Title: The Parallax Groove
Author: Michael Loughrey
Release date: May 13, 2014
Rating: 4/5
Publisher: FeedARead.com
Book Summary:
Slip inside The Parallax Groove and revel in fiction free from the straightjacket of realism. Previously published in noteworthy literary magazines, these fourteen short stories are a mesmerizing extravaganza of phantasmagorical fables in which the recognisably realistic is infused with the inexplicable and the unexpected, and deconstructivism subverts the familiar order of perception into exquiste disarray. Singular, surreal, intense, illuminating, incandescent, jocular, offbeat, risque and satirical The Parallax Groove is an exhilarating odyssey for freethinkers and nonconformists who eschew the Disneyfication of literature.
The Parallax Groove is a collection of short stories written by Michael Loughrey. These stories had been published in other literary works previously, then joined together in an anthology all their own. As the book summary says, these short stories take a turns that you wouldn't expect. They bring reality and fantasy into a world all their own to create characters and plots that aren't normally seen in the writing world.
My favorite out of the whole anthology had to be Off Road which was the second short story. Off Road was about a man whose car wasn't working properly. The short story takes the reader through fantastical situations like Billy, the main character of this short story, having to walk on his hands because he was losing parts of his brain every time he used a toilet. While Billy's adventures get a little dark and a little twisted by the end, it's one of the most easy to follow short stories.
My only problem with The Parallax Groove is that there never seemed to be any point in the stories. While I understand the misdirection and crazy surrealism was what set these short stories apart, it was almost distracting. A lot of the language was difficult to grasp and hard to follow. I found myself looking up a lot of the vocabulary being used through the short stories to make sure I understood what was being conveyed and what was being said.
Despite this, The Parallax Groove has short stories that are extremely well written and thought through. Each character has its own development no matter how crazy or twisted the situation seems. Descriptions, although at times a little superfluous, easily detailed exactly the landscape and the place in which these characters lived and battled. Each story had its own setting and its own rules in the way the physics of the world seem to run. It was truly creative, and I would recommend it with that statement at the forefront of the conversation.
