I didn’t hate it. I wish I could be satisfied by saying just that, but of course this statement calls for some explanation. Tom McCarthy is noted as being the general secretary of the International Necronautical Society (INS), “a semi-fictitious avant-garde network,” which I’ll leave you to examine on your own. I haven’t read his other novels, so I dipped my toes, or at least tried to dip my toes, into Satin Island not totally knowing what to expect. The narrator, identified only as U., works as an anthropologist for a corporation. I was impressed by this position, as it transforms the science of marketing and advertising into something more humane. This, and a brief…