BLACKBOX: A Novel in 840 Chapters

Yes, there are a lot of characters (around 15) to keep track of. Yes, the story jumps from here to there (840 times). I sat down for a solid 2 days and finished the book so I wouldn't get confused. If I did get confused, I used the handy character list at the back of the book. I'm a big fan of stories and characters that interweave in a book. Movies which do the same don't grab me, but Blackbox knocked my socks off. The last 40 pages had my heart racing, literally! All characters are great portraits of life and all have humor deeply embedded within themselves, which makes for hilarious reading. I'll never look at a comedian the same way ever again. Lastly, the list of phobias will perk you up. My favorite was "onomatophobia: the fear of a certain word."

Now this is craftsmanship. Nick Walker has written a debut novel that reminds me a bit of the device from which it takes its title. A piece of work primed to slip unnoticed into a plethora of similar machinery yet able to survive in the wake of critical disaster (for which BLACKBOX proves quite an easy target). All Palahniuk comparisons aside (Survivor), BLACKBOX withstands its own endless cliches, thin plotlines, and high concept writing. The result is a welcome vacation from an otherwise monotonous literary year. Despite its faults, Walker's creation proves extremely difficult to put down. Conversely, the reader discovers no deeply profound life lessons or tragic true stories of triumph against all odds inside this book. What one WILL find is 840 chapters, 20 different narrators (none of which can truly be labeled a protagonist), 2 suicides (depending on your perspective), at least 10 instances of public vomiting, and ultimately one of the most darkly hilarious novels in recent memory. At the center of it all lies the story of a doomed long distance love affair and the people caught in-between. Walker has spun a wicked web that catches you from the beginning and doesn't let up until the final word. It is a tale of what could have been but (realistically) never is. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I finished this within 3 or 4 days and I've never read a more gripping book in all my life. The " 840 chapters " ( I rather call them moments or minutes really ) are brilliantly laid out since it leaves you wanting to know more. At times you have to put the book down since you can't help but be in hysterics of laughter especially with the simulated suicide from " Unfunny John." All I can say is that you really have to read this book but only if you like your comedy black.

The fact that this book has been barely reviewed was shocking. Blackbox will take you on a mind journey you have to read to believe. Not only is this book clever, funny, witty, and insightful, but extremely well written and amazingly creative. This is one novel that you'll be thinking about long after you read it.

Wow! I've never written a review before but this quirky, odd, meandering novel just begged me to write about it.Any fan of po-mo fiction (Foster Wallace, DeLillo) will dig this novel.The book really does have 840 chapters (signifying the 840 previous flights leading up to flight SA841). Each chapter is told in a different narrator's voice and each chapter connects and bisects the other chapters....a six degrees of separation of chapters.Nick Walker is a very original writer with a great ear for dialogue. "Blackbox" is a chilling, funny (at times laugh out loud funny) and very disturbing story... a fun read that begs you to ask "is life really just a series of random instances"?