COMPUNCTION

A surreal novel about one man’s existential crisis.

Debut author Way presents protagonist James Singer. James has been having a hard time sleeping. He is a former art teacher who now lives in a trailer with his trusty, if skittish, bull mastiff, Blue. He is also a recovering alcoholic, a former businessman (a profession he began after he left education), and an active motorcycle enthusiast. At night, James has envisioned an unkindly wraith that attacks him. This has left him spending his nights in the bathtub. He’s afraid to tell his doctor about his visions; he sees such a confession as a one-way ticket to “one of those foreboding, state-funded facilities.” He drafts what he calls his “Doomsday” letter, which explains it all. Developments take increasingly strange turns. At different points, it seems that James is dead. Whether he is being hit by a car or he is succumbing to the many medications that he has swallowed, death lingers just around the corner. Yet James lives on. He speaks with a police dog and a dying wasp. Despite the fact that he will be “forced to return to the Hell” that is his existence, he learns that perhaps life is worth living. Whenever it seems James has succumbed to something like drinking drain cleaner, he pulls through. And it is not as though he winds up speaking with angels or other usual suspects of a near-death adventure. One scene inside of a drainage pipe involves a sassy character called Night Blade. Night Blade consists mostly of parts of an orange. Later portions include memorable moments such as a hauntingly bizarre group gathered around a bonfire. Yet some details of these experiences can prove tiresome. James offers his many views on motorcycles, including an exposition on types of helmets. Still, the reader comes to care about James (and his poor dog Blue). The question remains as to where his strange downward spiral will end.

Sometimes sluggish but a fun amalgam of unpredictable mishaps with an eccentric lead.