Very trippy book. Had to finish it in a single sitting and left me in something of an altered state for a few hours afterwards. Highly recommended ( )

On the back cover of my copy of this, Kazuo Ishiguro states that “The Coma is a bold step towards the creation of a new genre, perhaps even a new art form”, which is ridiculous even for publishers’ blurb. New art form? What this book strongly reminded me of was Philip K Dick’s science-fiction classic, Ubik, published nearly four decades earlier.
   The set-up is this: punched and kicked into unconsciousness one night (by four assailants, while trying to defend a fellow passenger on the Tube) Carl reawakens in a hospital bed. Patched up, he’s allowed to return home. But, almost immediately, a series of puzzling incidents set him wondering whether he’d been more badly injured than he’s realised—whether he has, in fact, even woken up at all. It soon becomes obvious enough: he hasn’t. What’s “happening” now is happening inside his own head, while in reality he’s still lying in that hospital bed sunk in a coma (this isn’t a huge spoiler; he tells us himself fairly early on, and of course there’s the book’s title). So far, so unremarkable. What he also realises, though, is that his goal should be to wake from this coma. But how? If you realise you’re living in a sort of dream-world, how do you find your way back to the real one? And that’s where it does all begin to get interesting.
   If you’re of a mind to (just as with Ubik) you can read Eastern philosophy into all this: our everyday life as the equivalent of a coma, from which we must, somehow, try to wake back to reality. The book’s many completely blank pages, its woodcut illustrations and writing style (very plain, with lots of short simple sentences) are all, I think, intended to enhance this impression. It’s a short read overall too; at no more than seventy or eighty pages of actual text, you can read, mull over, reread…and it was during my second read-through that the penny finally dropped: rereading, perhaps, is itself the key to understanding this book’s odd “ending” in particular. Interesting…
   That’s very much the kind of book The Coma is: ancient ideas, sure, dulled by overfamiliarity maybe, but here expressed in a fresh, and much more modern, way. ( )

Getting into reading Alex Garland's work. After Annihilation came out I became aware that we was / is a novelist. Not sure if he has anything forthcoming but if he does I would love to read it since, for me, The Coma was a great read. Garland takes a disjointed approach to the short novel and the effect is, as intended, dream like, surreal, and thoroughly off-kilter. His written work here is really amazing approach to creating the effect to keep the reader just out of the loop till the end / endish.

The story centers around a man who is the victim of a violent crime on the subway. From there the story goes into and out of scenes and the reader is kept guessing as to what is happening or not happening. There are scenes and sections and short chapters that keep things moving and are filled with imagery and descriptions that are sure to stick with you. The short novel is enhanced by really great woodcuts by Alex Garlands father and they really help to propel the story forward as well. I found myself flipping back and forth between chapters and woodcuts through the entire read.

The Coma is a suberb short read. I will be reading it again - it was so very good. ( )

a weak and underdeveloped novel. ( )

An interesting, and very short, read, but this book isn't going to be one that sticks with me. ( )