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Revision as of 14:58, 11 March 2018
, 14:58, 11 March 2018no edit summary
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|title=The Zero and the One
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|website= http://www.ryanruby.info
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|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1455565180</amazonuk>|cover=1455565180|aznuk=1455565180|aznus=1455565180
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''The Zero and the One '' is an incredibly well written and well crafted book. We meet our narrator, Owen, on the plane to New York for the funeral of his best friend. He is still reeling after recent events, a suicide pact in which his friend died but he lived, and he is going through the motions of the funeral and consoling family whilst still trying to get to grips with his own feelings of grief and guilt. So far, so simple. But this is where the talent of Ryan Ruby steps in and slowly, so slowly, he reveals little tantalising clues that all is not what it seems, a throw-away comment here, a mis-step there, and it becomes clear that Owen is not a reliable narrator.
Owen's relationship with Zach, his best friend, is a complicated one. Owen has moved from his world back home, where he never quite fit in to the enormous world of Oxford University, where he finds he still does not fit in. Some of this is his own fault, his shyness and self-doubt and tendency to over-think every detail makes him socially awkward and uncomfortable. Into his life breezes Zack who is as loud and self-assured as Owen is reluctant, and Zack gives Owen the support to be more outgoing. Often though, this support is through strong-arming Owen, persuasion through pressure or money or not taking no for an answer, and Owen finds himself in several situations which he finds uncomfortable. The friendship might have freed Owen from his crippling loneliness but it does not always seem particularly healthy.
