Toilet

by Michael Szymczyk

"If you love Kafka, then you'll love Toilet." TOILET This novel tells the surreal tale of two generations of toilet-people and a man in a wine cellar, slowly going insane, after a nuclear war. The novel breathlessly explores the fate of a toilet that is transformed into a man who is pregnant, but who will always smell like a toilet. It is a book that one author describes as, "a perfect portrayal of post-modern man, who filled with longing, loneliness and confusion, searches desperately in an everyday abyss for the joys we were promised. It is a representation of the dissolution of the nuclear family. It is, in short, a book like no other, one so disturbing it edifies."

Genres: Fiction

167 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Aaron Scruggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

the most under rated book of our time.

[Troy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This self-published book starts out strong, with some very imaginative things going on. But the last 30 pages are a shambles. It looks like Szymczyk was writing all night to meet some deadline and submitted the result directly the printer with no editing (copy- or otherwise).

Still, a memorable book that explores our need to be loved.

[Seanán Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this novel, the idea of a sentient toilet is well you know, quite amusing, in hindsight it is a bit all over the place, it doesn't really say anything, rather it meanders from place to place, starts strongly but looses it's momentum to a significant degree like it isn't fully thought out, but it's a short enough read and pretty amusing.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing...and on many levels...amazin

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most obvious existentialist novel we've read all semester. But the plot was kinda ehh. Szymczyk really tried to emulate Kafka and I give him props for that but he tried almost too hard. I got tired by the end of it but the message at the end stuck out to me. I'm more indifferent to this novel though.