Lexicon is, for me, one of those books where it’s past midnight and you think “Okay, I really need to get some sleep, I need to put the book down right now. So I will read one more chapter, and that’s it.” And four chapters later you think “Okay, maybe I’ll just have an extra cup of coffee tomorrow.”
Were it not for an ending that’s more ambiguous than I generally like, I would’ve said it was my favorite book of the year. As it is, it still makes the top five.
I’d heard the book described as “funny,” and it really is, in a dark and highly creepy way. The book borders on horror in several places, but there’s always some element of dark humor. It doesn’t lighten things up at all, but I’m always impressed when someone can horrify you and then make you laugh, even if it’s a creeped-out, against-your-will kind of laugh. It’s never silly or campy, but you do laugh.
Max Barry sets up a brilliant premise in the idea of words having actual, physical power. If you can learn enough about a person to find out who he really is, what he wants, and how he thinks, you can say words to him that will get past any filter or defense in his brain. After that, you can control him completely. Obviously if the people who know how to use this power are power-hungry or crazy (or both) the results will be appalling.
Barry supports this idea with actual neurology, linguistics, and anthropology, but you never have trouble understanding what he’s talking about. His writing is incredibly clear, and he spells out important concepts in very few words. It’s not like getting a science lesson, it’s just a part of the story.
Even some of the more chaotic gun battles and car chases were extremely clear. No matter how crazy they got or how many people were involved, I never had a problem picturing what was going on.
Each of the characters were also very easy to picture, each of them with a “voice” that you could recognize even if they hadn’t been introduced in the sentence. And even the worst people had something about them you found you liked. No one was flawless, but everyone had at least the tiniest thing to make them appealing. The main villain was horrible and sadistic and more than a little insane, and I still wanted to hear more about him.
The ending, though, was a little disappointing.
I don’t have to have endings spelled out for me, I don’t have to have “happy” endings, and it doesn’t have to be tied up in a neat little bow. But after such a brilliant book I got to the ending and said “Huh. That’s…it?” I reread the last two chapters, and it still wasn’t clear. I feel like I’m missing something. I eventually figured out what I thought had happened, and after visiting a couple forum boards I think I’m correct in what I’d guessed. But it felt rushed, and slightly clichéd. I think Barry wants us to think it over, and he certainly demonstrates in his writing that he respects the reader’s intelligence; he won’t spoon-feed us the answers. After such an amazing book, though, I’d hoped for an ending that felt more satisfying.
After wandering around a few more comment sections, one of the only complaints I saw from readers (other than the ending) was that they felt this book isn’t as good as his previous books. That’s a very good sign, because ending or no, I really enjoyed reading this book. So now I’m going to have to track down every novel he ever wrote and read that too. My slight disappointment with this book still left me feeling better than just about any other book I’ve read all year.