253

When I first heard about the premise of this book, I was already pretty intrigued. 253 stories about 253 characters, each containing exactly 253 words. I love stuff like that, just simply because of the ingenuity it forces a writer to utilize. However, this book is a lot more than a clever premise. Each person's tale was a remarkable study. Some of them were so simple and poignant to the point of profundity. Some of them made me laugh outloud. Some of them (the way they interacted) was filled with such clever irony (like the woman whose histrionic pretence that she's being hunted by the IRA actually causes her to be tracked down by a spy). I could pick it up, put it down. Flip through the pages and go "aha!". This book is everything. It's a mystery. It's a novel. It's a poem. It's just just great. Really. I loved reading this book. Buy it, and I hope you love it too.

In this innovative story originally written for the internet (http://www.ryman-novel.com), we follow the lives of the 253 passengers on a London tube train on January 11, 1995. Each passenger has one page of story told in 253 words, informing about secrets, loves, interests, and whatever else makes the passenger unique and ordinary. In this print version of the internet story, readers not only have the many cross-references, but also some extra information not on the internet where the author reworks to make things more clear, due to the different media of printed text. With marvelous wit and insight, Geoff Ryman creates a surprising portrait of humanity in all its intricacies and commonalities that feeds the voyeur in each reader and leaves us with a distinct vision of what it means to be really living.

"253" is an intriguing book: 253 characters are described, each in 253 words. Mr Ryman succeeds in crafting 253 short but complete stories: every character is believable (sort of). Some of the stories are wonderfully intertwined - we are witness to crimes being plotted and thwarted, dramatic decisions being made which affects one (or more) of the other passengers, etcetera. It stays interesting all the way through the book, just because of this intertwining of the character's fates - culminating in the apocalyptic end of the line.

'253' is a fascinating,original and wonderful book. Have you ever found yourself on the bus or train, letting your mind wander and wonder about all the people sitting around you? Well here, Geoff Ryman expertly offers you a glimpse into their lives through exploring 253 people with 253 words. Some people are dull, some strange, but some you'd like to read 253 pages on. The links between all the people gradually enmesh a web leading you to the 'End of the line!', about the only structure that this book has . But the lack of structure is a good thing. I guarantee ' 253 ' will be like anything you have read before, sparkling in its newness. The internet version is also recommended as a compliment to the book.

Geoff Ryman is one of the best writers out there (WAS was a tour de force) and 253 is unquestionably my favourite novel of the last year. Its effect is cumulative. One by one we meet all of the 253 people on a London tube train, all of them -- or some of them -- heading towards their destiny (it's not exactly a surprise -- person # 1, the driver -- falls asleep with his jacket on the dead man's handle on the first page).The way that stories intertwine and reveal and expose is astonishing. It's like reading a short story collection which slowly unfolds itself into a novel about all of us: funny sometimes, tragic sometimes, human always.(I'm not convinced that the self-referential joky material between chapters do the book any favours, mind you. But if Geoff finds someone willing to pay him hundreds of thousands to support his writing habit through the final questionnaire, then I, for one, am not going to grumble.)