7.4 /10 1 Votes
Language English Pages 240 OCLC 837624462 Genre Fiction Country United States of America | 3.7/5 Goodreads Publication date October 4, 2011 ISBN 978-1439184462 Originally published 4 October 2011 Page count 240 Publisher Charles Scribner's Sons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Similar Chuck Klosterman books, Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Visible Man: A Novel is a novel written by Chuck Klosterman, first published by Scribner in 2011. It is the seventh book and second novel released by Klosterman. Thematically, The Visible Man touches on the way media transforms reality, the meaning of culture, and the dissonance of self-perception. It became a New York Times bestseller the month of its release.
Contents
Plot synopsis
The story is told by an Austin, Texas, therapist named Victoria Vick and centers around one of her clients, Y___, a man whose name the reader never learns. Y___ professes to be a scientist working on an aborted secret government project he calls "cloaking technology." With a combination of futuristic fabric and light-refracting cream, Y___ says he's able to make himself invisible. With his cloaking technology, Y___ claims to observe many people who think they are alone or otherwise believe they are not being watched, which he insists is essential to completing his research. Y___ recounts stories from his observational research across numerous sessions, and Vick attempts to diagnose and treat him while her life unravels.
Reception
The Visible Man has received favorable reviews, with Entertainment Weekly giving it an A-. The Dallas Morning News said of the book, "[It] is a rich, fast-paced and funny novel made to entertain lovers of literary metafiction, sci-fi and thrillers." When asked about the book, Klosterman has said, "If somebody asked me, 'What is this book about?' and I know that I only have one sentence to tell them, I would say, 'Well, it's how it would be to be the invisible man's therapist.' But if I read a review that said that and simplified it down, I would be like, 'That's totally wrong!'"