Hystopia
David Means
[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]
In the tradition of Philip K. Dick´s Man in the High Castle, David Means’ Hystopia rewrites wartime history. It is 1970 and a resilient JFK has survived several assassination attempts. The Vietnam War is unresolved, Michigan is burning in a state of perpetual riot and Kennedy’s Psych Corps is trying to confine the trauma of the war through a process called “Enfolding” that allows victims to resolve PTSD by reliving their experiences on a drug called Tripizoid (you can unfold an enfold by dunking yourself in cold water or having mind-blowing sex).
The prose itself is relentless and delightful; the war-torn veteran’s ramblings read like a likable rant you’d give to your best friend after your fourth beer and one of the stories’ mysterious “blue pills”. But to justify his revisionist history, Means creates a frame narrative, in which an imaginary writer “Eugene Allen” wrote the book. This feels like a cop out, in lieu of creating – and standing behind – a believable alternate reality, a different history. Also, given that Means’ virtual world is set in 1970, one would think female characters might move beyond the archetypes of god-fearing batshit crazy hysteric or oh-so-sexy damsel in distress. Still, Hystopia is worthy of the journey for the quality of the language itself. Maybe just skip the fake editor’s notes.
Words: Emma Price
