well now my default "I dont know what to get them for Christmas" gift is sold out... Thanks Austin. :P
This is brilliant. I meed to read this. I absolutely love ARGs and this type of layered, transmedia, genre bending stuff!
Man, this book would probably be a bit much for me, but the fact that it exists is SO COOL.
I can tell you’re really getting into these meta novels, Austin 😊
¨S¨ is awesome. I need to read it again! :)
That was a horrifying trailer but S is a phenomenal book.
I just bought this book a few days ago! I still haven’t broken the seal on it so I haven’t read it, I’m trying to figure out a way to get it out without breaking the seal lol
didn't actually know about this, thanks for telling us about this, austin!
It is kinda crazy you are talking about S now because I read it a while ago but the way I got to it was through you talking about house of leaves.
I bought this book immediately after I learned about it when it first came out. It's incredible, overwhelming, and I need to read it again because I almost assuredly missed many things
This book really made me think, as if you just read through the “Ship of Theseus” story at face value, you won’t get much. It’s when you analyze what you read, and truly understand the conflicts in the novel.
The ergodic literature downward spiral continues. I guess the next video will be about Illuminae or Bats of the Republic if we're going down the list of the best known novels in the genre.
This book sounds appealingly unhinged-- thanks for the introduction and advice, Austin!
This sounds amazing! And I've heard of it before, which is strange in itself. Thanks for the video.
When will this man finally talk about Goncharov?
Thanks for the vid Austen! Really great stuff.
Well, first time I hear of this. Must've missed that completely back in the day.
i missed these kinds of videos from you about weird oand obscure little things.
One of my favorite modern authors. I would love if some more accomplished authors tried something this inventive.
I have two copies. One for reading, and one for keeping. It's just that good.
I read through this book and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I still can't help but feel like it's missing a concrete "ending" page for those who get really into it. I will admit that I didn't 100% solve all the puzzles, but I found most of the important in and out of book bits and through researching it online could not find any mention of any form of "climactic secret end page" for completionists who want to see a little more of the story unfolded. I could entirely be wrong because, again, I sort of did things in a strange order and had to do some looking up of answers, but it still just sort of left me with a bit of an empty feeling rather than one that was entirely concise.
EDIT: To elaborate, I'm not asking for all the answers to be revealed. I'm a huge fan of stories with open endings for interpretations. But at the same time, it's possible to have stories that are open but also very clear about having a concrete end, especially in the sort of context that the book is presenting itself with. I am a pretty huge gamer: I study games for my college major and made an entire ARG with the campus population as the players. It just reads as strange for a piece of media to present itself in a game-esque way but then not having a major point of satisfaction for those who are willing to player the game and "master" its "mechanics". Maybe this is part of the point; if there was a concrete ending people wouldn't still be talking about it, but I also think it's a little silly to have people talk for years about trying to find a "final page" but then not actually have one out there to find, since at that point you're just leading people on about what the story could be rather than letting them make sense of what the final presented story is.
Nice video as always Austin.
This whole time I kept thinking "wow, this sounds confusing and terrible" and then I remembered it was written by JJ Abrams, so of course it's confusing and terrible
This is the coolest thing I never knew existed.
The book looks great and I wish I had one to read.
"S?" I wonder if the idea was influenced based off the origins, or lackthere of if i remember correctly, of the infamous stylized "S" every middle schooler used to draw in thier text and note books
That sounds exhausting lol
Would you recommend a similar approach to reading the Layers when trying to get through House of Leaves? I remember I spent like three hours trying to parse a footnote within a footnote within a footnote in that bad boy and completely forgot what part of the story I was trying to understand.
I was just wondering how I was going to top my overly literal dad’s gift of Alan Moore’s Jerusalem. Thank you 🙏 you kindly Brain Boy! I can’t wait for you’re comic omnibus!
I tried reading this in college but got frustrated 😅 but now I wanna find another copy and give it another try!
There was a book about the video game The Division that has many of the same overlapping elements. The base book was a survival guide. It was pretty amazing.
I have seen TV ads for books in the eighties, Romance novels and Stephen King's It for example, however nothing recent.
So just like almost all other J.J. Abrams productions it's overly complex for no real purpose, mistakes style for substance, and meanders to a non-conclusion that leaves the reader/viewer confused and/or disappointed, yet still manages to have a lot of fanboys.