Kris Tanaka - Phase Shift 1 (Phase Shifters)

 

Kris Tanaka is a man of many talents and diverse points and directions of interest. I wasn't surprised at all when I caught a glimpse of the blurb and it got me even more interested.

Phase Shift 1 (Phase Shifters) is a novel which can't be easily classified as far as the genre goes - there are different aspects that you can easily put under science fiction label, different aspects give me an idea of a good psychological drama, others can make you think of somewhat esoteric spiritual literature.

To me after the first read - it had a semblance of a very interesting example of philosophy in a broader, historical terms.

The trajectories that set the lives of the novel's protagonists are dense and complex. When you look at the index make you think of a scientifical mix of quantum physics concepts and psychology. But you are for a surprise as the first chapter reads in a similar way as a poetry. A gentle introduction to the concepts in the book which are key to understand it. 

The author is weaving the delicate lace of the narrative in an elaborate and sophisticated way. If you follow the key, you can read it through and through and still find it perplexing. I, on the other hand, tried to read it in a similar way I read Julio Cortazar's ''Hopscotch'' - and I recommend reading it by the key you set yourself after the first reading. It's not as linear as you could imagine and it will give you plenty of enjoyment if you do.

It is an original novel but when thinking of the comparisons, I can stop thinking of '' Point Counter Point'' by Aldous Huxley. Kris managed to achieve something seemingly impossible: to connect multitude of dots in the narrative and at the same time kept to the ideas and the concept that he invented himself. Enjoyable and perplexing...

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