I have just starting reading "The Selected Works of T S Spivet" by Rief Larsen. I first saw this novel in a bookshop and was attracted firstly by the colour and shape of the book and then the illustrations and side notations throughout the story. How interesting I thought, definitely worth further investigation.
So far, about 30 pages in, it is very engaging. T S Spivet, otherwise known as Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, is the narrator and protagonist. He is a 12 year old boy living on a ranch in Montant who is obsessed with cartography. He appears to be a gifted child and his narration is very funny. The only negative so far is that trying to follow the text of the side bar notes and read the numerous charts and drawing requires one to manoeuveur the book to odd angles which is not so easy when you are reading under the covers!
These are my initial thoughts and I will keep you posted on how the journey goes. As you know, if a novel starts to bore me I don't bother finishing it and should this prove to be the case, my next post may be a short one!!
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You will probably love or hate this book but I loved every minute of the cross-country, train-hopping adventure of 12 year old T S Spivet. All this is interwoven with the journals of his mother and her effort to come to grips with the matriarchal line of scientists in the family. Dense notes, many dozens of illustrations and narrative elaborations connected to the main text via dotted lines are on nearly every page. It is a unique style and I think the author is very talented.
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