A Narrator Who Believes He's From the Future

Why Would You Read This Ridiculous Book?

Shelby believes he's from the future, with the barest of proof. And even if it is true, it doesn't seem to help him, or anyone else.

He bounces from town to town, and job to job. After moving from Rat Town to Sea Cliff—a town near neither sea nor cliff—he meets the buoyant Chelsea, a hotel concierge who admits to guests there are no good restaurants to recommend unless they're willing to get on an airplane.

Shelby's chaotic inner thoughts create a comical tale bouncing from joy to tragedy almost in a whisper, as he narrates his fall from grace and comes to a final revelation.

Shelby's Time will not be a book taught in college, or quoted in commencement speeches.

But you might finish it thinking: Well, that was… truly insane. Maybe I'll read it again.

Paired With My Name Was Don

Published in 2016 alongside My Name Was Don, Shelby's Time shares that novel's absurdist, voice-driven register. Written back-to-back, these two books use unreliable narrators to tell unbelievable stories that Marks is by no means asking you to believe. Belief was never the point. But loving these characters in the end is far more likely.

Narrators You Shouldn't Trust

Shelby eventually asks serious questions about love, but only after he sees it tumble away one time too many. The pencil drawings scattered through the text are presented as Shelby's own, blurring the line between narrator and author, since the sketches are actually Marks's own.

Don might describe himself as literally illiterate, as he begins his story by saying, "My job was like figuratively killing me."

Marks improvised these two books on the fly, and like all his books, he used no outline. He is known for his wild endings. Asked how he comes up with them, he said he discovers them when they are ready to show up.

In the case of Shelby's Time and My Name Was Don, they showed up amidst a sea of absurdist confusion. Enjoy drowning in their reality. Just bring your floaties.

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