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Suggestion by Gabino Iglesias.
I tug on myself and smile into the mirror of myself, mouth the words "thank you" so many time my mouth starts to fill with blood.
It's human nature to be longing for what you can't have. A common principle of several religion is that you'll be rewarded in another life for how you behave in this one, so it feeds right into that human need. Religion is spiritual wealth, not unlike money during a speculation bubble. It exists. first and foremost, through a common agreement that certain immaterial things are real. Author Troy James Weaver examined the process of belief in America, in his debut novel VISIONS, the hypnotic coming-of-age story of a self-appointed messianic figure. It's a short, but solid piece of fiction about the engineering of saviors in our day and age.
A young boy is staggering through the early years of teenagehood, looking for meaning in his life and an answer to the mysterious visions that've been haunting him. He meets a gullible young woman looking for guidance in her life, which he offers her through his special gift, but meeting her alters the course of his spiritual development and she becomes a part of a greater picture he hadn't completely foreseen. The divine hand that touched the young boy needs human interaction in order to reveal itself, and human interaction is a chaotic thing when you're growing up on your own in the American wasteland.
The first thing about VISIONS that you'll immediately notice is the clever, vignette-like structure that's both reader-friendly and reminiscent of diary entries. It makes such an abstract, shapeless story much easier to follow. There are also excerpts from notebooks scattered through, where the boy narrates his mysterious visions, which foreshadow the tone VISIONS is about to take. The original structure makes it both fun to read and deceptively cerebral, since the boy's vision and life intertwine in order to enrich both one another. The boy wouldn't become without the visions and the visions would be meaningless if the boy didn't act on them.
The beginning of VISIONS reminded me of Blake Butler's 300,000,000 (one of my favourite reads of 2014). Of course, both novels go to radically different places, but they are both a testament to the power of ideas. Troy James Weaver understands how ideas are an integral part of reality and the process to turn them into tangible things. The comparisons to the work of Harmony Korine also made a lot of sense, although they are more rooted in the aesthetic approach. Weaver's narrative accuracy in describing the erratic behavior of a directionless kid dealing with religious visions. I can't say I had a transcendent emotional moment while reading VISIONS, but it kept me reading with the same fascination I would read a Chuck Klosterman essay with.
A couple weeks ago, I had no idea who Troy James Weaver was. This is why Broken River Books are important. They give a solid platform to the absolute best, most original authors out there. I'm pretty sure that if they hadn't rolled the dice on him, I wouldn't have heard about him and it would've been my loss. VISIONS is a mature, controlled first effort that might not reach emotional high points, but it understands what it is and always keeps it under control. It's a bleak, cerebral and contemplative short novel that'll get your gears spinning in the best, most rewarding possible way. If you're as fascinated with the human/divine duality as I am, you'll love VISIONS.
A young boy is staggering through the early years of teenagehood, looking for meaning in his life and an answer to the mysterious visions that've been haunting him. He meets a gullible young woman looking for guidance in her life, which he offers her through his special gift, but meeting her alters the course of his spiritual development and she becomes a part of a greater picture he hadn't completely foreseen. The divine hand that touched the young boy needs human interaction in order to reveal itself, and human interaction is a chaotic thing when you're growing up on your own in the American wasteland.
The first thing about VISIONS that you'll immediately notice is the clever, vignette-like structure that's both reader-friendly and reminiscent of diary entries. It makes such an abstract, shapeless story much easier to follow. There are also excerpts from notebooks scattered through, where the boy narrates his mysterious visions, which foreshadow the tone VISIONS is about to take. The original structure makes it both fun to read and deceptively cerebral, since the boy's vision and life intertwine in order to enrich both one another. The boy wouldn't become without the visions and the visions would be meaningless if the boy didn't act on them.
The beginning of VISIONS reminded me of Blake Butler's 300,000,000 (one of my favourite reads of 2014). Of course, both novels go to radically different places, but they are both a testament to the power of ideas. Troy James Weaver understands how ideas are an integral part of reality and the process to turn them into tangible things. The comparisons to the work of Harmony Korine also made a lot of sense, although they are more rooted in the aesthetic approach. Weaver's narrative accuracy in describing the erratic behavior of a directionless kid dealing with religious visions. I can't say I had a transcendent emotional moment while reading VISIONS, but it kept me reading with the same fascination I would read a Chuck Klosterman essay with.
A couple weeks ago, I had no idea who Troy James Weaver was. This is why Broken River Books are important. They give a solid platform to the absolute best, most original authors out there. I'm pretty sure that if they hadn't rolled the dice on him, I wouldn't have heard about him and it would've been my loss. VISIONS is a mature, controlled first effort that might not reach emotional high points, but it understands what it is and always keeps it under control. It's a bleak, cerebral and contemplative short novel that'll get your gears spinning in the best, most rewarding possible way. If you're as fascinated with the human/divine duality as I am, you'll love VISIONS.