253

This is a book based on an intriguing
scheme: each page describes the outward appearance of, some inside
information about, and the thinking of one of the 253 people who are
riding inside a London tube train, using exactly 253 words. Each
person's page reminded me of a short short story and many had O.
Henry type endings.

I like the idea behind the book, but it grew a little tedious, almost
like reading from a phone book. Too many characters to keep everyone
straight and most of the little plot there was focused on the little
soap opera tragedies of every day life.