Review: Gianluca Cameron | Utopia

Gianluca Cameron’s Utopia reads simultaneously like a fever dream and a surreal translation of a philosophy text:

“Ennui is the ultimate symptom of privilege.” and “After all, if you improve yourself, are you really you afterwards? What is the self but a bunch of oscillating memories?”

There is a narrative to discover in Utopia, but my retelling of a plot (which is pieced together artfully with non-sequiturs) can do little to say what this book actually is. It’s a chaotic, stream-of-consciousness, bizarro, psychological/body horror, sci-fi, dystopian utopia. We quickly jump between timelines, dimensions, and points-of-view, which further adds to the surrealism. Though there are occasionally insights from other characters, we mainly focus on a man named Niko, his friend Raoul, and a green woman who grew out of a giant flower, Patema. 

Cameron’s use of language is impressive and often poetic, and the philosophical questions he weaves rapidly throughout Utopia were at times confusing, but instead of it being a frustrating experience for the reader, it added to the surreality and highlighted the confusion the characters experienced throughout the book. It all serves to highlight how we, in modern society, live insular, self-centered lives without regarding the feeling and well-being of others, explicitly ignoring the evidence of suffering: 

“I could not talk to these men because their experience was too alien to me. They spoke a different language that I couldn’t even hear, let alone comprehend.” and “…as I walked, I noticed some interesting graffiti. One depicted a tower made of people and another was of a tree growing from a corpse. They were intriguing, but I didn’t know what they meant. They probably didn’t mean anything.”

Thematically, I find this book hard to pinpoint. My gut tells me that there’s a clear allegory for the afterlife to be found, but I also feel driven and encouraged to live my life to the fullest, even through the absurdity. 

“Have you ever felt like a cipher? That you and everyone around you are not human beings but characters in a story? Mere catalysts for events? Do you view them from afar as a human views a play?”

 It’s loaded with lofty metaphors and references to both literature and film, as well as religious symbolism: 

“Baphomet cradled my soul in a manner reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Pietà,” and “…Patema had been born for our sins.”

A few ideas and references went over my twenty-nine-year-old head, which is almost twice as old as the author’s head when he wrote this. Cameron was born in 2001. That makes him 19, and his bio mentions that this book was written when he was 15 and 16. You can tell from his writing in Utopia that he is talented and eager, and I think we can look forward to a great authorial career from Cameron.

Review: Andrew J. Stone | All Hail the House Gods

All Hail the House Gods by Andrew J. Stone drops the reader into a dystopian future where even the illusion of autonomy and choice has been eradicated. Kurt, our protagonist, and his wife, Katie live in a city run by the Coupling Caucus, whose mission is to organize society in such a way that will produce daily sacrifices to the hungry House Gods. They are born to mate, and they mate to sacrifice.

Families are non-existent in AHTHG’s reality. Children are taken from their parents and raised at the Offspring Oasis, where they are either culled for the House Gods or paired off based on puberty and virility. They are taught to “pug” at a young age to increase their chances of being coupled before they are chosen for sacrifice to the House Gods.

After one of their own is chosen and fed to the House Gods, Katie decides she must start a collective to resist the Coupling Caucus and wage war on the houses, and Kurt is taken along for the ride. It’s not long before Kurt overhears a theory that goes against all the collective believes in. Are some House Gods good? Is it possible to overthrow the current system without violence?

To know anything about Andrew J. Stone is to know that he holds deeply leftist political views, and it’s clear that those views informed this novella. There’s a metaphorical war going on in its pages between centrist, “Let’s-all-get-along” liberals and leftists, and the fight between the two sides was illuminated well by Stone.

The prose in All Hail the House Gods is easily digestible, well-written, and effective. Written from Kurt’s perspective, the story propels itself nicely, making it a quick and exciting read. Kurt is a perfectly likable protagonist you want to root for. Will he find a peaceful solution to end the loss of life to the House Gods?

January 6th, 2021 was a dark day for those of us in the U.S. Rioters protesting the presidential election of Joe Biden stormed D.C. and breached the capitol building. Since then, we’ve seen Republicans and Democrats alike call for “healing” and a “reconciliation between the sides.” If I can, let me relate this to the theme of the book: there are some who believe that there are good people on both sides and that it’s worth reaching across the aisle and working within the confines of the system in place. Kurt, as a character, falls firmly within this group, while Katie and her comrades know that doing so is useless.

Will it be worth it for Kurt, in the end, to put his trust in the belief that some House Gods are good? Pick up a copy of All Hail the House Gods to find out.

Check out Andrew on Twitter @Andrewosaurus96 and me @EvanStJones.