The Simulacra - My Part 1 Reflection

"The Simulacra"
Not a cover for the American release, but an interesting cover none-the-less.

I like to go into my stories 'clean'. That is, no plot synopsis, no wikipedia pre-reading, and absolutely no spoilers. I like to enjoy books as they happen and notice I have a harder time doing this when I know the basis of the story before hand. The Sumulacra has been the exception to this. I read the first few pages without any prior thought, but I had to pause to read the back cover. That seems like a silly thing I'm sure, refusing the read the back cover of a book, but it has been my standpoint thus far in life. Checking out the plot of The Simulacra before hand didn't ruin the story for me. On the contrary, it gave my attention a place to focus and helped the plot to take root in my mind.

The aspect of this first part that interested me most was the existence of multiple protagonists and, more specifically, their relationship with the reader. Thus far in The Simulacra I've been introduced to a vast array of characters with one trait in common: they all could be the fabled 'patient' (save, of course, for our Doctor Superb). Nat Fliegar is our first character, an employee for the Electronic Musical Enterprise and the man tasked with coaxing the illusive musician Kongrosian into preforming for the White House, along with the help of his companions Molly Dondoldo and Jim Planck. Kongrosian himself is already a patient of Doctor Superb and finds himself suffering from a multitude of mental disorders. Other characters call him a hypochondriac. He very well may be so, fearing that he has contracted a 'phobic odor' capable of infecting anyone who comes in contact with him (even digitally!), has turned invisible, and has caused all the psychomotor accidents of late. Vince and Chic Strikerock are another set of characters, brothers at that, 'battling' over Vince's ex-wife Julie. I say 'battling' because only one of the two is really interested in her, Chic is currently using her as a bargaining chip against his brother in exchange for a job.

The plot I find most interesting, and the one that explains that last paragraph's place in this post, is the one surrounding Doctor Superb. Superb was to be shut down with the rest of the world's therapists. A mysterious individual granted him permission to continue practice so long as he turned down no new patients. Someone he was to treat is important to the future, but no one knows who. This is the biggest draw I feel as a reader. I am in the same shoes as Doctor Superb, wondering "Is this the guy??" each and every time a new character is introduced. I find myself drawing conclusions from each character's actions, linking him to others and trying to grasp why he would need to be treated and why the failure of that treatment is so important to the future of the entire country. That motivation keeps the pages turning and makes me anxious to see where all these different roads converge.