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A review by xolotlll
Bad Brains by Kathe Koja
4.0
At least as good as [b:The Cipher|341930|The Cipher|Kathe Koja|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566122945l/341930._SY75_.jpg|332292], and very similar. Both books are concerned with an isolated male protagonist on the verge of some major transformation. Both books are very atmospheric and full of dense, impressionistic prose with an odd mash-up of grotesque and beautiful imagery. Both books are also more concerned with the social and psychological dysfunction of the grungy 90s characters than the plot, which is repetitive and meandering. I wish Koja was more interested in the plot, because she had such incredibly provocative material to work with - what exactly is in the 'funhole' in [b:The Cipher|341930|The Cipher|Kathe Koja|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566122945l/341930._SY75_.jpg|332292], and what is the mystery illness in [b:Bad Brains|341941|Bad Brains|Kathe Koja|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1297032583l/341941._SY75_.jpg|2038474]? Still, they are both memorable reads, and very unique (outside of Koja's catalogue, that is!).
[b:The Cipher|341930|The Cipher|Kathe Koja|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566122945l/341930._SY75_.jpg|332292] and [b:Bad Brains|341941|Bad Brains|Kathe Koja|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1297032583l/341941._SY75_.jpg|2038474] were both published as part of the Dell Abyss line, and they're presented as pulp horror paperbacks, but they're not really that. They are, I guess, psychological weird fiction. They're not concerned with the standard menagerie of ghosts and ghoulies, but the odd mirroring and blending between the interior and the exterior - between the world inside your head and the world beyond. In each case, the isolated protagonist is a kind of mystic at the edge of the world who unwittingly, inevitably works to achieve a very intimate form of communion with a menacing, radically other being. Instead of prayer or meditation, he uses art and abject behaviour - alcohol abuse, indiscriminate violence, meaningless sex - to hollow himself out and prepare for the coming transformation.
[b:The Cipher|341930|The Cipher|Kathe Koja|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566122945l/341930._SY75_.jpg|332292] and [b:Bad Brains|341941|Bad Brains|Kathe Koja|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1297032583l/341941._SY75_.jpg|2038474] were both published as part of the Dell Abyss line, and they're presented as pulp horror paperbacks, but they're not really that. They are, I guess, psychological weird fiction. They're not concerned with the standard menagerie of ghosts and ghoulies, but the odd mirroring and blending between the interior and the exterior - between the world inside your head and the world beyond. In each case, the isolated protagonist is a kind of mystic at the edge of the world who unwittingly, inevitably works to achieve a very intimate form of communion with a menacing, radically other being. Instead of prayer or meditation, he uses art and abject behaviour - alcohol abuse, indiscriminate violence, meaningless sex - to hollow himself out and prepare for the coming transformation.