Once upon a time, I was lost in Stanislaus County Library. I was under the impression that interesting books existed in such an institution, but my search seemed to become increasingly futile. After scavenging the shelves for something not related to vampires and other such clichéd plots, an odd little edition caught my eye. Upon reading the title, I knew I had struck gold.
The Way Through Doors by Jesse Ball is so much more than words printed upon paper. Cracking the book open to a random page, I was instantly captivated; this novel read with the beauty and fluidity of poetry. Ball can enchant his readers without the typical craze of vampires, werewolves, or even wizards; it’s a true breath of fresh air. How this novel is told is another curiously unique aspect of its charm. This novel contains a web of numerous dimensions, each dimension weaving in and out of another, creating a dreamlike air around the whole plot. It’s 240 pages of magnificence. Yet, I caution those easily frustrated readers, who not only need the realistic plot but need to understand what is going on. Quite frankly, I don’t believe anyone understands how or why point A in the novel would ever lead to point M, completely neglecting point B and the other first 12 letters should have been hint upon beforehand. Yet the lack of reality makes this novel so attractive.
If the format of the story hasn’t perked your ears yet, the plot surely will. The novel beings with a young pamphleteer who soon is hooked up with a new position in the municipal department of the metropolitan city he lives in. One day, the young man witnesses a young woman be hit by a taxi. He rushes her to the hospital where she then lies in a coma. While posing as the woman’s boyfriend, the doctor inform the young man that she has amnesia and he must keep her mind occupied for at least 18 hours. Hence the dimension weaving begins. As the plot thickens, we run into an array of curious characters such as a guess artist, the luckiest gambler in the world, and even a fiddle-playing dog. The settings of this novel are just as bizarre. Readers are easily thrown from the hills of Asia to the severe winters of Russia to the biggest building in the world (which is really a subterranean building). The madness of this novel and how your imagination interprets each interaction, quest, concept, and character will surely leave a smile upon the reader’s face.
Take the risk. Who doesn’t want a break from the stark, clichéd realistic rules that has governed fiction lately? Almost every turn is fantastically bizarre. Bewilderment is expected with an even larger dose of amusement. Trust Jesse Ball on this adventure; his prose won’t disappoint.