A review by borisignatievich
The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
4.0
Unsurprisingly, given the title, this is about a man who shrinks 1/7th of an inch every day, all the way from 6' something to tiny.
Finished it a few days ago now, but keep forgetting to review it. It was quite similar to I am Legend in that a lot of it read as a study of isolation and what that can do to a man. I think I liked this one a bit more though, simply because more happens. In IAL he just wandered around mostly, in this he goes on long treks and difficult climbs to find food, has near death experiences and all sorts, which makes it a bit more fun to read. I thought a nice balance was struck between focusing on Scott's life when he is very small and showing snippets of how his life changes as he reaches various heights. Matheson does a nice job too of showing how the relationship between him and his wife change throughout.
Having said all that, I'm not a huge fan of Mathesons writing style. I can't pinpoint what I don't like about it, but with both this and IAL I found that while they were reasonably enjoyable to read, I have absolutely no desire to go back to either of them. With IAL I thought this may have simply been because of the bleakness of the plot, but having the same problem here suggests it's his writing style.
7.5/10
edit: Also, I think the book would have been better without the last chapter, which left me very unsatisfied compared with what would have been the ending were it not there
Finished it a few days ago now, but keep forgetting to review it. It was quite similar to I am Legend in that a lot of it read as a study of isolation and what that can do to a man. I think I liked this one a bit more though, simply because more happens. In IAL he just wandered around mostly, in this he goes on long treks and difficult climbs to find food, has near death experiences and all sorts, which makes it a bit more fun to read. I thought a nice balance was struck between focusing on Scott's life when he is very small and showing snippets of how his life changes as he reaches various heights. Matheson does a nice job too of showing how the relationship between him and his wife change throughout.
Having said all that, I'm not a huge fan of Mathesons writing style. I can't pinpoint what I don't like about it, but with both this and IAL I found that while they were reasonably enjoyable to read, I have absolutely no desire to go back to either of them. With IAL I thought this may have simply been because of the bleakness of the plot, but having the same problem here suggests it's his writing style.
7.5/10
edit: Also, I think the book would have been better without the last chapter, which left me very unsatisfied compared with what would have been the ending were it not there