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Head Full of Mountains
When Crospinal's ailing father dies, he is left utterly alone in the pen, surrounded by encroaching darkness. The machines that tended to him as a child have long ago vanished, and the apparitions that kept Crospinal company are now silenced. Struggling with his congenital issues, outfitted in a threadbare uniform, he has little choice but to leave what was once his home, soon discovering that nothing in the outside world is how he had been told it would be. In his quest for meaning and understanding, and the contact of another, Crospinal learns truths about himself, about his father, and about the last bastion of humanity, trapped with him at the end of time.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 15, 2014
1 person is currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Brent Hayward
6 books72 followersAuthor of the novels Filaria ('08), The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter ('11), and Head Full of Mountains ('14), and of several shorter fictions, collected in Broken Sun, Broken Moon ('19).
UK born, raised in Montreal, lived in LA for a spell and as an expat in Poland. Currently resides in Toronto.
Check out http://brenthayward.com or https://chizinepub.com/brent-hayward/ for more info about the novels, reviews, and to purchase.
By day, aerospace bound.
"Hayward's debut [Filaria] is a powerful, beautifully-written dystopian tale concerning four inhabitants of a gigantic but dying artificial habitat... With well-developed characters and four strong plotlines told through alternating chapters, Hayward delivers a fulfilling read.
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[Brent Hayward]'s second novel [The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter] combines elegant writing with moral ambiguity and an impressive array of grotesque characters."
- Locus
"Toronto’s Brent Hayward has a knack for creating incredibly lush alternative worlds and mythologies, and Head Full of Mountains may be his most complex and demanding work yet. . . . [O]ne of the more different and difficult SF novels of the year, but also one of the most rewarding."
- The Toronto Star
"A masterpiece of construction and technique... I stand in awe of the premise so much so that I am lost in the concept and can’t seem to step back far enough to figure out what sort of metaphor or allegory this be... Point is I think Hayward is as good as Ballard or damn near. Certainly one of the most interesting and original writers I have ever read... The virtuosity of the writing [in Broken Sun, Broken Moon] and the power of the imagery will linger in your mind."
- Amazing Stories
UK born, raised in Montreal, lived in LA for a spell and as an expat in Poland. Currently resides in Toronto.
Check out http://brenthayward.com or https://chizinepub.com/brent-hayward/ for more info about the novels, reviews, and to purchase.
By day, aerospace bound.
"Hayward's debut [Filaria] is a powerful, beautifully-written dystopian tale concerning four inhabitants of a gigantic but dying artificial habitat... With well-developed characters and four strong plotlines told through alternating chapters, Hayward delivers a fulfilling read.
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[Brent Hayward]'s second novel [The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter] combines elegant writing with moral ambiguity and an impressive array of grotesque characters."
- Locus
"Toronto’s Brent Hayward has a knack for creating incredibly lush alternative worlds and mythologies, and Head Full of Mountains may be his most complex and demanding work yet. . . . [O]ne of the more different and difficult SF novels of the year, but also one of the most rewarding."
- The Toronto Star
"A masterpiece of construction and technique... I stand in awe of the premise so much so that I am lost in the concept and can’t seem to step back far enough to figure out what sort of metaphor or allegory this be... Point is I think Hayward is as good as Ballard or damn near. Certainly one of the most interesting and original writers I have ever read... The virtuosity of the writing [in Broken Sun, Broken Moon] and the power of the imagery will linger in your mind."
- Amazing Stories
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 31, 2014
Although this read flows lyrically, the jumbled and confusing thoughts of Crospinal and the world he lives in don't allow for a smooth read at times.
The ideas in this story were utilized in such as way as to blow the mind of the reader. Cros talked with a projection of a dog, a girlfriend who broke up with him that seemed no longer alive, ghosts, and other machinery that watched him constantly.
This is a somewhat sad tale of a forgetful boy, not just any boy, who must venture out from his normal surroundings into a new world.
A challenging read that I am happy to have finished.
*I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review*
The ideas in this story were utilized in such as way as to blow the mind of the reader. Cros talked with a projection of a dog, a girlfriend who broke up with him that seemed no longer alive, ghosts, and other machinery that watched him constantly.
This is a somewhat sad tale of a forgetful boy, not just any boy, who must venture out from his normal surroundings into a new world.
A challenging read that I am happy to have finished.
*I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review*
April 17, 2015
HEAD FULL OF MOUNTAINS is a unique science fiction find-- complex, sophisticated, challenging, novel. Brent Hayward's imagination never ceases to amaze me. He creates a comprehensive and fully immersive world with such vivid imagery. Mind you, it is not a pretty world but rather a fractured, fragmented one populated by equally irregular, damaged and fragile characters.
Crospinal was raised in isolation, with only his father and artificial constructs for companions. He suffers from physical infirmities and perhaps even developmental ones. “Like the leaves, he was fragile, broken, crumbling with the slightest of touches.” Routine and predictability were staples of his upbringing. Necessities were provided for him and his father solely directed his education. But his father was dying and, when he finally passes, Crospinal will be left all alone for much of his artificial environment was similarly dying. With supplies dwindling, power fluctuation, equipment faltering, Crospinal must forage beyond the confines of his home.
Crospinal soon learns that while his father taught him many things, they may not have all been true and there are many other things of which he is totally unaware and for which he is entirely unprepared. Even his own identity and very nature are called into question. Hayward quotes Richard Maurice Bucke--
“It is not our eyes or ears, nor even our intellects, that report the world to us; but it is our own moral natural that settles at last the significance of what exists about us. In all respects each age has interpreted the universe for itself, and has more or less discredited the interpretations of previous ages.”
HEAD FULL OF MOUNTAINS is a sprawling, creative, visionary story, but it is not an easy read. Crospinal is the guide and as he is often confused, misled or ignorant, the telling is often splintered or disjointed. But everything comes together in the end where the baffling, disordered bits and pieces form a cohesive whole. I won't lie. This book is more difficult than Filaria, even The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter, but it is no less haunting, insightful and sublime.
Go and read HEAD FULL OF MOUNTAINS. Go read any of Brent Hayward's other works. I promise it will always be challenging, rewarding, thought-provoking. This is science fiction that will jar you from the stupor of formulaic, redundant stories. It is science fiction as it should be-- piercing, exacting, fastidious.
Crospinal was raised in isolation, with only his father and artificial constructs for companions. He suffers from physical infirmities and perhaps even developmental ones. “Like the leaves, he was fragile, broken, crumbling with the slightest of touches.” Routine and predictability were staples of his upbringing. Necessities were provided for him and his father solely directed his education. But his father was dying and, when he finally passes, Crospinal will be left all alone for much of his artificial environment was similarly dying. With supplies dwindling, power fluctuation, equipment faltering, Crospinal must forage beyond the confines of his home.
Crospinal soon learns that while his father taught him many things, they may not have all been true and there are many other things of which he is totally unaware and for which he is entirely unprepared. Even his own identity and very nature are called into question. Hayward quotes Richard Maurice Bucke--
“It is not our eyes or ears, nor even our intellects, that report the world to us; but it is our own moral natural that settles at last the significance of what exists about us. In all respects each age has interpreted the universe for itself, and has more or less discredited the interpretations of previous ages.”
HEAD FULL OF MOUNTAINS is a sprawling, creative, visionary story, but it is not an easy read. Crospinal is the guide and as he is often confused, misled or ignorant, the telling is often splintered or disjointed. But everything comes together in the end where the baffling, disordered bits and pieces form a cohesive whole. I won't lie. This book is more difficult than Filaria, even The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter, but it is no less haunting, insightful and sublime.
Go and read HEAD FULL OF MOUNTAINS. Go read any of Brent Hayward's other works. I promise it will always be challenging, rewarding, thought-provoking. This is science fiction that will jar you from the stupor of formulaic, redundant stories. It is science fiction as it should be-- piercing, exacting, fastidious.
April 8, 2015
Hauntingly beautiful sci-fi. I couldn't put this book down. Hayward's storytelling flows like poetry, with an incredibly unique style of writing; I will read anything that Brent Hayward writes.
December 9, 2015
Environment, body, and belief system are all in flux in Head Full of Mountains as the ship that the last remnants of humanity are travelling through space on constantly changes configuration, recycling old parts while building new ones. Crospinal’s body alters from a disabled body in a space suit that recycles his nutrients, to a gradually stripped body exposed to all of the biological contaminants and biological wonders around him, and constantly rebuilt by machines to match an able-bodied expected norm. Crospinal and others are constantly haunted by a past that they can’t recall, erased from the minds of the passengers who came from old Earth and not taught to the new human beings who are born on the ship from embryos.
A father and son text, Head Full of Mountains manifests the uncertainty and confusion following the death of a parent and the re-shaping of one’s understanding of the world as one realises that their parent’s viewpoint is singular and does not encompass the range of potential ‘truths’ about interpreting the world. This is a coming-of-age text wrapped in the end of days, a coming of the end.
To read a longer version of this review, visit my website at http://speculatingcanada.ca/2015/01/2...
A father and son text, Head Full of Mountains manifests the uncertainty and confusion following the death of a parent and the re-shaping of one’s understanding of the world as one realises that their parent’s viewpoint is singular and does not encompass the range of potential ‘truths’ about interpreting the world. This is a coming-of-age text wrapped in the end of days, a coming of the end.
To read a longer version of this review, visit my website at http://speculatingcanada.ca/2015/01/2...
July 7, 2014
Like a lot of Hayward's fiction, this novel interleaves a theme of flawed and broken humanity on all levels: physical deformity, mental discontinuity, plans gone aft agley, terrible lack of foresight, and is also a nod to the persistence of life in all its unique shape and individual striving. Hayward's protagonists, here and elsewhere, achieve an ultimate triumph, on their own, equally flawed terms, and his stories always remind me how the perfect and the ideal are often the enemies of the good and the true.
And, like a lot of Hayward's fiction, it's not a pleasant read, but a rewarding one, if only for the imagery, that sticks with you long after you put the book down. I don't like to impose a parable on books like this one, but it leaves me with an appreciation for the difficulty of taking on the form of life and of family in a world that is suffering from the wear and tear of lofty dreams and overweening desires. It says something about art and the artist, the inability of the final work to ever match the original intent, and, like raising children, how you need to let go of your creation before you're ready.
And, like a lot of Hayward's fiction, it's not a pleasant read, but a rewarding one, if only for the imagery, that sticks with you long after you put the book down. I don't like to impose a parable on books like this one, but it leaves me with an appreciation for the difficulty of taking on the form of life and of family in a world that is suffering from the wear and tear of lofty dreams and overweening desires. It says something about art and the artist, the inability of the final work to ever match the original intent, and, like raising children, how you need to let go of your creation before you're ready.
January 23, 2015
Very well written in terms of artistry and the weaving together of words to form an otherworldly narrative detached from anything resembling our own reality. At times, it made me feel a profound sense of the temporary nature of our existence, both as individuals and as a species.
However, I took a star away because I felt the author could have done a slightly better job of giving the reader context and understanding. It wasn't the timeline jumping or world jumping in and of themselves so much as the lack of descriptors given that ground a reader in the moment with the protagonist that I had issue with.
Overall I enjoyed the experience, although I hoped for an ending that provided more purpose to the journey as a whole.
However, I took a star away because I felt the author could have done a slightly better job of giving the reader context and understanding. It wasn't the timeline jumping or world jumping in and of themselves so much as the lack of descriptors given that ground a reader in the moment with the protagonist that I had issue with.
Overall I enjoyed the experience, although I hoped for an ending that provided more purpose to the journey as a whole.
August 16, 2014
Brent Hayward may be the best science fiction writer out there right now
For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/head-f... and follow me on Twitter @josenher
For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/head-f... and follow me on Twitter @josenher
December 27, 2014
Weird.
There were many parts I liked, but I am certain I didn't follow any of the actual story line, whatever it was. It was definitely ethereal and eerie and I loved the feel of it, but I just finished it and I can't tell you anything that happened except what it said on the back of the book.
There were many parts I liked, but I am certain I didn't follow any of the actual story line, whatever it was. It was definitely ethereal and eerie and I loved the feel of it, but I just finished it and I can't tell you anything that happened except what it said on the back of the book.
January 25, 2016
wow, reading again
April 20, 2020
Interesting attempt at something high concept, just not for me.
Read
September 30, 2022Trigger & Content Warnings:
Racism
Death of a parent
Colonialisation
Racism
Death of a parent
Colonialisation
February 16, 2019
270 pages, that’s how long I followed the protagonist around a (literally) amorphous setting, with no sense of motivation or purpose. I’m tired. It’s time to stop when you start hoping the lead character dies—I don’t care at all what happens to him and at least it would be some kind of action. It’s like the Odyssey except with no destination and not at all heroic. I kept at it so long because it’s a creative setting and the author can write (if not pace a plot or create a sympathetic protagonist) and it reminded me of the film Pandorum and the novel Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. But this was not of that quality. And it just got so tiresome: aimless wandering & flashbacks interspersed with reveals that raise more questions than they answer. Moaning and whinging and daddy issues. I wanted to quit about every 50 pages, then... a reveal or some action. But I just don’t care anymore. This book made me angry because I felt manipulated by the author: he cheats, revealing things the character knows from the beginning only much later on. His writing is like the setting: smoke and ghosts and nothing solid underneath. I felt jerked around. As a reader, that is the thing I resent most so I won’t read anything else by this author.
July 28, 2014
This review and others are available on my blog.
Head Full of Mountains was an unexpectedly lyrical novel set at the end of time. Crospinal has spent his life keeping his father company, living in a world of machines and secrets, untouched and heartbroken. As his father slowly dies, the machines die with him, leaving Crospinal alone and uncertain with a task and purpose he cannot understand, and was never explained.
The novel follows his confused, uncertain entrance into a world he was unprepared for and doesn't understand. There are a growing number of hints that he is not what he thinks he is, and his father was not entirely truthful. The central mysteries of Crospinal and the world are teased out slowly. This is a novel of ideas that never quite spells things out but trusts in the reader's intelligence. We see the world through at a remove through Crospinal's eyes. He doesn't have a frame of reference for the world he finds himself in, and likewise the reader doesn't have a reference point for his perspective.
Head Full of Mountains is a dark interrogation of what it means to be human, what it means to be broken filtered through an at times meandering story of an equally broken world, one that demands and deserves a great deal of attention.
**Received copy from NetGalley for Review
Head Full of Mountains was an unexpectedly lyrical novel set at the end of time. Crospinal has spent his life keeping his father company, living in a world of machines and secrets, untouched and heartbroken. As his father slowly dies, the machines die with him, leaving Crospinal alone and uncertain with a task and purpose he cannot understand, and was never explained.
The novel follows his confused, uncertain entrance into a world he was unprepared for and doesn't understand. There are a growing number of hints that he is not what he thinks he is, and his father was not entirely truthful. The central mysteries of Crospinal and the world are teased out slowly. This is a novel of ideas that never quite spells things out but trusts in the reader's intelligence. We see the world through at a remove through Crospinal's eyes. He doesn't have a frame of reference for the world he finds himself in, and likewise the reader doesn't have a reference point for his perspective.
Head Full of Mountains is a dark interrogation of what it means to be human, what it means to be broken filtered through an at times meandering story of an equally broken world, one that demands and deserves a great deal of attention.
**Received copy from NetGalley for Review
February 19, 2016
Disappointing. It started off interesting, as I liked puzzling out what exactly was going on, but Crospinal quickly grew tiresome and I could barely stand him by the halfway point.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews