Thursday, April 4, 2013

Review: The Teleportation Accident

The Teleportation Accident
By Ned Beauman
Bloomsbury USA February 2013
357 pages
From the library

The Teleportation Accident

The Teleportation Accident follows the (mis)adventures of one Egon Loeser, a German set designer who falls hopelessly in lust with a young woman named Adele. He follows her from pre-WWII Germany to CalTech in California, desperate to have her for his own. Along the way, he meets a bizarre group of friends, acquaintances, and enemies and wonders what really happened to Adriano Lavicini, his theatrical hero, who created a mysterious machine known as the Teleportation Device. 

While reading this book, I just couldn't make up my mind about it. Most of the time, I really didn't like it. At its basest level, Ned Beauman has written a Man Booker nominated book about a man who really wants to get laid. A good portion of this book is Egon lamenting that he cannot have this woman he idolizes in spite of barely knowing her. The second issue I had is that this is a very smart book...and its author knows it. There were moments where I truly felt that Beauman was doing the literary equivalent of standing in a large library, twirling his mustache with drink in hand and saying, "Ah yes, aren't we clever? Did you get that little joke? Did you catch that brilliant reference on page 63?" And yet, I felt oddly compelled to keep reading.

While Egon himself is not necessarily someone you are rooting for, the things going on around him are zany and compelling. He manages to get mixed up with a con man in Paris, Soviet spies in LA, and a (mad?) scientist on the campus of CalTech where a bizarre string of murders is taking place. It's a little bit science fiction, some murder mystery, with a dash of historical fiction thrown in for good measure. Have I mentioned that Mr. Beauman also provides readers with multiple endings?

While the events of this novel are always fascinating, the characters fall really flat. Somewhere between the humor and the intellect should be some emotional connection, but I never had the impulse to really care for or root for these characters (fascinating as they may be). Many people are comparing this book to the writing of Nick Harkaway and his book Angelmaker in particular. The Teleportation Accident has some similar tones of whimsy with zany characters and even crazier plot points, but I found Angelmaker a much better read.  

4 comments:

  1. "Aren't we clever?" Ha ha! I burst out laughing at that ;) Great review! I think I'll be skipping this one. I need characters I can connect with.

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    1. I really hate that! I like books that are smart and make good references, but I don't want you to smack me in the face with it. Trust me, I get it. :)

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  2. I've been wanting to read this since I saw the gorgeous cover among the Man Booker nominees, but it's been getting pushed back on my Kindle for whatever reason. I feel the same way about "stache twirlers" (love it!), though, so I think I'll go with some Harkaway instead...Gone-Away World is on one of my challenges.

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    1. Maybe it's good that it got pushed back? I will have to see what you think about Gone-Away World. I am so excited to read that one. :)

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