It is unclear if the reader’s uncertainty of the art is part of the beauty of creating such diverse worlds, or if it is a way to mask a lack of depth.Ī great strength of “Gnomon” is also a weakness. It is also hinted that a fifth dimension is necessary to appreciate and understand the work. For example, Harkaway tries to explain works of art that appear over five large canvases that are made to be seen separately and all at once, simultaneously. Particularly, his explanations of art are enough to tickle the fancy but not fleshed out for true understanding. The many settings are diverse, including Ethiopia, Greece, London, and undiscovered planets.Īlthough imaginative and entertaining, the inherent problem is that Harkaway is attempting to explain settings and situations that we have no context for in the real world, so the English language does not do it justice. Art takes a form that transcends our current concepts, technology is advanced enough to extract whole memories from human minds safely, and one mind can be on millions of planets at once. One takes place in a version of London where there is no privacy (not even within one’s own mind), another in a video game in the real world that models Harkaway’s strange London, one in ancient Greece with complex alchemy, and a universe where a single being can inhabit the minds of thousands of bodies. Every narrative is complicated in its own way. Harkaway has the uncanny ability to craft complex universes. What initially makes the book unique quickly becomes tiring. By the end of the novel, the reader will most likely have seen the word “apocatastasis” more times than they ever have or ever will in their entire life. However, the same long, complex words appear time and time again. Early on, “Gnomon” is peppered with words such as “vertiginous” and “apocatastasis” that make the writing sound impressive.
Harkaway comes out of the gate using words that, for most, take a second thought or a quick dictionary search.
After such a long, strenuous read, the finale needs to be worth the work, but this is where “Gnomon” falls short. Unfortunately the ending is wholly unsatisfying, even after a reader must laboriously attempt to understand the story and search for a conclusion. The narrative is fraught with subplots that have little connection to one another besides the word “gnomon” appearing somewhere throughout. Nick Harkaway uses words that put the SAT to shame, further complicating the various worlds and concepts introduced throughout the novel. A behemoth of a book, “Gnomon” is almost seven hundred tightly-packed pages, but its complex content is what makes it a difficult read.
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