REVIEWS

PRESENTING A FULL REVIEW FROM DIANE DONOVAN, SENIOR REVIEWER AT MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW:

Postmodern Deconstruction Madhouse is a short story collection that is not for the faint of heart, but for readers who enjoy complex, multi-faceted scenarios, diverse and intriguing characters, and big words that will send a number of readers searching out their definitions.

Two of these seven stories represent two facets of the book’s title, in different parts; where the others take widely different approaches in providing idiosyncratic and strange stories that each involve unexpected endings that somehow set the stage for the next story without holding obvious threads of connection.

Take the introductory ‘The Fizz Notorio,’ for example. Eve Patricia accepts a job after graduating from college that challenges her with notions of business proxemics (look it up) and brings her to a dalliance with a man twice her age.

The psychology of this older man’s success is exquisitely described in just one example of the language Peter Quinones employs to supercharge his stories with extraordinary descriptions and thought-provoking insights: “Men of limited force and power in the Johnson have to assess, from their own individual vantage point, how this will impact upon a relationship with any given woman – not with women in general, in archetype or Platonic Form, but very specifically with this woman here or that one over there. Harshwine of necessity had made himself a master of the process by his middle forties. He’d learned that he could pack a wallop with a cornucopia of women through showmanship and spectacle – he didn’t need Viagra or Cialis.”

As readers move through Harshwine’s dazzling ‘arsenal of seduction’ and smart, twenty-four-year-old Eve’s attraction to his jazzy lifestyle and approach to the world, they become immersed in her experiences through descriptive phrases that are succinct, unexpected, and deliciously tantalizing: “In spite of, almost in defiance of, the ferine weather she felt not at all chilly. The steam in the apartment blasted through the pipes with the sensory vigor of a stalking leopard.”

Where does postmodernism enter into this scenario? It lies in a sexy whisper on the street that excites Eve with its intellectual depth – the same excitement readers will feel as they move through a strange world replete with Chinese fortune cookies at every turn, an odd character named Prockahoon, and a journey through harsh streets that leads to a complete and final surprise.

Contrast this with the surprising format and contents of the first segment of the title story ‘Postmodern Deconstruction Madhouse (1)’, which contains a hundred “explorations of the one sentence short story” that challenge readers with a range of scenarios, from “She told me “I like Abstract Expressionism, foreign films, and Ornette Coleman” – I subtly gazed around the room, looking for an exit.” to “Polly Jupiter spent the summer laying around the pool, mixing vegetable juices in a blender and moaning fatalistically about fatalism.” This is just one example of how diverse this collection is in its approach.

The philosophy of deconstruction forms the basis of many postmodern ideas today; but much discussion of this has been limited to thinkers. Deconstruction typically examines binary oppositions and contrasts their differences; whereas postmodernism embraces skepticism and outlines social influences on ideals of knowledge and truth.

These short stories add psychological depth into an already-complex picture, but portray scenarios and characters with a steady attention to twists of tale, irony, and details that readers won’t expect. Despite the sprinkling of big words, the stories remain quite accessible to average audiences – but in all fairness, it’s the above-average readers with some prior, light experience in the mechanisms of irony and observation who will gain the most from these delightful vignettes which which capture the diverse perspectives of a range of intriguing characters.

Postmodern Deconstruction Madhouse is especially highly recommended for short story enthusiasts seeking the depth of philosophical and psychological introspection.