Review: Interesting Third Part
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 12, 2013
QUICK HIT - Dekker continues Eyes Wide Open in this third of four installments by focusing on the question of how one can know that reality is real.WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR IDENTITY AND MIRRORS BY TED DEKKER.Dead. Fisher is dead. And Austin killed him. It wasn't as if it was intentional, but it was necessary. Austin had to escape...and thus begins Unseen, Ted Dekker's third installment in the serialized novel Eyes Wide Open. Austin and Christy have both been introduced to the hospital's revolutionary techniques. Christy has accepted her fate, accepted that she is delusional. Austin continues to fight, first mentally and now physically. But just as it appears Austin has made his escape, the impossible happens. Well, impossible unless he really is delusional.Christy has fully accepted the treatment of the hospital. To better her self-image, she must better herself. Surgery has been scheduled to make her thinner and more attractive. Liposuction, Botox, the works. She had to embrace the fact she was truly ugly and change it from the foundation.While the bulk of Mirrors focused on Christy, the bulk of Unseen focuses on Austin and his philosophical journey. With his rationality shattered, Austin begins to truly question the one thing he'd never questioned: the integrity of his mind. He makes the haunting statement:I have a problem. I can't know that what I believe is true.I am broken. I am damned.I am trapped.I can't know who I am therefore I am nothing.I am terrified.How humans know and perceive reality has been one of the most difficult questions ever pondered in the realm of philosophy. Can we know who we are if we can't trust ourselves to form our identity? Dekker again manages to masterfully blend theme and plot, raising poignant questions that often go unasked. Who am I? Am I Josh? Am I a Madman? Am I a brain floating in a vat? And how can I know? The unanswered questions of philosophy and plot drive the reader onward toward the final installment.My only criticism of this novel is that, near the end, the pacing is very rushed. Christy, fully accepting her identity as Alice, suddenly and confusedly changes her mind again in the space of a sentence. Certainly, it places the story in a place where it can continue but makes little sense in terms of the story. I understand Dekker's desire to keep the pace flowing, but a fast pace is not always the best pace, and it is here the formatting of this story gets the best of him. Nonetheless, the thematic points are well-made and the plotting--save this detail--drives the reader onward to the final episode.