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Babylon
Simultaneously haunting and humorous, Babylon is a Southern Gothic tale of depression, despair, religion, dead crows, and a slowly approaching wild fire.
Daniel had moved to San Francisco seven years ago with the hopes of becoming a successful novelist. With the failure of that dream and the notion that the schizophrenia he suffered from in his youth was coming back with a vengeance, Daniel leaves the Bay Area and heads back to his home town of Babylon in the West Texas desert. Although the loathing he felt for the town as a child has not subsided, he falls ever deeper into the routine of existence in a dead town, as his psychological symptoms spiral out of control and he feels hounded by everything from UFOs to snake-handling preachers, to the devil himself. Simultaneously haunting and humorous, Babylon is a Southern Gothic tale of depression, despair, religion, dead crows, and a slowly approaching wild fire.
Daniel had moved to San Francisco seven years ago with the hopes of becoming a successful novelist. With the failure of that dream and the notion that the schizophrenia he suffered from in his youth was coming back with a vengeance, Daniel leaves the Bay Area and heads back to his home town of Babylon in the West Texas desert. Although the loathing he felt for the town as a child has not subsided, he falls ever deeper into the routine of existence in a dead town, as his psychological symptoms spiral out of control and he feels hounded by everything from UFOs to snake-handling preachers, to the devil himself. Simultaneously haunting and humorous, Babylon is a Southern Gothic tale of depression, despair, religion, dead crows, and a slowly approaching wild fire.
174 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 12, 2010
Reviewing for Zine World
Billed as a "southern gothic" novel, this managed to hold my interest despite the fact that I do not enjoy "unreliable narrators" or protagonists who are crazy or going crazy.
This begins in San Francisco, where Daniel works at a restaurant--a job he loses as he slides into depression and attempts suicide. Saved by his roommate, he decides to move back home to Babylon, Texas, which he had left seven years before.
He moves into his parent's old place, gets a job at the gas station and has various interactions with the townsfolk: Dale who is drinking himself to death, Ethan who can't stand to wear clothes, Doc who wants Daniel to stay on his meds, Betty who longs for something different to happen, and others. Daniel meets a mysterious stranger who listens to old blues records on the porch of an empty house. After every weird encounter, Daniel wakes up in his room. Soon, he becomes intrigued with a snake-handling church outside of town and with leaving carcasses on his grandfather's grave.
There is tension here, though not nearly enough to keep the reader in suspense, on the tenterhooks as it were. This lack can be put down to the fact that the novel has no real conflict, a character who does not change throughout the story or really confront anything about himself or the world around him. We don't get a novel so much as a first-person character sketch with some quirky or creepy characters and small events. There is little to like about Daniel, either, so his fate didn't really concern me (see lack of tension).
There's something here, but this wasn't ready to publish.
Billed as a "southern gothic" novel, this managed to hold my interest despite the fact that I do not enjoy "unreliable narrators" or protagonists who are crazy or going crazy.
This begins in San Francisco, where Daniel works at a restaurant--a job he loses as he slides into depression and attempts suicide. Saved by his roommate, he decides to move back home to Babylon, Texas, which he had left seven years before.
He moves into his parent's old place, gets a job at the gas station and has various interactions with the townsfolk: Dale who is drinking himself to death, Ethan who can't stand to wear clothes, Doc who wants Daniel to stay on his meds, Betty who longs for something different to happen, and others. Daniel meets a mysterious stranger who listens to old blues records on the porch of an empty house. After every weird encounter, Daniel wakes up in his room. Soon, he becomes intrigued with a snake-handling church outside of town and with leaving carcasses on his grandfather's grave.
There is tension here, though not nearly enough to keep the reader in suspense, on the tenterhooks as it were. This lack can be put down to the fact that the novel has no real conflict, a character who does not change throughout the story or really confront anything about himself or the world around him. We don't get a novel so much as a first-person character sketch with some quirky or creepy characters and small events. There is little to like about Daniel, either, so his fate didn't really concern me (see lack of tension).
There's something here, but this wasn't ready to publish.
March 21, 2010
"Babylon" is not a ‘story’ about a guy who goes through some ‘conflicts’ and Learns About Life. Instead, it’s an intense description of a young man with schizophrenia who returns to his partially burned down Texan hometown and lives there until he can live there no more. It’s written with beauty and economy, and it captures a mindstate and an environment perfectly.
Babylon is a fantastic example of a kind of Zola-esque empirical fiction: a kind of simulation. A completely realized character enters a bizarre but credible environment and threatens to throw it out of stasis. The intruder must be dealt with, like a virus. It’s a very bold story telling technique, and it is accomplished with enormous style. Gree also pulls off the difficult feat of portraying an increasingly hallucinatory and numbed lead character without alienating the reader. His rituals and the imprint he makes on the town define him, even as he seems to withdraw further from his own life.
It’s a weird pleasure to sightsee a crippled world while a man slowly dies in it, but it is an unforgettable pleasure all the same. And I didn’t even mention how funny it is at times. You’ll see.
Babylon is a fantastic example of a kind of Zola-esque empirical fiction: a kind of simulation. A completely realized character enters a bizarre but credible environment and threatens to throw it out of stasis. The intruder must be dealt with, like a virus. It’s a very bold story telling technique, and it is accomplished with enormous style. Gree also pulls off the difficult feat of portraying an increasingly hallucinatory and numbed lead character without alienating the reader. His rituals and the imprint he makes on the town define him, even as he seems to withdraw further from his own life.
It’s a weird pleasure to sightsee a crippled world while a man slowly dies in it, but it is an unforgettable pleasure all the same. And I didn’t even mention how funny it is at times. You’ll see.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews