Tommy Sissons

Cautious, A Boat Adrift by Tommy Sissons is a novel that can grab readers on one (or more) of several levels, and they are all quite effective.

For readers who only want the personal, this is a story of family and all that entails. The good and the bad within a family, what stories have been passed down that were in fact fabricated, and for what reason, and how we handle the loss of a family member. These things are presented in a way that lets the reader into the mind of the protagonist, Fred.

For readers who understand that no family exists in a vacuum away from its society, and in fact is shaped in many ways by that society, this will offer some wonderful, in a depressing way, glimpses into the ills of the late capitalist society we're in, and how even the changes we think have made things better really just serve to tread water.

A lot of the impact in the novel is from the big picture, which makes trying to highlight a single scene or moment difficult. If you go to YouTube and watch the interview on the Zer0 Books and Repeater Media channel, Sissons reads a brief excerpt from the novel which does give a nice feel for what is going on.

On a personal note, one of the things I found most enjoyable was the italicized commentary that often served as a counterpoint to what came before. For instance, Fred watches a TV ad for a trainer, which has the catchphrase "BE SUBVERSIVE." Followed, in italics, by the sentence "[b]e subversive so we can absorb your dissent and sell it back to you as products." I think those moments, and this one in particular, struck a chord with me.

Highly recommended for readers who like a good story that also serves as a critique of the world we live in without making it sound like the solution is to return to some fictional "good old days."

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (altro)