Following 2012's masterful Umbrella, Self continues his resurrection of modernist stream-of-consciousness techniques with a novel consisting of one 466-page paragraph. He seamlessly shifts between perspectives, dropping the reader without warning into different minds, times and places. The technique is dizzying, but never unclear, and the technical brilliance never descends into gimmickry or ceases to serve the narrative. The central plotline concerns Umbrella's protagonist, psychiatrist Zack Busner, and the climactic failure in 1971 of his radical "therapeutic community", where the doctors and mentally disturbed patients cohabit, sharing chores, responsibilities and the occasional acid trip. It's a richly-imagined, thoughtful and riotous piece of literature. Self may be the most adventurous and virtuosic novelist in England today.
