Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I always research upcoming new releases from Amazon imprints so I had already decided that “Here and There” was the only Kindle First I would be interested in for October. The description was interesting and I expected a sci fi/techno thriller. So I was concerned when I saw this listed as “Experimental” fiction. What the heck was that supposed to mean? I leave the literary reviews to those more qualified, this is just about deciding if it is something you want to try. So… what is experimental about this? Well, first the structure. Many recent books from Andy Weir’s “The Martian” to Jami Attenberg’s “Saint Maizie” tell their story with a combination of everything from journals to interviews, traditional third party/ past tense chapters to omniscient present tense. This is that structure on steroids. The premise is that the novel is really a large briefcase stuffed with materials accompanied by a very long cover letter. The case includes drafts of a psychological study by the mother, Hilary (think profiler, again on steroids), inserted notes and stories by the letter writer (her son Danny, a fine story teller), physics lectures, physics lectures disguised as short stories written by one of the characters, official transcripts of videos, the psychologist’s description of videos, official (redacted) documents and more. And many of these are inserted into others, which meant I was constantly having to go back to remind myself where I was before the interruption In addition, there are interactive footnotes and links. (Frankly, I recommend skipping those until the end or have the footnotes open on a second device. I had a terrible time getting back to the page from the footnotes) ** This is a very dense, challenging read. The psychologist’s draft report, which is supposedly designed to be clear for laymen officials, reads more like a dissertation than a report for officials. It includes long, detailed descriptions and quotes of psychological theories (with extensive footnotes and links) backing up her analysis of characters and their actions- in every …single…. situation. There are also long detailed discussions, stories, explanations of and lectures on quantum theory and mechanics. Other topics include semiotics and cryptography. Many parts of the book read like a text book. So..like I said, challenging read. The story itself is near future sci fi/ techno thriller primarily revolving around a scientist's work in “teleportation”. It also develops into the story of the scientist Reider and his wife Eve and of Danny himself. You are able to detect a whiff of what is really going on fairly early. But really the background story is just that- a framework. It’s as though the author had hundreds of ideas, theories, anecdotes, stories (including a longish sci fi story at the end) and created the basic story around them. So what to say. Hmmm. Parts of this I liked a lot. (Everything above is a positive for me except the excessive academic citations and footnotes issue.) And I’m extremely impressed by the complex work the author created. But on the other hand I don’t really want the author’s effort to be the first thing I think of in a book. And all of that detail and constant side stories became excessive, undermining one thing I want in a book- a connection to the characters. So, I’m going with four stars but with a warning. If you are looking for a kick back, put up your feet afternoon read or thought the science in “The Martian” was too much, this probably isn’t for you. But if you want to commit to a spending a lot of time on complex read, enjoy a broad range of subjects with a lot of detail this can be an enjoyable project. ETA See comments. Amazon Customer advises that she didn't have any problem with the foot notes working. I read most of this on my kindle keyboard which is old. So the issue is probably my device and you may not have the problem. Second edit for clarity