Remainder — by Tom McCarthy

The first paragraph:

"About the accident itself I can say very little. Almost nothing. It involved something falling from the sky. Technology: Parts, bits. That's it, really; all I can divulge. Not much, I know."

See, the thing is that the insurance settlement required that the protagonist of the story — an unnamed young man living in London — never, ever, say more about the accident than you've just read.

In return for which he received £8.5 million.

At today's exchange rate that's $17 million.

So you can see how he'd tend to be adherent to the terms stipulated.

Anyway.

The accident caused major brain damage, resulting in our hero's having to spend many painful and boring months relearning basic motor functions.

And something else happened: he developed an obsession with recreating particular mundane events of his recent past.

So much so that he decided to spend millions to create a living "set" of sorts, with scores of actors, props and producers all working at his direction.

The book is narrated by the protagonist in a matter-of-fact, droll, dry tone that reminded me a lot of the style of Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident Of the Dog in the Night-time," which enchanted me.

Hard to believe this is McCarthy's first novel: it's so good.

There's a great interview with the author here.