Eric J. Adams

Uh, no. Not for me. The blurb sounds great, and I might have found some interesting parts in the middle if I'd been able to slog through the beginning. I was able to read the press conference despite no interest in any of the characters (whiny self-identified failure, obnoxious blowhard, self-absorbed woman whose looks are _carefully_ described, unlike anyone else - male view). Then it cut away to extremely squicky sex scene with the viewpoint character focusing mostly on how what he's doing is a sin. I skimmed... Back to the press conference where the newsies are doubtful and unconvinced, it ends badly. Back to the sex partners, now discussing hypocrisy (of others). Ghahh! Jumped forward, hoping for some of that happy that's described in the blurb - but at barely halfway through, it's gone and the story is describing how everyone is depressed and going back to being nasty. Jumped again, to the end - I don't know who those people were, nor did the description of their wedding make me want to go read more to find out. Someone might like this, not me. Ugh.… (mehr)

[Disclaimer: I got this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program]
While reading the first part of the book I wondered about what is the author's point. It was obvious that he had something to say, but the text was quite pedantic. The same happened in the second part, where everything seemed to have been changed after the discovery of the Theory of Everything; there was something baffling. Only at the end of the third part, the one starting with the announce that the equation beneath the ToE was wrong and with the subsequent disillusion and crash of the whole world, I understood what the intentions of Adams were. (The last part is just a short afterword; by the way, the "explanation" of the ToE has no scientific foundation whatever, but I can stand it since this is not a technical book but a novel.) Apart for pinpointing the quirks and contradictions of the monotheistic religions, what really happens is that the lives of the main characters, that already crossed themselves during the story, are shown to be thoroughly intertwined; we could say that the Theory of Everything was not just (or only) scientific, but rather humanistic. Those 30 pages enhanced my appraisal of the book, and indeed the third part shows that facts are never polarized and there's always something unexpected; but I keep thinking that the preparation of the climax is too long and boring.… (mehr)