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jaclyncrupi's review against another edition
4.0
Thrilled to read some experimental Australian fiction about life, loneliness and death in the internet age. This book had to contend with some major personal life events and the fact that it held my attention is a testament to how good it is. Elizabeth Tan, we've needed you, so glad you're here.
jess_gately's review against another edition
This review was originally published by Underground Writers at http://underground-writers.org/mays-review-rubik/
I was lucky enough to be introduced to this book at its launch at Beaufort Street Books in Mt Lawley. I joined a throng of other local literature lovers as store reps served wine and nibbles and Tan signed copies of her debut novel for her supporters- an excellent introduction.
The cover is bright and captivating, at odds with the characters that live within its folds, most of whom seem to drift through their own stories, unsure of themselves and the events unfolding around them. Part mystery, part science fiction, Rubik is undeniably a social commentary on the rise of apathy and the corporate overtaking of youth individuality. The Seed corporation that specialises in technology (their products include the Seed.fon, Seed.nb, Seed.foto- marketing at its best with the ‘seed’ logo representing growth, and trendy names that are intentionally misspelt- ‘fon’ instead of ‘phone’) represents a clear investigation of Apple, even as the tech giant appears alongside the fictional company in the Rubik universe.
The book begins with Elena Rubik and her death and each subsequent story is in seven degrees of separation from her. Not every story seems to link at first and it’s not until you meet more characters and link them to one another that the references start to make sense and the reader can begin to piece together their connections. Living in Perth, there is unquestionable truth in this feeling of interconnectedness. I was once in a bar in London and the bartender said he knew a girl from Perth. I bet him a drink that if I looked her up on Facebook I’d have at least one mutual friend. Tan easily captures this web of social interaction and, in case your’re wondering, I won the bet.
It’s impossible to think or write about this book in linear thought. Just as the individual stories jump from place to place and person to person, so too do any thoughts or feelings about it. The seeming disjointedness at the beginning coupled with much of the prose being written in present tense means that this is a book the reader has to commit to. Not until about half way through do stories begin linking together and slipping into place. It would be easy for the unsuspecting reader to pick it up and read the first few stories and, when they can’t see where the story is going, decide it’s not for them.
It is however refreshing to read something set in Perth, although the place isn’t as important as the time in the setting. Perhaps this is the reason for the heightened intrigue surrounding Seed. Even in the world’s most isolated capital city the corporate game still has a tight hold over people.
The by-line of Rubik reads that this is a ‘novel in stories’. It is unconventional in its form and cannot be approached the way one would approach a traditional novel, but neither can it be categorised as a series of separate short stories. The beauty in this book is in the little hints, nods, and lightbulb moments when something that seemed bizarre at first clicks into place like a puzzle piece. It is all at once intriguing, bewildering, reflective, and dispirited, whilst leaving you somewhere between shock and introspection at the end of each story. I couldn’t help but be drawn into the same state as the characters. So if you’re looking for something unusual and insightful then Rubik is for you.
I was lucky enough to be introduced to this book at its launch at Beaufort Street Books in Mt Lawley. I joined a throng of other local literature lovers as store reps served wine and nibbles and Tan signed copies of her debut novel for her supporters- an excellent introduction.
The cover is bright and captivating, at odds with the characters that live within its folds, most of whom seem to drift through their own stories, unsure of themselves and the events unfolding around them. Part mystery, part science fiction, Rubik is undeniably a social commentary on the rise of apathy and the corporate overtaking of youth individuality. The Seed corporation that specialises in technology (their products include the Seed.fon, Seed.nb, Seed.foto- marketing at its best with the ‘seed’ logo representing growth, and trendy names that are intentionally misspelt- ‘fon’ instead of ‘phone’) represents a clear investigation of Apple, even as the tech giant appears alongside the fictional company in the Rubik universe.
The book begins with Elena Rubik and her death and each subsequent story is in seven degrees of separation from her. Not every story seems to link at first and it’s not until you meet more characters and link them to one another that the references start to make sense and the reader can begin to piece together their connections. Living in Perth, there is unquestionable truth in this feeling of interconnectedness. I was once in a bar in London and the bartender said he knew a girl from Perth. I bet him a drink that if I looked her up on Facebook I’d have at least one mutual friend. Tan easily captures this web of social interaction and, in case your’re wondering, I won the bet.
It’s impossible to think or write about this book in linear thought. Just as the individual stories jump from place to place and person to person, so too do any thoughts or feelings about it. The seeming disjointedness at the beginning coupled with much of the prose being written in present tense means that this is a book the reader has to commit to. Not until about half way through do stories begin linking together and slipping into place. It would be easy for the unsuspecting reader to pick it up and read the first few stories and, when they can’t see where the story is going, decide it’s not for them.
It is however refreshing to read something set in Perth, although the place isn’t as important as the time in the setting. Perhaps this is the reason for the heightened intrigue surrounding Seed. Even in the world’s most isolated capital city the corporate game still has a tight hold over people.
The by-line of Rubik reads that this is a ‘novel in stories’. It is unconventional in its form and cannot be approached the way one would approach a traditional novel, but neither can it be categorised as a series of separate short stories. The beauty in this book is in the little hints, nods, and lightbulb moments when something that seemed bizarre at first clicks into place like a puzzle piece. It is all at once intriguing, bewildering, reflective, and dispirited, whilst leaving you somewhere between shock and introspection at the end of each story. I couldn’t help but be drawn into the same state as the characters. So if you’re looking for something unusual and insightful then Rubik is for you.
erikamaij's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
lovelyday2day's review against another edition
I got super into around 100 pages of this, I think would fall in my apparently new category “glad I read this” but high effort to read and follow all of the connections. My favorite story lines were on the piano student and teacher and artist and narrator.
“A smile which lands with a clueless thud, like a book sliding through a library return slot.”
“A story about the inescapability of our bodies, the inextricable relationship between sound and space. Don’t even try to escape. Your body will always find you out.”
“A smile which lands with a clueless thud, like a book sliding through a library return slot.”
“A story about the inescapability of our bodies, the inextricable relationship between sound and space. Don’t even try to escape. Your body will always find you out.”
ambysha's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
deegee431's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
adnaram's review against another edition
My noodle is not absorbing it. Perhaps I’ll retry in the future
alexowens's review against another edition
5.0
Utterly weird, but strangely addictive - the plots make no sense, then they do, then they don't again... some of the coolest experimental contemporary fiction I've read in a while!
lindy_b's review against another edition
5.0
I am told over and over again that the defining marker of our time is the breakdown of context, particularly on the internet, with its memes and ARGs and fanfiction. When there is no context, we force ourselves to string together series of possibly related events.
-- [a:Joan Didion|238|Joan Didion|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335450818p2/238.jpg] "The White Album
Rubik is also a critique of late capitalism, where corporations are people and objects have agency. It functions as a form of magic, I suppose.
-- [a:Philip K. Dick|4764|Philip K. Dick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1264613853p2/4764.jpg] "How to Build a Universe that Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later"
Inception is a terrible movie though, so it annoys me that it's such a point of reference within the text.
Spoiler
We tell ourselves stories in order to live [...] We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We interpret what we see, select the most workable of the multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the 'ideas' with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience [...] I was supposed to have a script, and had mislaid it. I was supposed to hear cues, and no longer did. I was meant to know the plot, but all I knew was what I saw: flash pictures in variable sequence, images with no 'meaning' beyond their temporary arrangement, not a movie but a cutting-room experience.
-- [a:Joan Didion|238|Joan Didion|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335450818p2/238.jpg] "The White Album
Rubik is also a critique of late capitalism, where corporations are people and objects have agency. It functions as a form of magic, I suppose.
Spoiler
But I consider that the matter of defining what is real — that is a serious topic, even a vital topic. And in there somewhere is the other topic, the definition of the authentic human. Because the bombardment of pseudo- realities begins to produce inauthentic humans very quickly, spurious humans — as fake as the data pressing at them from all sides. My two topics are really one topic; they unite at this point. Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into forgeries of themselves. So we wind up with fake humans inventing fake realities and then peddling them to other fake humans. It is just a very large version of Disneyland. You can have the Pirate Ride or the Lincoln Simulacrum or Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride — you can have all of them, but none is true.
-- [a:Philip K. Dick|4764|Philip K. Dick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1264613853p2/4764.jpg] "How to Build a Universe that Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later"
Inception is a terrible movie though, so it annoys me that it's such a point of reference within the text.