Bad Brains by Kathe Koja

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ow...my head hurts...but I love it?

Kathe Koja has done it again with her story of a mentally ill man who suffers from a horrendous brain injury. What happens after is a road trip adventure that only Koja could come up with.

There's loads of surrealistic and hallucinogenic imagery in this one. Koja's writing is simultaneously jarring, quipped, yet immersive, plunging you into a nightmare on the road to self-destruction.

Austen (not named after the city), is a down on his luck painter who has never had any real success. Peter, the gallery owner and Austen's friend, pushes him to paint and tries to get him to socialize after his failed marriage to Emily. Emily has left Austen high and dry after 8 years, refusing to put up with his angsty, artistic bullshit.

In a freak accident, Austen smashes his skull open in a 7-11 parking lot. He recovers perfectly, according to the doctors (and there are a lot of them), but he still sees some weird silvery THING that constantly haunts him and pops up at the most inconvenient times. And it's a Koja story, so he refuses psychiatric help and keeps his visions to himself. Back at home after the accident, he drinks heavily, suffers a nervous breakdown, and the hallucinations just get worse.

From there, he decides to flee all responsibility and live out of his car. This is when the madness truly starts and when I got hooked. Austen meets Russell, another down on his luck alcoholic, and a serious enabler. Together, they embark on the worst road trip ever, sleeping in cars, dealing with Austen's cracks with reality, and Russell's constant need for debauchery (drinking, women, eating).

Let's say the ending is pure Koja, and if you've read Strange Angels or The Cipher, you know what you're in for. Unlike Strange Angels (which made me depressed), I found Bad Brains easy to read. It runs along at a clipped pace and takes it with you, whether you want to go or not. Koja is a master of writing about the losing of one's mind. You might need to take a cold shower after to shock your brain into functioning normally again.



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