About 90 pages in. His house is different, he’s not married anymore, son doesn’t exist. He somehow has a career life he’s completely unfamiliar with.
Also he’s a top of the line scientist.
He can’t just deduce that he’s obviously in an alternate dimension? Doesn’t cross his mind at all? He already went to the doctor to check for brain damage. Like yeah amnesia is a possibility. But he didn’t suffer any major head trauma.
Like I get that at this point he may doubt his sanity. But he can’t even entertain the idea he’s in an alternate reality? Also why is this a common trope in stories? They completely rule out the seemingly impossible even though it’s blatantly obvious that it’s now possible.
I mean shit, if I go home and my apartment isn’t mine, job isn’t mine, and my gf doesn’t even know me then obviously I’m gonna say I definitely fucked something up.
Alongside that, what got me was when he told the Doctor that he ‘wasn’t familiar’ with ketamine. I’m not a scientist and I know what ketamine is. What’s his excuse for that? 😒
Nope. I don’t assume characters in books will have perfect, or even good, logic. I’m happy to suspend disbelief a little bit for an entertaining story. Usually characters behaving “correctly” will take a lot of the fun out of a story.
If I go home and my apartment, job, and girlfriend aren’t mine, I’m absolutely crossing off every realistic possibility before I think I traveled to a fucking alternate dimension lol
I would waste months debunking “elaborate surprise birthday prank” before my mind would leap to “alternate dimension.”
Exactly…whats more likely, im a complete certifiable crazy person whose brain has tricked him OR im totally sane and just immediately believe ive traveled to an alternate universe
I’m a simple fuck, so I definitely would never jump to alternate dimension.
The MC is a scientist; he’s not going to make that leap either, barring extreme changes in the world.
I think he really wanted to rule out a physical injury first.
I think you made it further than me. The fact that this was in his own line of research and study…I just couldn’t. Also I got some men writing women vibes so, yeah DNF
Sure, every other book written and movie created these days relies on the multiverse. If the character KNEW he was a character in a book it would be completely logical for them to think “Yep, I’m in an alternate universe.” In real life, though, that’s not a thing. If a character trips and falls into an alternate universe and thinks “Oops! I’ve always worried about this!”, It better be a comedy.
That annoyed me so much. Like, yes, realistically, if in that situation, you would assume, “uh-oh, my brain is malfunctioning,” rather than jumping directly to “alternate dimension??!” But you’re not in that situation, you’re reading a fiction book, one that you likely already know is about alternate universes. So…get to the fucking point already.
It would have been one thing if the buildup really was suspenseful and disorienting, and the reveal was a great mindfuck. But it’s not. You know what’s happening right away, so it makes the MC seem dumb when he can’t put the very obvious (to the reader) pieces together.
I had the same thought but it doesn’t go on too long and denial is a helluva thing. For real.
yes I could not finish the book because of that
And it gets worse… Hated the main character all the way
I sometimes don’t get really into the plot holes and details as they tend to make me enjoy the book less. I actually enjoyed this book as a pulpy science fiction - not every book has to be groundbreaking (see Expeditionary Force)
My husband had a brain injury and had pretty severe memory problems for a few months. He couldn’t remember many parts of his life, including our house or that we were married. He thought a lot of things that aren’t true, like he was a student in university and a star football player. Not once did he say he must be in an alternate dimension.
This was such an incredibly stupid book I walked away and haven’t thought of it again until this tweet. This author couldn’t be bothered to do even the most rudimentary research into quantum physics, or the many worlds theory. The problem with Dark Matter is characters can never be smarter than the author, so these characters are morons.
It is a problem when the reader knows something that the narrator doesn’t know. It makes sense that the character doesn’t know it but, the longer that knowledge gap persists, the more it makes the reader feel separated from the story.
I do think Blake Crouch drags it out a little too long in Dark Matter. Although the last 100-pages make up for the first 100-pages shortcomings.