Review Page: 253 by Geoff Ryman
| Title: |
253 |
| Author: |
Geoff Ryman |
| Format: |
Web novel |
| Genre: |
Contemporary |
| Publisher: |
n/a |
| Date of Publication: |
1997 |
| ISBN: |
n/a |
No. of Reviews: 1
Av. Rating: 8/10
Visit the 253 Website.
Buy the print remix of this book from the Amazon website.
09.10.2000 - Benvenuto - 8/10
List of Reviews | Bio
Imagine a typical Bakerloo line train, heading from Embankment to Elephant & Castle. 7 carriages, each with 36 seats, plus the driver. This audacious Web novel is the story of those 253 people. Each has one page of HTML, describing them and providing a snapshot of their story. Where they tie into other people, or to various other concealed pages, they are hyperlinked. You can read the book sequentially, reading your way down the carriages and studying each passenger in turn; or you can read it chronologically, tracing the journey from start to finish; or you can just dive in and browse your way around, following pathways of narrative.
It's impossible to describe just how good an experience this book is. The concept sounds very simple, and indeed it is. The writing style is not ornate, and each page is very short (exactly 253 words, as it turns out). Each passenger by themselves has little to say. Not a great deal happens. It's only by stepping back and seeing the project as a whole, or a connected fragment of it all together, that you get the overall effect of the story - like a mosaic.
Anyway, it's the easiest thing in the world for you to check it out for yourself and see what I'm going on about - just browse on over to http://www.ryman-novel.com and see for yourself. The novel also exists in paperback form, but you should definitely play thoroughly with the Web version first.