Collected Alex

by A.T. Grant, Arian Behzadi (Illustrations)

"There is a great imagination at work in the brilliant Collected Alex, a fiction that becomes increasingly complex in each of its three parts, the narrative turning inward and outward at different points, reaching an apex that is at once cerebral and visceral." - Michael Kimball, author of Big Ray * "A. T. Grant's debut is a haunting, a bildungsroman in which a boy's parents give him a dead body to carry, to care for, to befriend. The book sits on your neck, an immobile mass ghosting you down, compressing your spine: you dress the body, you feed it, the banal made enticing, talk to it, become brothers. Collected Alex is a simple theme that fugues an intricate, magical, sophisticated, urgent, gorgeous eidolon. Grant's words clamp on and refuse absolution."

- Lily Hoang, author of Changing

"If Charlie Kaufman and David Lynch wrote an earnest Buddhist parable together, it might read like Collected Alex. The story feels accessible and elegant, like an allegory about today written by a lonely scholar a thousand years ahead. It's beautiful."

- Ken Baumann, author of Solip

"Lovers of misterio autentico will find in Collected Alex a blissful experience. The flowing, deadpan narration of bizarre events leads not to the resolution of a made-up conflict but to something much, much better: the warmth that comes to the soul when it relaxes in good company."

- Jim Woodring, author of Congress of the Animals

Collected Alex was the winning manuscript in the 2012 Caketrain Chapbook Competition, as judged by Michael Kimball.

Genres: Fiction

90 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lee Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ken Baumann's blurb is perfect: Charlie Kaufmann and David Lynch write a spare, increasingly complicated Buddhist parable suggesting depression, isolation, identity (self and selves). Worth the half hour it took to read. (Now back to Proust.)

[Grant Lewandowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poetic and artsy, what I imagine, memoir like piece of work that appears to be an insight into how the author has processed a season of life. I loved how weird and different each section of this book is and it almost felt sci-fi-ish.

A quick and interesting read.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way this book progresses! Wow. Blown away. I’m making an effort to track down all of the Caketrain publications and this one has me excited for the rest. I love how the second “scene” is a prolonged intermission with strategies and complexities and the final “scene” begins on the stage. What a book.

[J.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll read anything Michael Kimball recommends, and all Caketrain titles in perpetuity, and this one was worth the short time it took to read. I enjoyed part I a bit more than II and III, but a good read overall for sure.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as 3.5 stars.

An amazingly interesting take on fiction. Bizarre, a bit confusing, poetic, emotional.

I felt that part 1 was stronger than the rest of the collection, personally, but was definitely in for the whole ride.

[Biscuits · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first section of this is one of my favorite hunks of shorts I've ever read.

[Danny Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than five stars.

[Steve Ellerhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surreal, strange, unsettling -- yet somehow recognizable. An excellent read that offers so much to think about.

[Ryan Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

People keep saying "David Lynch" in reviews of this, and this will be no different. It's a layered fever dream that almost becomes real. The first section, where a boy has to carry a dead body around with him for his whole life, is the best of the three sections of the book. After that, it moves into the more cerebral parts of the story that fumble a bit more the the core themes of responsibility to the self mashing endlessly against responsibility to humanity.

Conceptually, this is an incredible book, certainly having the feel of a time-tested parable. In execution, the suggested narrative isn't quite enough for me. The book has enough to grace to move quickly and not riff forever off a handful of lofty ideas--Scorch Atlas by Blake Butler is guilty of this--but it gets too tangled up in itself at points.

I imagine it's hard to know when to express quickness in writing something so odd. If nothing else, The Collected Alex, despite the main character and the author having the same name and driving me a little fucking nuts in the process, is a worthwhile read for the first section and how quickly the rest goes by.

[Dorie Van Dercreek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short yet engulfing novella is the stuff that fever dreams are made of. What starts out as a family who believe that they're doing their son, the protagonist, an important task turns into a dream turned potential nightmare depending on how you perceive it. I guess that you could call this novella short but sweet like the special formula Alex feeds his 'pet' dead body. Yet length has nothing to do with this story. the amount of detail and poetic imagery is clearly utilized without excess. Each chapter is a single moment or memory in Alex's life even the more abstract prison like areas are handled with dreamlike precision. Collected Alex is far from perfect and a little disappointed that there couldn't be more but I'm glad that I was finally able to pick this up.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book creates compelling narrative without using the traditional narrative tools. Underneath the bizarre happenings, an emotional/logical force pulls the reader forward. The result is something as engrossing as a plot, as moving as a character study, without containing the elements of either. I don't really know why these strangely linked stories work, but the fact is that they do. If I had to classify them, I might coin the term hyperallegory. The representative nature of storytelling is pushed to its reasonable limits, remaining just this side of the abstract. Highly recommended for fans of fiction that's not afraid to embrace its poetical side.

[Classic Bhaer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. It was twisted, weird, and perfect. It has under 100 pages and honestly made me think more than when I read 800 page book. While it can be a little off putting for some the message that this book projects is something I feel everyone can relate to and learn from. I would say if you are not easily creeped out it is definitely worth a read. Even if you are easily creeped out it is under 100 pages so I would say read it any way.

[Shay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creative, fascinating, heavy despite being about 90 pages. I was impressed with this book. Like most of the reviews here, I did find the first part to be the strongest, but the end also brought everything together in such a great way. There's honestly a ton here to unpack- depression, anxiety, identity, but most notably (for me at least) connecting with people in a real way vs an artificial way. Being genuine vs forced participation.

I kind of really loved this book

[Arthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for a novella I bought on a whim. Collected Alex is dark and surreal and this new post-modern style is really one of my favorites. Reminiscent of Blake Butler's There Is No Year. But in Collected Alex's case, the storyline is not drug out so much and may even be more concise.

[dc · Rating 4 out of 5]

amazing, poetic writing. odd, but brilliant.

[Edward Rathke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually read this when it was a contest submission at The Lit Pub, and it was my favorite submission that I read. Very cool to see it now published.

[Brooks Sterritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"On the second wall, there is a mouth-sized hole labeled TALKHOLE."

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

So confused. Part 1 was interesting but 2 & 3 lost me.