Irrationalia

by Andersen Prunty

When three friends receive a startlingly incoherent invitation to a “Reeyoonyun” they seize upon it to break up the monotony of their middle-aged lives. The host, one of their old friends, seems battered and out of it. The maid acts like a weird robot. The host confesses the house might not actually be his. Over the course of a tense, bizarre evening, the friends soon realize the invitation was to something much more sinister than a reunion: the past. Twenty-five years ago, in 1993, the group experienced something on a summer night in the woods. They’ve done their best to forget about it but the repercussions of it have sent shockwaves through each of their lives. Now they must decide if they want to leave the past buried or dig it up and confront it and all of its mind-bending, life-altering horror.

Genres: Horror, Bizarro Fiction, Audiobook

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 22, 2018

About the author

Andersen Prunty lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He writes novels and short stories. Visit him at notandersenprunty.com, where he posts a free story every Friday.

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What brings out the worst in us?  Is it other people, or our own psychological demons begging to be released? In Irrationalia, something hungry and contagious is stalking a group of old friends.  Their reunion is marked by fleeting memories and conflagration.  The nucleus of the beast is just out of reach, and resolution proves equally elusive.  This is humanity at its lowest.  This is what we all want to see.    

[mrhh714 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slick as a screwdriver orifice in a corpses side. :)

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irrationalia is book exploring the thin line between madness, sanity, and social (un)reality. Within, you find characters trying to piece together a narrative that makes sense of their current predicament. But the truth is obscured by so many variables, as is the case in all of our lives. Herein, however, we get an element of supernatural mystery that adds to the characters’ confusion. For the reader, the supernatural elements add to the atmosphere as well as the complexity of the characters’ attempt to unravel exactly what is happening.

At the end I still wasn’t completely sure what had caused everything to happen, and that’s part of what makes the book good. Was their experience the result of internal issues, their social dynamic, or something beyond them? There’s plenty throughout to steer you towards any of those possibilities, but the autonomy of the reader is respected here.

The way the story weaves between the erotic and grotesque is really interesting. It’ll leave you a bit uneasy, but that’s what we’re here for right? If we wanted something sweet and simple, we’d be reading Dr. Seuss.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the cast of “St. Elmo’s Fire” was eaten by Cujo and half the cast was shat out into whatever that stupid Tom Cruise sex movie was and then they were gang raped by the dude from A Serbian Film this is pretty much what you would get.

Ok. This was nothing like any of that, but it sounded good in my head. Prunty is a sick pup (I have said that before) and I dig his stuff.

I'm wavering between 3 and four stars with this one. It's pretty much a 3.5 but I may need to think about it and let it gel.

[Kristopher Triana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prunty's Irrationalia is a reminder that you can't go home again, and this case, you really shouldn't. When a group of friends reunite after twenty years, bitterness and grudges surface more than sugar-sweet nostalgia, leading to a night of darkness and derangement not of this world. Though a short read, Prunty packs some hack n' slash power as he delves into the supernatural evil involved in his characters' history and hauls the reader on to a perverse, gruesome climax (pun intended) that will turn the stomachs of even horrorporn fans. Some elements of the plot confused me (particularly the maid and Chuck's rarely seen wife) but the overall effect was very satisfying and delightfully weird. Sexually depraved, misanthropic and downright twisted, Irrationalia is bound to please fans of horror, extreme or otherwise. I'll be reading more by this fiend, for sure.

[Christopher Lesko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Debbie. Yeh, definitely not the Little Debbie snack cakes. Although I’m kinda hungry for one now. And maybe I’ll wash it down with some bloody pussy juice. And then watch the new Bill Chappeau Netflix Special so I don’t feel like there’s something totally messed up with me after reading Irrationalia and loving it.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only really knew of Anderson Prunty from the title and blurb of one of his earlier books "Slag Attack" which wore its Bizarro fiction roots on its sleeve. "Irrationalia" by contrast came across instead as being pretty milquetoast. Four friends all getting together for a reunion, to hash out wounds and old histories?

Boring....

Oh I was wrong. I was so very, VERY wrong.

Right from the outset, the atmosphere of the book crawls with dread. There is something very wrong with the place the four have hooked up at. The maid is robotic, their host and invitee of the four Grant, comes across like something's crawling about inside his skin, wearing it like a suit and the vibe of the place reeks with unease.

The first third or so of the book establishes the mood and characters pretty solidly. Irrationalia fits into the same bucket of books as the works of Irvine Welsh or Brett Easton Ellis, a genre I like to call "Fuck-up fiction". Stories about screwed individuals making sense of their lives and either pulling themselves out of the muck or burying themselves so deep in their own shit that they'd need spelunking equipment to pull themselves out. And in that respect, Prunty doesn't disappoint. Each of the four - Sean, Lena, Edward & Grant - are screwed up in their own ways, to the point where they're their own worst enemy and their reunion is anything but cordial. Old grudges, old emotional wounds, old memories are all explored in various ways across the story and for the most part, it works.

It's in the second third where things start to ratchet up in a nasty way. Make no mistake, the pacing on this book is solid but its also a slow burn. For some, that can be a deal-breaker and if so, I wouldn't blame you. Personally I didn't mind it, because I was so invested in what was going to happen and also listening on audiobook made for a smoother ride. It is however during the second third where I did notice that Prunty handling of the characters was a little lopsided. Two of the minor characters - the maid Natalie and Sean's wife Lexi - really only show up at the start and end of the story and end up feeling like props more than characters. They are given some form of characterisation but its short and a little hollow.

And then we come to the final third of the book and holy fuck, I was not prepared for the ending. Throughout the story, there has been a supernatural angle teased at the happenings of the reunion, but its never outright stated. Is this a malevolent entity? Is this a folie a deux? Its hard to say. The prose gets almost dreamlike at times - despite at other times unfortunately delving into too much telling instead of showing - and by the end I wasn't entirely sure where I stood on what was going on.

But that ending....



Irrationalia can now join the small fanclub of stories I've read - alongside Chuck Palahniuk's story "Guts" - where I literally had to put the book down for a day just to take a breather. What happens in that ending....
I've read a lot of nasty things. And gore alone doesn't irk me.
But the intensity of the writing....
And the actual events that transpire...?

Certainly not gonna forget that shit anytime soon!

Irrationalia isn't perfect. Some of the writing is a little flat, and some of the characterisation is a little lopsided in favour of others and other times gets a little up its own arse for my liking. But the little things weren't enough to ruin the experience. If you like reading about fucked up people diving down fucked up rabbit holes, then give it a crack.

Or maybe not a crack, especially if you're planning on wedging a screwdriver in there....

[J. Peter W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were a few scenes in here where I caught myself smiling at things I shouldn't have. Three guys sodomizing a corpse is not something I should be smiling at. I'm still smiling. This book is crazy and I loved it.

[Lawrence FitzGerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid prose, deliciously transgressive.

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brain is mush! I'm scratching my head trying to make sense of this beautiful mess. The first half of the book made me so curious. When it finally gave me answers.... I don't know. I have no words. This book is so hard to review without spoilers. Before I begin the spoilers, let me say that when I thought the story would zig, it zagged into some paranormal monstrosity. It's basically a friend reunion story gone horribly wrong. these friends are bonded by a paranormal history, yet only one of them realize it. He reunites the group. Before everything is said and done they try to solve their problems by all of them screwing a corpse, simultaneously. Also, there's a demented miscarriage scene where all the friends drink from the bleeding vagina. Overall, the story ended up making sense. But it sure is a wild ride

[timj26 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic story of a group of friends facing the past
I like how that this could be a bad drug trip or mental illness causing you to question everything
Well narrated with a horrifying conclusion highly recommended
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good twisted sexual horror, but the closing chapters kinda lost me. Would read more from this author though.

[Jevgenij · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars, not because of disgusting (not so much) stuff, but because of complete lack of direction, meaning and proper development of the story.

[james gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read. My favorite of Prunty's thus far.