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Benjamin
Sometimes, hope is a yellow balloon named Benjamin. Life kinda sucks for Benjamin.
The mall shouldn’t be a dangerous place. You shouldn’t have to fear green men abducting you and feeding you to a tentacle monster. You shouldn’t have to fear the anaconda that serves as the staircase to the movie theater. And you shouldn’t have to face off against ice cream men with a strange knowledge of black holes. But if you’re Benjamin – a sentient yellow balloon – or the Boy, his headless chubby teen sidekick, you have to fear all those things. Because this mall is sick, and it’s your job to heal it, or go insane trying.
The mall shouldn’t be a dangerous place. You shouldn’t have to fear green men abducting you and feeding you to a tentacle monster. You shouldn’t have to fear the anaconda that serves as the staircase to the movie theater. And you shouldn’t have to face off against ice cream men with a strange knowledge of black holes. But if you’re Benjamin – a sentient yellow balloon – or the Boy, his headless chubby teen sidekick, you have to fear all those things. Because this mall is sick, and it’s your job to heal it, or go insane trying.
- GenresBizarro Fiction
88 pages, Paperback
Published November 5, 2015
2 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 23, 2015
A tale of a balloon and his Boy.
An uncommonly strong debut novella.
An otherwise awesome story that suffers from lackluster editing at points.
I've worked in publishing for nearly a decade, so I know how these things go: Late nights. Long hours. Deadlines. Down-to-the-last-minute changes. That moment when all parties involved need to just LET GO and fire up the presses. But a book worth publishing is a book worth publishing properly, and sadly I'm afraid that's just not what happened here.
Seriously, this was one of the most humorous, imaginative, and at times quite beautiful tales I've read in a real long time. Proença has a unique voice and a captivating style, and he has produced a book that does justice to them both. However, the copy I read had quite a few typos, punctuation errors, and inconsistencies scattered throughout – a solid final draft, but one that definitely could've used a closer proofing. Sure, Proença is probably more used to writing Portuguese, but this cat writes better English than many North American writers I've encountered. Based on this, my suspicion is that his book was simply rushed to print, sans the attention it clearly needed/deserved.
If the NBAS is meant to showcase the work of up-and-coming Bizarro writers, putting their best faces forward for the whole wide world to see, then surely it could do a better job? This level of quality is probably adequate for the established fan-base, who are going to buy/enjoy these books regardless, but it is not going to help them be appreciated by a wider, more discerning audience. Perhaps it is worth remembering that Bizarro isn't exactly intended for mass consumption in the first place, but that shouldn't exempt it from adhering to certain basic publishing standards. In any case, half-assed editing makes us all look bad.
With that said, let me just say – you'll be missing out on one hell of a read if I've somehow managed to dissuade you from picking up a copy of Benjamin yourself. Four stars for the story, which is probably unlike anything you've ever read before, and two stars for the uneven coat of polish applied to the final product. Proença shows a ton of promise for such a young writer, and I for one am definitely looking forward to his future efforts.
An uncommonly strong debut novella.
An otherwise awesome story that suffers from lackluster editing at points.
I've worked in publishing for nearly a decade, so I know how these things go: Late nights. Long hours. Deadlines. Down-to-the-last-minute changes. That moment when all parties involved need to just LET GO and fire up the presses. But a book worth publishing is a book worth publishing properly, and sadly I'm afraid that's just not what happened here.
Seriously, this was one of the most humorous, imaginative, and at times quite beautiful tales I've read in a real long time. Proença has a unique voice and a captivating style, and he has produced a book that does justice to them both. However, the copy I read had quite a few typos, punctuation errors, and inconsistencies scattered throughout – a solid final draft, but one that definitely could've used a closer proofing. Sure, Proença is probably more used to writing Portuguese, but this cat writes better English than many North American writers I've encountered. Based on this, my suspicion is that his book was simply rushed to print, sans the attention it clearly needed/deserved.
If the NBAS is meant to showcase the work of up-and-coming Bizarro writers, putting their best faces forward for the whole wide world to see, then surely it could do a better job? This level of quality is probably adequate for the established fan-base, who are going to buy/enjoy these books regardless, but it is not going to help them be appreciated by a wider, more discerning audience. Perhaps it is worth remembering that Bizarro isn't exactly intended for mass consumption in the first place, but that shouldn't exempt it from adhering to certain basic publishing standards. In any case, half-assed editing makes us all look bad.
With that said, let me just say – you'll be missing out on one hell of a read if I've somehow managed to dissuade you from picking up a copy of Benjamin yourself. Four stars for the story, which is probably unlike anything you've ever read before, and two stars for the uneven coat of polish applied to the final product. Proença shows a ton of promise for such a young writer, and I for one am definitely looking forward to his future efforts.
December 21, 2015
Benjamin is a balloon on quest to figure out the nature of his very existence.
It’s weird. It’s really weird. It follows a sorta dreamlike causality, where one action doesn’t *necessarily* beget the next…but at the same time, it does. Absurdist. Existential. Bizarro with a capital ‘B’. Writing like this can go one of two ways: it’s either going to be disjointed nonsense, or, against all odds, it's going to work.
And, by God, Benjamin definitely works.
To fans (or those familiar) with Bizarro as a genre, I would say Pedro Proenca’s storytelling is spiritually akin to Kevin L. Donihe’s - meaning, we get no-holds-barred absurdism (with a tiny dashes of horror) delivered to you by way of fast-paced scene changes and lip-curling humor. It’s fairly obvious that Pedro is a fan of this kind of writing, perhaps even a student of it (which I guess wouldn’t be a stretch, since this is an NBAS book) and it SHOWS in every peculiar paragraph.
What really sets this book in particular apart are the “meta” elements that spring up throughout: the main character knows he is in a story being told, he knows he’s in a book, we even get a chapter where we get an excerpt of the book about his book within this book. WRAP YOUR MIND AROUND THAT! Ironically, by poking holes in the fictional world itself and saying "Hey guys, isn't this WEIRD?" it gives us, the readers, one of the best handles on understanding this crazy story and an easy access point into Benjamin’s plight.
There a few grammatical/typographical flaws in the text that were minimally distracting, but numerous enough that it merits a mention, so let this be a simple warning so as not to let a minor thing like THAT ruin your enjoyment of this book.
All in all, a nice debut from a budding talent. I KNOW Pedro’s got a lot more stories in him to tell, and I’m excited to see what he’s got in store for us in the future.
It’s weird. It’s really weird. It follows a sorta dreamlike causality, where one action doesn’t *necessarily* beget the next…but at the same time, it does. Absurdist. Existential. Bizarro with a capital ‘B’. Writing like this can go one of two ways: it’s either going to be disjointed nonsense, or, against all odds, it's going to work.
And, by God, Benjamin definitely works.
To fans (or those familiar) with Bizarro as a genre, I would say Pedro Proenca’s storytelling is spiritually akin to Kevin L. Donihe’s - meaning, we get no-holds-barred absurdism (with a tiny dashes of horror) delivered to you by way of fast-paced scene changes and lip-curling humor. It’s fairly obvious that Pedro is a fan of this kind of writing, perhaps even a student of it (which I guess wouldn’t be a stretch, since this is an NBAS book) and it SHOWS in every peculiar paragraph.
What really sets this book in particular apart are the “meta” elements that spring up throughout: the main character knows he is in a story being told, he knows he’s in a book, we even get a chapter where we get an excerpt of the book about his book within this book. WRAP YOUR MIND AROUND THAT! Ironically, by poking holes in the fictional world itself and saying "Hey guys, isn't this WEIRD?" it gives us, the readers, one of the best handles on understanding this crazy story and an easy access point into Benjamin’s plight.
There a few grammatical/typographical flaws in the text that were minimally distracting, but numerous enough that it merits a mention, so let this be a simple warning so as not to let a minor thing like THAT ruin your enjoyment of this book.
All in all, a nice debut from a budding talent. I KNOW Pedro’s got a lot more stories in him to tell, and I’m excited to see what he’s got in store for us in the future.
July 25, 2016
I feel like I just fell down a rabbit hole and busted Donald Bartheleme smoking weed with David Lynch. Why the hell didn't anybody read this before? I was expecting a cute and quirky magic realism story for some reason and what I got what a massive (88 pages long), trapezoid philosophical quandary about the meaning of life, the backbone of good and evil, math (lots of math) and the foundation of reality itself. There's some Ballardian comment in there as well about the virtual nature of consumerism. I read this book on a plane ride and it almost knocked me down 22 000 feet and punched a hole through the fabric of realism.
This was awesome. I'm not sure I understood everything about it yet, but what I grokked was pretty great. Expect to see this one in my year-end list. Lots of people in creative circle know who Pedro Proença is, but nobody has read him yet. It needs to change. I'll review this bad boy in greater detail on www.deadendfollies.com after Ladies Months, but if you're into literary enigmas, drop whatever you're doing and order BENJAMIN riiiight now!
This was awesome. I'm not sure I understood everything about it yet, but what I grokked was pretty great. Expect to see this one in my year-end list. Lots of people in creative circle know who Pedro Proença is, but nobody has read him yet. It needs to change. I'll review this bad boy in greater detail on www.deadendfollies.com after Ladies Months, but if you're into literary enigmas, drop whatever you're doing and order BENJAMIN riiiight now!
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March 27, 2020I wrote this, and I quite like it.
March 22, 2016
Dreamlike and enjoyably disorienting, this surreal story of a sentient balloon and his boy touches on such themes as self-discovery, companionship, good vs. evil, finding purpose in the face of purposelessness, and storytelling itself. A solid bizarro debut.
Unfortunately, an excessive number of typos and grammatical errors did distract from the story. With the flexibility of POD, I hope someone can jump back in there at some point to clean things up and give this book the editorial attention it deserves.
Unfortunately, an excessive number of typos and grammatical errors did distract from the story. With the flexibility of POD, I hope someone can jump back in there at some point to clean things up and give this book the editorial attention it deserves.
August 7, 2016
A surreal and disorienting tale that in all is a solid debut for Pedro Proenca. Existential, deep, absurd and humorous, there is so much packed within the 88 pages, and somehow it all works at the conclusion. While I was impressed with the content, I was disappointed with the editing. I generally ignore typos and grammatical errors, but this one had too many for me to look the other way, enough to drop my rating by a star. I hope this doesn't dissuade anyone from reading, as Benjamin has a lot to offer, ensuring that I will be reading Proenca's future output.
October 18, 2015
This is why one reads Bizarro. It is unpredictable, completely absurd, and ALMOST nonsensical -- but not quite. And therein lies the power of BENJAMIN. A great Bizarro book that really lives up to the name.
February 13, 2016
A solid debut from a kid who I think will be going places in the world of Bizarro. Proença's wit, irreverence, and surrealistic tendencies set him apart from the flock. He's a real honest weirdo and we need more of those around here.
September 28, 2017
Review coming shortly. Enjoyed this book quite a lot. Biggest qualms were the editing.
November 29, 2015
If you look at my Goodreads reviews you'll see that I was a huge fan and supporter of Bizarro fiction. I had become bored with popular fiction and bizarro was exactly what I had been looking for. It was insane and didn't follow any rules. Unfortunately I began to drift away from the genre but occasionally I'd peek back in when the right book came along.
Pedro was kind enough to give me a copy of Benjamin and I have to say that this guy truly loves this genre and it shows in his writing. Instead of emulating his heroes in the genre he takes that influence and creates something unique and truly bizarre. This is why I started reading bizarro. As a debut it's quite strong and you can see that Pedro is finding his voice, but make no mistake, this is a debut to be proud of.
Benjamin is a story about destiny, or maybe it's about reincarnation. Pedro has given us a hero who also happens to be a balloon. As the story builds and evolves we see that Benjamin is a very special balloon. He has a purpose and that is where the story truly reaches its apex. As a story teller Pedro knows how to capture his readers. It's a story that borders on the absurd, but that's the interesting part of the. There's something here that anyone can pick up on and give their own interpretation of what Benjamin and the Nexus is. I have a feeling about Pedro. He's going to be a rising star in the Bizarro genre. It's a fascinating debut that shows us a writer with a bright future ahead of him.
Pedro was kind enough to give me a copy of Benjamin and I have to say that this guy truly loves this genre and it shows in his writing. Instead of emulating his heroes in the genre he takes that influence and creates something unique and truly bizarre. This is why I started reading bizarro. As a debut it's quite strong and you can see that Pedro is finding his voice, but make no mistake, this is a debut to be proud of.
Benjamin is a story about destiny, or maybe it's about reincarnation. Pedro has given us a hero who also happens to be a balloon. As the story builds and evolves we see that Benjamin is a very special balloon. He has a purpose and that is where the story truly reaches its apex. As a story teller Pedro knows how to capture his readers. It's a story that borders on the absurd, but that's the interesting part of the. There's something here that anyone can pick up on and give their own interpretation of what Benjamin and the Nexus is. I have a feeling about Pedro. He's going to be a rising star in the Bizarro genre. It's a fascinating debut that shows us a writer with a bright future ahead of him.
November 27, 2015
I didn't know what to expect going into my first NBA book, as all I knew was I enjoyed the guy posting his topless photos on peoples' Facebook statuses, an action in my mind no doubt warranting a read of any book he might put out. So that's what I did and I wasn't disappointed. The book blends just the right amount of a kind of dreamy surrealism and bizarro, the imagery gently playing through my mind like some weird independent film. It's a very fun book.
October 24, 2015
I was a beta reader for this and I love this book for the themes and just straight weirdness. It was really great for someone's first book. I am excited to see what Pedro does next.
May 28, 2018
Dumb but entertaining in parts. ..
...Some cool and unexpected transitions which I appreciated. Kinda liked the ending too. There's always something you can take from books like this. Good random ideas here and there.
...Some cool and unexpected transitions which I appreciated. Kinda liked the ending too. There's always something you can take from books like this. Good random ideas here and there.
February 20, 2016
Benjamin – Pedro Proenca
I was always going to love this book. I love existential crises adventure books – ask Garrett, he knows. So, it was with baited breath and an open heart that I sat down with this book. And Pedro delivered – oh, boy did he deliver.
Benjamin is a balloon who, along with his headless teenaged side-kick, witness green men loot the bookshop he is being held, sort of, hostage in by Karen (a woman who thinks Benjamin is her long dead husband), and that's just the opened salvo in this wonderful adventure. Soon, Benjamin is called on by the Janitor to undertake a quest for the very soul of the mall, against the unknowable Monster.
I find existential books to be about the most fundamental things which make us human. And what could be more human than a sentient balloon and his headless best friend? Well, practically anything, but in Pedro's capable hands it works. Existential quest books are a search for meaning. Who are we? Why are we? What are we supposed to be doing? What the hell is “good”? Or, as Pedro puts it, shouldn't there be more than this?
It owes a little nod to A Lightbulb's Lament by Grant Wamack, but that doesn't lessen anything Pedro has done here. And remember folks, he's done all this in a second language.
From it's benign beginnings at the front of the mall, to its cataclysmic climax beyond the realms of reality the whole thing was everything I hoped it would be when I stymied up my hard earned cash to buy it. I can honestly say, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Pedro, bem feito. Ele foi delicioso, bonito e surpreedente!
(I hope I got that last bit right)
I was always going to love this book. I love existential crises adventure books – ask Garrett, he knows. So, it was with baited breath and an open heart that I sat down with this book. And Pedro delivered – oh, boy did he deliver.
Benjamin is a balloon who, along with his headless teenaged side-kick, witness green men loot the bookshop he is being held, sort of, hostage in by Karen (a woman who thinks Benjamin is her long dead husband), and that's just the opened salvo in this wonderful adventure. Soon, Benjamin is called on by the Janitor to undertake a quest for the very soul of the mall, against the unknowable Monster.
I find existential books to be about the most fundamental things which make us human. And what could be more human than a sentient balloon and his headless best friend? Well, practically anything, but in Pedro's capable hands it works. Existential quest books are a search for meaning. Who are we? Why are we? What are we supposed to be doing? What the hell is “good”? Or, as Pedro puts it, shouldn't there be more than this?
It owes a little nod to A Lightbulb's Lament by Grant Wamack, but that doesn't lessen anything Pedro has done here. And remember folks, he's done all this in a second language.
From it's benign beginnings at the front of the mall, to its cataclysmic climax beyond the realms of reality the whole thing was everything I hoped it would be when I stymied up my hard earned cash to buy it. I can honestly say, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Pedro, bem feito. Ele foi delicioso, bonito e surpreedente!
(I hope I got that last bit right)
October 1, 2016
Review forthcoming
November 28, 2017
It resonates wonderfully with my asperger and I love it
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews