The odd glumness of this novel is partly a consequence of its loss of a satisfying plot, its lack of shape.
That the universe doesn't care, and our lives aren't some great movie with a satisfying plot.
Does that sound like a satisfying plot point to you, or does it sound like something you might read in the crazed notebooks of an ancient tramp with a serious head injury?
In science, you could look at folk tales relating to animals; in maths, try applying knowledge of balancing equations to creating a satisfying plot; and in art, try creating a painting, sculpture or other piece based on a popular myth or legend.
This act of inventive licence enables Klaussmann to conjure a satisfying plot.
A satisfying plot led back into the woods and eventually – with a quite thrilling race against time – to Derbyshire assizes and the gallows.
Doyle is caught up in the middle of this – I don't want to give too much away, but it's an immensely satisfying plot.
In Infamous Army, Heyer was able to mix a first-rate grasp of grand historical narrative with a satisfying romantic plot which saw the heroine Lady Barbara Childe happily paired off with Colonel Charles Audley.
Though it doesn't have such a simple and satisfying plot, in mood and style it closely resembles The Van (Jimmy Sr's mid-life crisis novel, in which he and his friend Bimbo are laid off, get a chip van and briefly make a mint selling fast food during Ireland's 1990 World Cup campaign).
It presents us with a thoroughly confusing, wilfully convoluted and ultimately less than satisfying plot.
Rather than the intergalactic action adventure that this precis might suggest, the novel is a leisurely exploration of multiple societies, power-politics and race relations, in which discursive plot lines deceive before cohering in a satisfying finale.
