After innumerable cups of coffee, three months of
deliberations on whether or not to continue reading the book, and multiple attempts
at donating it to some library, I pushed myself to see ‘The Great and Secret
Show’ through till the end.
Was the book worth it? Umm…
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Notwithstanding my lethargy, the book is brilliantly
conceived. The plot is out of the ordinary, and doesn't conform to standard
horror-norms or patterns.
It starts with an ordinary frustrated-with-my-work kind of man (named Jaff) landing a job of sorting and discarding all the country’s undelivered
mails (spanning a decade) at the post office.
Upon reading the contents of the mails, he gets a whiff of
something abnormal going on in the world. He observes that people are covertly discussing
something about “The Art”- the gateway to ultimate power.
He becomes consumed by his curiosity about The Art, and recklessly
resorts to evil methods to find it.
He then liaises with an evolutionary scientist, Dr.Fletcher
who invents a potion (Nuncio) that can accelerate the evolutionary process of
whatever it comes in contact with.
Both Jaff and Fletcher come in contact with the potion and
turn into advanced beings with their inherent qualities enhanced. So, Jaff becomes
the evil one, and Fletcher, obviously the good one.
What ensues after is what the book is about.
And trust me, you cannot predict what might follow because
the plot isn't clichéd. But what might turn you off is probably the long-drawn
descriptions of every single instance that don’t do much for the story. Unnecessary
monologues and descriptions tend to drain the readers’ attention-batteries.
However, Barker has a way with words. Intricately crafted sentences
that can hit the spot are found everywhere in the book.
I would recommend this book to those serious readers
who don’t need external encouragement to finish reading the books. Otherwise,
you’re likely to abandon it.
