Rubik - by Elizabeth Tan (Paperback)

About the Book

A wild and imaginative story collection exploring life and relationships in the online age

Book Synopsis

"Whatever your jam is -- mind-bending logic, beautiful, lyrical writing, or a deep dive into contemporary life -- there is something brilliant here for everyone." --NPR
The dead aren't really gone, they persist as phone numbers, social media accounts, newsletter recipients, and as members of fan-fiction forums. Digital ghosts move and connect us: we feel we know people we have only seen online just as corporations masquerade as familiar friends.
In Rubik, darkly comedic interconnected stories follow Elena Rubik, her best friend Jules Valentine, and wannabe investigative reporter April Kuan, as a viral marketing scheme's motivations become cause for concern. There are the adventures of a model turned visual artist, a voice actor primarily used for tech support, enigmatic schoolchildren, clever anime characters, and more.
Deftly blending the real and imagined with biting social satire, Elizabeth Tan explores the lives of her diverse group of characters with deep empathy and insight into our contemporary world.

Review Quotes

Starred Review in Foreword Reviews
"Haunting, eerie, engrossing, and completely unexpected, Elizabeth Tan's Rubik is a true original that will shock and surprise." --Foreword Reviews

"Tan's debut novel is both a love letter to fandom and a sustained meditation on alienation, artificiality, and the sinister nature of capitalism. In this novel of interconnected narratives that mimics the shifting planes of a Rubik's Cube, characters appear and reappear in stories that pastiche various genres, from anime and video games to sci-fi thrillers and fan fiction... Tan is skilled enough to keep readers guessing about what that next mysterious movement might be. An intriguing, high-concept effort cut from the same generational cloth as Tumblr." --Kirkus Reviews

"The disorienting effect of accreting, repeating details and unanswered questions makes the final cohesion of Tan's only slightly fantastical Perth even more delicious. Tan's careful layering and nuanced craft will gain a strong following among fans of experimental narratives." --Publishers Weekly

"Rubik darts between layers of time, space and reality--fictions within fictions that seem disparate at first but later reveal themselves as inextricably linked. Recalling ... the surreal connected-universe storytelling of Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, Rubik is a shot in the arm of Australian fiction, one that will undoubtedly reveal more secrets on successive rereads." - Books + Publishing

"Rubik is exhilarating... It is a mish-mash of coloured cubes, held together by tiny mechanisms, daring you to put the pieces back together." - The Lifted Brow

"The very best experimental writers have an inspired and weird way of seeing the world that makes much realist fiction seem moribund. Elizabeth Tan's debut is wonderful, brilliant and mind-bending, and a worthy heir to the experimental tradition." - The Saturday Paper

About the Author

Elizabeth Tan recently completed her PhD in Creative Writing at Curtin University in Perth. Her work has previously appeared in Westerly, The Lifted Brow, Voiceworks and The Sleepers Almanac. Her webcomic, Mais Pourquoi, can be found at et-maispourquoi.blogspot.com. Rubik is her first collection of stories. She lives in Australia.