Tales of the Nothing Man: Brothers Dunne. Book Review
After reading the first chapter, I'm gonna say this about it. It starts quietly, through the thoughts of the lady, (No name! That makes me wonder, is she the Nothing Man?) alone with time for thought. It's dark and depressing and she's coming to a point of packing in. 'But I would not yet call myself a survivor, a memory perhaps, or maybe a reminder of the old world, but not a survivor' very powerful words that gave me an image of looking over old photo's of days gone by. It made me consider that, in her mind does she already see herself as dead?
I really liked the use of describing the surroundings to create mood, foreboding and building tension as she ambles along the fence line oblivious to the zombies Click, click clicking... A tense scene masked with a relaxed tone, at one point I shouted out in desperation, "Oh God! put your fn00kin book down Lady"
A brilliant first chapter and thankfully Lady survived. Now I'm gonna be bold and say that I think The Nothing Man(TNM) is her, as in, within her mind. Self preservation kicked in and TNM was imagined. That's why he fumbled at the gates and she felt the heat on her back, cause he wasn't there. Although, he could of fell off! Oh I'm undecided really, I need to read on...
My favourite character so far (because this is subject to change as I progress through the book) is The Nothing Man, and here's why... he's mysterious (cause I'm still conflicted as to who or what he is!) he's a good listener :) (doesn't say a word), has great fashion sense, i.e. snake skin boots (even though it's the end of the world he hasn't let himself go), He's there when you need him (maybe like Nanny McPhee, but not when you want him?) Sleeves rolled up ready for business. He would definitely be on my Z busting Team.
So I carried on reading to Crazy Kettle guy and I had this plan, find a common denominator within the Tales and summarise The Nothing Man, job done. This is how that worked out... So firstly I think this book broke my mind! But I'm ok now :) The main characters in all the tales have no names, and nobody else but them see the nothing man, (apart from dear old Granny). Even though they've never met they all come up with the same name and they all describe him in the same way (this kind of reminded me of the chorus to a song, re-appearing and familiar). So you'd think how are these people connected? The Crow, I'm not 100% but I think it's the nothing man. It's observed them... basically this is where my mind broke, lol because the tales tell me he's not real but the crow just has to be him! And the Crow chapters all finish with 'Not to far as the crow flies.' Leading me to believe that they're all heading to the same location guided by the Crow.
Even though I think Nothing man is connected to the crow, I still don't know what he is, and it's bugging the Hell out of me. I can't decide if he's good, bad or both or non-existent! What is he gonna do for these people or what are they gonna do for him? I can't stop thinking about this...
Although this book is quite dark ,there's some very funny bits of humour: tea and toast challenge and squeaky hinges are very funny when written about in those ways.
The final pages go deeper into the survivors stories, back to the point of their change, that past life to this new life within this apocalyptic world, and a knowledge gained as to what's shaped each individual. Through the plan to catch up to the Nothing Man there is so much going on and all have their own take on the same events as they continuously crack clickers skulls in. As I read these thoughts, it felt like I was going over a problem in my own head; repeating and reviewing over and over until I figured it out,(a bit exhausting :) but excellently drawing me into the story. The Blood on the wall spelt out Nothing, I'm not sure if this represented self harm, self sacrifice? But in the end it seams like it was all for nothing.
The Epilogue, what I got from this was 2 different opinions of a fortune cookie with no future; the innocence V wisdom, I think innocence won and the Nothing Man was created. Also I'm thinking that Tale Six: No Formal Introduction, and Epilogue: A Teaser of What is to Come...or Has Been? are linked? When I first read Tale Six, I thought it was out of place and I couldn't find a connection apart from TNM. After finishing the whole book, I was still thinking this over, how it stood out and didn't quite fit in; Nipote, he has a name of sorts and he isn't saved like The Lady by TNM. The Epilogue ends with the boy looking straight through his father, as if he's not there. He's alone now, like the boy that Nipote's team left to fend for himself. And Nipote recognised himself in this boy as a child... If you're following where I'm going with this, wonderful! I think the boy, lost and left alone in Tale Six is the son in the Epilogue and I think Nipote is the now matured son in the Epilogue. So with this figured out, did Nipote see a shadow of himself from the past? Like a haunting, that only he saw. And this phenomenon effected him to reflect and compelled him to do what he did! Its like a tangent just waiting to split off into it's own mini story...
Bloody awesome, it took me a while to find this connection, a worthy read, this book has been a Uber challenge of discovery. Very different from your regular zombie reads, this book is sure to open your mind to places you might feel uncomfortable with but its worth exploring and delving into yourself or Nothing!
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