Review: S.

S. by J.J. Abrams

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



An incredibly beautiful presentation, S definitely stands as one of, if not THE most well and intentionally executed books I've read. Everything about it is so carefully planned; the library sticker, the stains on the pages, the notes in the margins... It's a masterpiece of book design, for sure.

The execution of the story and concept are less sterling, I think. Perhaps another reading or delving into the mythology online will give me a greater appreciation of the book, but, honestly, I don't want to have to do that. I like a challenging book and I like the expectation that I'll work for it, but there's too much left out of this for my taste. There are big gaps in the story where J and E write notes about events that haven't happened in-text. Often, it's possible to figure out what happened, but there are times where it's not clear but felt like it should be. If this is how they primarily communicate, why are some things they say so obscured? And what happens to everything?

I have the sneaking suspicion that there are plenty of answers hiding on websites behind clever codes and tricks that unlock messages from J and E, but, ugh. I actually want the plot of the book to resolve within the book. I felt cheated that so many plot points happen off page with little or no explanation.

I'm aware that there are plenty of codes and ciphers to be discovered and parsed out, but that should be extra information, not the meat, I think.

Still a very cool book that will definitely have very strong appeal to the right audience. I can already think of a few people I know who I think would eat this up.



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