Synopses & Reviews
This is perhaps the most unique novel youwill ever read. It contains no conventional narrative. Thevoice that delivers the plot and its messages is the voicethe main character constantly hears in his head. The voiceconstantly speaks in short imperatives, and often separatesinto two bickering voices. Presenting this mental conditionrequires second-person writing, something rarely found infiction.
An afriation is an organization orinstitution that forces one to constantly associate withpeople one wouldn't choose for company. This novel's maincharacter is not an easy person to like, but is very easy toempathize with. This mentally unsound individual has anexcessive fear of afriats, people we are forced tointeract with via an afriation. As a result, he is often ahomeless transient feeling forced into being either atrespasser or a vagrant.
The voice in ourcharacter's mind carries you with him hitchhiking onfreeways, hopping freight trains, struggling with employmentin a conventional afriation, side-stepping civilization, andgoing to jail. It follows his thought processes as tensionleads to a mental collapse.
This novel is more thana typical action fiction. It presents a unique and valuableinsight into our social structure that is yet to be dealtwith by social scientists, one that is based on the types ofsocial interactions we encounter.