From Publishers Weekly
Since a fully occupied London subway car would have 253 seated passengers (including the driver), Ryman's diverting experimental fiction contains 253 character sketches of 253 words each. Taking place on a Bakerloo-line train heading south toward the Elephant and Castle station, this interconnected series of vignettes fills a seven and a half minute journey with amazing richness. Ryman, whose novel Was deconstructed The Wizard of Oz, displays a Chekhovian touch with mundane reality, coincidences both absurd and poignant and life's inexhaustible surprises. Among the cast of Londoners, tourists, exiles, immigrants and other passengers is Margaret Thatcher (not that one); an ice-cream manufacturer self-styled "Bertie Jeeves"; a mass murderer's former co-worker and a near-victim of his; Henri Matisse's heir; somebody named Geoff Ryman on his day off; a band of actor-buskers called "Mind the Gap"; and a pigeon. 253 was originally a hypertext posted on the Web, but it makes the transition to print without losing fascinating structural appeal (readers will have to provide the links between the characters for themselves). In case this scenario seems unsuspenseful, it's only fair to reveal that the driver has fallen asleep at the wheel and that the mysterious last passenger provides a miraculous coda. In this low-tech paper-based format, 253 makes for ideal commuter reading and possibly the best subway ride readers will take. (Sept.) www.ryman-novel.com.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Ryman's print version of a novel originally published in cyberspace
often seems like an adult version of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series. The 252 passengers and the driver of a London subway train are hurtling toward a crash in 7.5 minutes. Ryman (Was, Knopf, 1992) devotes a page of text, exactly 253 words long, to each individual, covering appearance, biography, thoughts, and actions. In the web version, the reader makes hypertext jumps to connect passengers. A husband and wife are both on the train in separate cars. Many persons work at the same firms. As in real life, coincidental relationships abound. On the web, it's possible in three or four jumps to arrive at the crash without reading most of the text. The linear essence of print, however, makes it likely that readers will complete the entire novel. Narrative gimmick aside, Ryman's ability to sketch a whole person instantly and create a community of interrelationships eventually involves the reader in his wild ride. For collections of experimental fiction.?Andrea Caron Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
