Turn

by David Podlipny

There is no wind, save for the turbulence generated by the wind turbines up on the Core’s towering concrete walls, dividing the once flourishing metropolis. The rays of the sun are blocked by pollution, except right above the Core, which have drones to scatter it. The seas are dead. But, according to Sono’s grandpa, the spirits of the seas are still alive. They’re everywhere. He even has an empty Olympic-size swimming pool in his backyard to accommodate them.

Unlike Sono, who lives in what on the outside resembles a city, his grandpa, Edgar, lives in a little domed hut made out of concrete, surrounded by broken pieces of the same material for as far as the eyes can see. Edgar is a shaman, a recluse and, though lovable, he is also a huge pain in the ass. Or, to put it more accurately, Edgar is more of a pain in Sono’s brain, for he can never come to terms with his outlandish, paradoxical, and ridiculous viewpoints on just about every subject. He is by far the biggest conundrum Sono has ever encountered. Until he meets Turn…

73 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 18, 2015

About the author

David Podlipny is an avid and at times reckless self-experimenter living in Stockholm, where he also does most of his writing.

Reviews

[Sadie Forsythe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those stories that is trying so hard to be something significant that it undermines itself and becomes substance-less instead. I liked Sono and his grandfather. I liked that you could feel their affection for each other. It was almost enough to overcome how very staged their conversations were. Like Podlipny was just desperate to be seen as witty and insightful. But in the end it wasn't enough to carry the story.

The thing is that I would have put up with overly sarcastic banter and stiff, PURPLE prose but the book had no discernible plot. There is a lot of explaining the world, but no reason that we're there following Sono in the first place. What's more, you can feel from a very early stage how the book will end—in some predictably unpredictable strangeness that leaves the reader wondering WTF they just read and what the point was. I might not have guessed exactly what twist of reality would be dropped in the readers lap, but I saw the 'let me blow your mind with the unexpected' coming from a very long way off and was just as disappointed by it as I expected to be. Had it managed to pull the random discussions together, it could have redeemed the book. But it didn't.

In the end, I finished Turn thinking, "Well, that was a collection of random words that went nowhere and accomplished nothing." Maybe it was just too esoteric for me. Maybe I'm not smart enough for it. Whatever, it was prettily written but that's about it.

[S.K. Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sono visits his grandfather Edgar, a reclusive shaman and meets a strange girl called Turn. I thought that the dialogue between Sono and his grandfather was good and I was intrigued to find out who Turn was. It was well written. The one issue I would have is that we are thrown into this new world and it's not 100% clear from the beginning. It isn't named, all we know is that it seems to be a broken world. I thought it could have had a bit more info and background at the beginning, but overall it was a nice story.

[Aly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short book but it was not bad at all. I would've liked a little more information about the world the book is in and maybe some more background. But I enjoyed the story and I thought Turn was a interesting character. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*