Remainder by Tom McCarthy

Remainder is one of those novels that tells of events so fantastical that the reader is sure the whole story must be an allegory. But the meaning is ambiguous and elusive and open to interpretation, so that the reader must actively think about it rather than experience it vicariously. It is strictly a head novel, not a heart novel in any way.

The unnamed protagonist has been injured in an accident which involved something falling from the sky and has received a gargantuan cash settlement. The severe nature of his head injury has produced partial amnesia and has required him to relearn how to perform all physical tasks, including feeding himself. Perhaps because he has had to learn how to move by thinking of all the mechanics beforehand, he constantly feels as if none of his actions are natural, true, authentic.

Then a chance glimpse of a crack in a friend's bathroom wall triggers a whole set of memories for him of a place where he thinks he felt authentic. With his vast financial resources and the help of Naz, a facilitator, he recreates an apartment building exactly as he remembers it, including the neighbors he remembers, using hired actors constantly on duty to play their parts. Once the set is complete, he rehearses the actors and then has them reenact scenarios again, and again, and again, to try to recover his sense of authenticity.

He moves from there to recreating a recent incident which happened to him at a tire shop. Again, the incident is reenacted again, again, and again. Then he moves to a reenactment of some murders in the neighborhood, with his information for reenactment gathered from police forensic reports. And then.......

And so on, and so on. All this is reported in factual, detailed, police-report style--hypnotically stupefying in its repetitions. The ending is chilling, as the protagonist finally feels authentic.

As I interpret this novel, it has an existential message--the search of Everyman for authenticity and meaning. The protagonist's fruitless search for authenticity through the endless repetitions of actions represents our daily existence as we go through the motions of our lives. Only when the protagonist breaks away from the rehearsed and experiences the violence of chance does he obtain authenticity.

This novel reminded me very much of Dostoyevsky, and it left me with very similar feelings of depression and anxiety. Sure, it made me think, but I do not enjoy thinking along those lines.

Recommended with reservations for those who like depressing head books.

P.S. This is being written several days later, after thinking about the book, and I believe the whole thing may have been a scenario going through the protagonist's head as he lies dying from a gunshot wound or explosion. Here's the reason--many times we have the mention that the protagonist smells cordite, and this seems out of place with no purpose. So, finally, I looked up cordite, and it is connected with a certain kind of bullet and with explosives, and has a unique smell. Armed with that knowledge, I found that several of the stranger aspects of the novel made more sense.
Whatever....I feel more than ever that the purpose of this novel is for the reader to feel admiration for the cleverness of the author.