Stranger on the Loose

Rating:
Summary: an assault on one's preconceived notions
Review: Stranger on the Loose by D. Harlan Wilson is another collection of wonderful, kafkaesque stories from the same writer who brought us The Kafka Effekt. While the first book seemed to be more an experiment in experimental minimalism, and absurd realities, these stories continue that thread, but expand on it to let loose a barrage of humor, wit, and subtle philosophical overtones. This is a wonderful book, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in getting into the surrealist movement (before jumping off into other writers I have reviewed). A very easy and light read, makes this book a wonder to the senses, and an assault on one's preconceived notions. Read it, enjoy it, then go out and get more surreal literature. Go Now!

Rating:
Summary: Stranger Things
Review: Stranger on the Loose is an instant cult classic and an excellent follow-up to Wilson's first collection The Kafka Effekt, taking many of the same themes and pushing them further. With more longer stories, Stranger on the Loose satisfies that craving for a sustainable madness in us all.

For those not familiar with Wilson's darkly wry and totally absurd world view Stranger is more than an introduction, it's an immersion. Take for example "The Ostensibly Immortal Piece of Bread" which recounts the plight of a man who finds that he has purchased a piece of bread that never molds. Naturally he must exact revenge upon the baker who sold him this abomination and that entails, among other things, dressing up as a bag lady. Once again Wilson has thrust his characters in hopelessly futile and meaningless situations fraught with plenty of dangers to their ego that make you want to grind your teeth and giggle at the same time.

No one captures the absurdity of modern life like Wilson and no one makes up better phony sounding names. Some of my favorites were Pickering Dymentcha, Rakehell Bartleberry and Derillict Hagadorn. Crafting nonsensical stories that really make you think and feel has got to be difficult but Wilson pulls it off with flair down to the smallest details.

Rating:
Summary: Writer on the Loose
Review: Stranger on the Loose, D. Harlan Wilson's follow-up to The Kafka Effekt, will cause a literary meltdown in your sanity-cortex if you don't read it with a decent amount of valium and good hit of milk plus. In this book, Wilson maps out the boundaries of a schizopolis, a freakified city in which pumped-up bodybuilders invade people's privacy and antagonize them with their poses; small, hobbitlike elephants pour out of manholes and ransack seemingly docile, sane neighborhoods; restaurant-goers bump off entire staffs of waiters, cooks, bartenders and busboys when they are served human tongues for dinner against their will; intellectual parrots teach frat boys and sorority girls how to read Freud; firemen replace the sirens on their fire engines with screaming yaks; flaneurs impersonating bowling pins search for people to impersonate bowling pins and knock them down. If you like dark comedy, check out the stories in this book - they won't disappoint you. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: An Irreal Treat
Review: This book is unusual, profound and hilarious-even more so than Wilson's superb first book, The Kafka Effekt. The stories in this collection are fewer in number and longer than the ones in The Kafka Effekt, many of which are short shorts; the last story, in fact, is a novella about an eccentric quasi-nazi who trains animals how to smoke cigarettes for movies, among other things. If you like offbeat, absurdist literature, you'll love this book. Wilson's writing is dark and vivid, and he is an excellent satirist. Do yourself a favor and check out his latest work. You won't be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: this is the usual type of extremely high quality material from d. harlan. elements of absurdism with a clear surrealist (or as d. harlan likes to say, 'irrealist') influence, these stories are a joy to read. this book took forever to come out and kept getting pushed back...which only made me lust for it harder. well worth the wait, id buy anything this guy puts out. check out his e-book at www.bizarrebooks.com

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book or I will come over and stop up your toilet
Review: What does all this stuff mean? It means everything or it means nothing. Does it matter?
As in The Kafka Effekt, D. Harlan Wilson makes the abnormal normal, the surreal real. You put this book down and wonder how you ever got enjoyment out of mainstream literature.
I could ponder these stories for days, wondering what it all means or I could ponder them for five seconds and merely remark on the strange and wonderful trip I'd been taken on.
Under all the bizarre, irreal tales is Wilson speaking on the human experience and what it is to be living and coping in a complex world.