By accident, my checking this out from the library coincided with the onset of a craving for jigsaws. Didn’t know the book was about jigsaws till I started reading it.

Well, now I’m half way through and I’m completely hooked. This book is one giant, magnificent puzzle – and a subtle one to boot.

The theme of jigsaws which keeps popping up is what gave it away. Each chapter paints a hugely detailed piece of someone’s life or a room in the building that is central to the book. I believe that the list in Chapter 52 that the painter Verlene (?) is the key to arranging the pieces of the novel.

The other cute thing about Verlene’s list is the repeated diagonal letters which run from the end of each line through to the start in blocks of 60. They spell out “ego”.

Even having pulled on these small threads I get the feeling the book is hiding much of itself still. I’d happily go over this book forwards, backwards, or via the indices on a desert island to while away the time.

I’ve read part of Perec’s “A Void” – an ‘e’-less novel – and have read quite a lot about his experimental writing with Oulipou. I’m quite curious to see what this, one of his most famous and well-regarded books, has to offer.