A bit monotonous and so could have used some editing, but an interesting and entertaining read. ( )

This isn't something I would normally pick up when browsing the stacks, but I was intrigued by a review I read on NPR. The setting of the story is a post-apocalyptic world where nearly all life on the exposed surface of the planet has been destroyed. It is into this world that a man is brought out of statis. He has very little recollection of life before being stored, and cannot remember his name before threatening it out of the technician who roused him. He is also paralyzed from the waist down, and learns that his condition will spread to the rest of his body without treatment. The leader of the community into which Horkai has awoken tells him that there is a task which only he can accomplish, and Horkai, having little other choice or reason to refuse, accepts.

The story is quick paced, with short chapters and plenty of action. I raced through it in a morning, just as impatient as Horkai to know and understand what had happened. There is plenty to be unpacked here, as the genre of post-apocalypic fiction tends to raise questions such as, "Why should the human race be allowed to continue?" "Who should decide what society is?" "How do we know what, and who, is right and wrong?" A provoking piece of fiction, albeit a short one. ( )

I listened to the audiobook version, which was read well, though not exceptionally well. I think some of that was due to the story, which never engages the reader's full attention. In the first place, the protagonist is neither sympathetic or interesting, nor do any of the other characters rise above stereotypes. The dialogue is uninspired, and about the only interest the book provides is in its depiction of a post-apocalyptic Salt Lake City region. The plot, such as it is, just sort of lies there--the author doesn't attempt to provide the reader any sort of overall meaning for the events of the book, nor does he provide enough clues for the reader to draw his/her own conclusion. ( )

This 1st person, slow-reveal story reads like a long metaphor. Or a story with a moral. Sometimes even like a parable, with it's religious themes.

Dystopian books are usually vivid with world-building and descriptive in creating their after-earths. This one, though has so few environmental details that you only get a fuzzy glimpse of thir dystopian Earth.

The supporting characters are frustratingly low on details. All conversations with the main character drift between ignoring his question and changing the subject. It gets tired... but I understand why the author chose to do it, now that I'm done.

A good read. ( )

I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this. Part post-apocalyptic novel, part existentialist treaty, part Kafka-esque nightmare, it is, in its essence, an utterly original work and one of the finest pieces of weird fiction I've read in years.

If you've read Evenson before you'll sort of know what to expect, lots of weirdness, lots of disorientation, razor sharp prose and a wicked sense of humor that's several shades darker than black. Immobility raises all this to truly nightmarish levels to the point where I felt physically queasy throughout the book, yet enjoying the hell out of every moment.

At its heart a quest novel, Evenson uses this basic set up to explore all manner of themes about man and his place in the universe, doing this all with a lightness of touch that never once threatens to bog things down. By the end of the novel I truly had a greater appreciation (and fear) of just how precarious our hold on the environment is, and how easily things can slip into meaningless and chaos.

A superb piece of work. ( )