Abuser

by Morgenrede

100 pages, Paperback

Published January 12, 2024

Reviews

[Colin Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess the most important thing to say about this collection, which reads if I have my ear to the ground near the right spot like an alt-lit monograph, uploaded straight from a smartphone, with shifts in perspective and genre and meticulously sloppy (thank you, Adam Johnson?), is that the tone is consistently its author's and it contains great fucking stories. Do not be dismayed by the format, grandpa, it is just Morgenrede upending his shopping.

This is the second book I have read by the author, both exactly what I want from an indie book: unexpected and sometimes brilliant, setting up perplexed, stymied narrators to talk on the things that go on in their often horrifying passage through this world. This is exactly like my Wisconsin and Minnesota buddies talk, except that it is ten times wilder, I assume because these are southern people, they do not hibernate, never rest.

I imagine Morgenrede writing this: on the bus, at the pinball bar, in a social worker's or dentist's office, laughing maniacally as the other patients (patients of life) just cringe from him and clutch their children or purses. Check it out. If you doubt me, glance through the ToC. When I saw what was in store I made a special date for this book, and set aside a Saturday to read it. Highly recommended.

[Downward · Rating 4 out of 5]

movements between poetry and prose here that captures a vibe in a moment kind of guided by titles that set a particular scene or mood, definitely tied to a generation whose drugs have become a little more unpleasant, a little more paranoid. a post 9/11 internet chemical poetry. the cover is reminiscent of the film begotten, which is referenced in the text and feels like that bleak and mutilated tone that the whole thing is going for. there's little connective tissue outside of the bleakness undercut by some humor, so ymmv depending on your state of mind.