Review of 'The Hollow Man'
The Hollow Man by Dan Simmons
Jeremy Bremen has just lost his wife. He was unusually close to his wife in that they shared the same incredible talent – The ability to read minds. This talent comes with a curse in that they are continually bombarded with the thoughts of everyone around them so they develop methods for dealing with that. The loss of his wife has driven Bremen over the edge and due to an unfortunate circumstance he flees west across the US and into various situations. Bremen is also a university professor who is researching his talent and the relationship to the universe as a whole. A young man, deaf, blind and dumb is dying. It is all of these things that come together to shatter Bremen's world, and, possibly ours.
Interesting novel from the author of the famous Hyperion novels as Simmons takes us into the realm of the mind. As is his want, the novel often digresses into disturbing violence as Bremen journeys across the country. I am not entirely satisfied I understand where the book was going and, I have to admit, a lot of the mathematical discussion that occurs throughout the book lost me completely (and I did not really care enough to even try to understand, it must be said, due to the sheer volume and complexity of it – though, admitedly, the author does try to make it understandable). I suppose the problem is that I am not sure how entirely relevant the deep mathematics were to the plot…
Certainly an interesting read but considering I put it down after starting it then picking it up again a year later this is not really the best endorsement…Certainly not Hyperion.
Rating: “Not great, but not the worse”
Review Date: 2010-04-29
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Bantam Books
Publication Date: 1993