Here's what I wrote in 2008 about this read: "Required some online reviews to recall, but . . . A unique set of people descend on a upscale Manilla suburban home one evening. Mixed reviews online." Here's a title explanation from wikipedia (citation needed): "The term 'tesseract' is used for the three-dimensional net of the four-dimensional hypercube rather than the hypercube itself. It is a metaphor for the characters' inability to understand the causes behind the events which shape their lives: they can only visualize the superficial world they inhabit.[" ( )

It was alright. Atmospheric and lots of different lives crashing together at the end - the tesseract of the title. Wow, took me exactly a year to read this, not because it was hard to read or unintersting - just not my cup of tea. ( )

the beginning of this was tough for me, but by the end i was much more interested and invested. i still wouldn't say i liked it by the end, or that it was successful at whatever it was doing, but i might say that it was approaching that, and that some of the fault might be that this reader might not be smart enough for what he'd doing here. still, though, it didn't feel like enough for me, either in general as a book, or in specific, in his purpose. there are some lovely bits, though, that stand out. as it improved and came together better by the end, my rating is higher than it would have been at first.

i do think that he must have been hard pressed to come up with something big or impressive after his first book, and that had to be stressful. this didn't do it for me, but i'd give his next book a try, both on the strength of his first, and the knowledge that getting past that first one can't be easy. ( )

I liked Mr Garlands book, "the Beach" better, but admittedly he did write this one when he was 19 years old.

the title just didn't really make any sense in it's relationship with the storyline. ( )

The setup of this novel seems a bit of a stretch – wavering over onto the side of the improbable. However, the actual rendering takes us on a journey filled with very believable characters caught up in a gritty tale set in the Philippines. Not exactly sure what Garland is trying to say with this one, but it is an exciting thrill ride structured a bit like _Run Lola Run_. ( )