Pry

by Samantha Gorman

Future of Story Telling Prize - finalist, 2014
Available for download through the App Store for Apple products.

Pry open a troubled mind and hold its thoughts in your hands

Six years ago, James – a demolition expert – returned from the Gulf War. Explore James’ mind as his vision fails and his past collides with his present. PRY is a book without borders: a hybrid of cinema, gaming, and text. At any point, pinch James’ eyes open to witness his external world or pry apart the text of his thoughts to dive deeper into his subconscious. Through these and other unique reading interactions, unravel the fabric of memory and discover a story shaped by the lies we tell ourselves: lies revealed when you pull apart the narrative and read between the lines.

ebook

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible piece of experimental electronic literature, it combines visual elements, audio, and text to take literature's immersive power to a whole new level. We read the story from the point of view of an war veteran who grows increasingly blind and hallucinatory. It dramatises the unreliable narrator, allowing us to view different thoughts and memories as we reread and replay each chapter, changing when and for how long to open the narrator's eyes or delve into his thoughts, never knowing quite what is true and what isn't. Memory, like sight, is ever unreliable. As the narrator tells us at one point, "I repeat this story until it holds" - but a story which holds is not necessarily a true version of events. We are fully immersed in the narrator's worldview, frustratingly being unable to get a hold on reality. The novel/game take full advantage of the capabilities of the digital medium to achieve this, with, for instance, a chapter that must be read in braille and text which changes, shortens and lengthens as we discover more and more thoughts and (false?) memories. Pry is ultimately a story about how we are constantly crafting narratives to make sense of the world.

[Ville Verkkapuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting one. I've never experience anything like this before.
It was a experiment in storytelling. A world free to explore in multiple ways. Something to watch, something to read, something to play with. A mixture between a movie, a novel and a game.
At times the mechanics were delightful and worked very well with the story. Other times they were a bit of a nuisance, as you had to pinch your fingers and "open the eyes" all the time and wasn't so able to follow the story.
I'm aware there is still stuff to explore and I will continue to explore it. This is a perfect "book" to kill time in bathroom. I've read it all the way through, but many of the chapters have still stuff to discover.
I can only imagine how captivating this could be if the story and the world was a bit more appealing to me.
I need a Twin Peaks version of this book.

[Sarah]

I found Pry while planning a reading list for a class I am teaching in the spring. I can’t require students to have an iOS device, otherwise I would probably assign it because of all of the interesting ways it harnesses the tech to tell a complex narrative.