UnderSurface

by Mitch Cullin, Peter I. Chang (Illustrator)

From acclaimed author Mitch Cullin, whose previous books have been described by The New York Times as "brilliant and beautiful...rhythmic and telling, " comes Undersurface, a chilling page-turner that recalls Alfred Hitchcock and novelist Kobo Abe at his most existential. Probing the complex relationship between outward appearances and inward states of profound want, it is a story that at turns is intriguing and sordid, poetic and allusive, told in a compact yet intense manner, offering a distinctive take on a society far more complicated than what Americans often gather from their televisions and newspaper headlines.Based roughly on real events, this fictional account follows its oblique protagonist as he moves through the loitering subculture found within public toilets and pornographic arcades, and, in the process, finds himself loosing everything he values, including his own grip on reality.

A mystery of both memory and mistaken identity, Undersurface is a starkly written, haunting novel about double lives, compulsion, and human sexuality, where secret desires lead to devastating circumstances.

As the carefully crafted plot twists in ever suspenseful directions, we are drawn toward a startling, possibly unavoidable conclusion, one which resonates long after the book has been set aside.

Genres: Fiction

166 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Mitch Cullin is an American writer. He is the author of seven novels, and one short story collection. He currently resides in Arcadia, California and Tokyo, Japan with his partner and frequent collaborator Peter I. Chang. His books have been translated into over 10 languages.

Reviews

[Brian James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a novel for everyone. In some ways, I think that should be preface of every Mitch Cullin novel. Because though he writes with a stark and beautiful prose, he often addresses subject matter which deals with the fringes of human existence. Under Surface is no different. This is a haunting portrait of the shadowy side of human sexuality, and the base desire that drives one to do something he wouldn't ordinarily do...and then to repeat it over and over until the thrill wears off and something deeper must emerge to take it's place.

At it's most basic level, Under Surface is a cautionary tale dealing with the dangers of suppressed desire finding secretive outlets. After growing less and less cautious about his illicit rendezvous, the man character finds him in the wrong place at the wrong time and consequently loses everything. But it's Cullin's gift for storytelling that makes this story compelling, by allowing the mystery unravel in bits and pieces.

On another level, this book is a challenge to morality, and what we consider right and wrong and the way those conventions push individuals into unsafe choices. But also is about how those moral complexities create and breed darker desires within us, and how those desires can make us lose sight of what we truly value.

As I said, this book may not be for everyone, but it probably should. We all have demons we must face through life. This is the kind of book that forces you to examine your own.

[Rachel Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was incredible. Cullin's insight into the human mind is amazing. His descriptions of the homeless and how they are perceived is realistic and troubling. The main character was raw and uncomfortably real. His sexual dabbling seemed like something that could happen in any bored middle-class man's world. The book starts with him as a nameless homeless man living underground and works it's way backwards, telling the story of how he got there.

[Arioch91 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not very polar in general, but the pitch of this novel had caught my eye and seemed to announce a book of great darkness or, if not, a very gloomy one.

And creepy it is. We are helplessly witnessing the decline of a man for whom the world is suddenly collapsing and, as the pages go by, everything is revealed.

Not super original, but he really devours himself.

[Alex Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cullin presents a kind of morality play, which doesn't seem to say very much other than to present the absoluteness of normalcy. As always his writing is superb. His main weakness here, I think, is the indulgence of depravity and shame that comes through. He spends so much time drawing this out that we have no other point of view from which to understand what is going on. The narrator's final scene is too easy, as though Cullins could not imagine any other ending. Maybe I missed something but this seemed more fitting as the first and second act to a larger work. Cullins also has the sudden introjection of the protagonist's name into the work, which seems like a lapse in consistency. Why do we suddenly find out his name? If it is a tale of morality then we need to have some kind of workable lesson from this. I did enjoy reading it, but this book seemed too simple, not at all worthy of the dramatic character explorations Cullins presents in other works.

Frankly I was disappointed. The book is well written, but there is an implicit lack of direction. If anything the work is too self indulgent for it to be anything other than a sad tale that is dramatized as being epic when in fact it seems very contrived... even though Cullin does a good job at controlling ambiance and tone.