"The Gone-Away World" by Nick Harkaway

This will be short and sweet. I didn't finish this book - got to page 55 and just gave up. It took me two weeks to make it that far, mostly because I kept falling asleep or got confused enough that I had to go back and reread the previous section (although come to think of it, some of that could be from the falling asleep....) Rather than my own review, let me show you what Publisher's Weekly said, then we'll discuss, OK?

"This unclassifiable debut from the son of legendary thriller author John le Carré is simultaneously a cautionary tale about the absurdity of war; a sardonic science fiction romp through Armageddon; a conspiracy-fueled mystery replete with ninjas, mimes and cannibal dogs; and a horrifying glimpse of a Lovecraftian near-future. Go Away bombs have erased entire sections of reality from the face of the Earth. A nameless soldier and his heroic best friend witness firsthand the unimaginable aftermath outside the Livable Zone, finding that the world has unraveled and is home to an assortment of nightmarish mutations. With the fate of humankind in the balance, the pair become involved in an unlikely and potentially catastrophic love triangle. Readers who prefer linear, conventional plotlines may find Harkaway overly verbose and frustratingly tangential, but those intrigued by works that blur genre boundaries will find this wildly original hybrid a challenging and entertaining entry in the post-apocalyptic canon. (Sept.)"

As I said before, the only challenge I found was staying awake and comprehending this book. And can I just tell you how disappointed I am? From the jacket blurb and some of the Amazon reviews, this really sounded like my cup of tea: weird, very out-there, full of just crazy stuff. And yet, I never did warm up to it. I don't know if the author was trying to be too.... hmmm, not really sure what word to use here, so let's just go with "whatever".... or if the editing was bad, or what the problem was. I can't really say it's a bad book since I didn't get very far into it. What I can say is that I knew after struggling with it for said two weeks, I got past the Nancy Pearl-librarian-extraordinnaire rule to read at least 50 pages before you give up - and I gave up. I just was not loving this work, and I have way too many other titles waiting to be read before I give up. LOL!

If anyone out there has read this book or is reading it and enjoying it, I'd like to hear from you!