- ASIN: B088LQF344
- Publisher: Kadath Press; 1st edition (13 May 2020)
- Language: English
- Print length: 191 pages
- Genre: Satire and General Humourous Fiction
The BookViral Review:
Someway between an adult Alice in Wonderland and Monty Python, ‘The Surreal Adventure’ is the absolutely bonkers tale of Anthony Zen, a strangely endearing man of indeterminable age and ability, but nevertheless really rather sad, voiced in a collection of mundane daily occurrences which somehow metamorphoses into something resembling a particularly successful meal of magic mushrooms. As a reader you remain suspended somewhere between an alternative universe, chortling at the one-liners and incredibly bad jokes, feeling mildly guilty about laughing at the politically incorrect.
From random Shakespearean-style soliloquies and hilariously written spoofs, to amusingly over-the-top language devices, Straughan takes us on a fast-paced, mind-bending journey of extremely well-crafted nonsense.
Careering from rather disturbing dark humour to extended and lengthy explanations about the apparent problems and difficulties Anthony faces while attempting to fulfil the most simple tasks such as bathing and getting to work, ‘The Surreal Adventure ‘ is almost like a series of impossible dreams, where the impossible is possible and both natural and moral laws have been chucked out of the window of a fast-moving train!
Clearly written by an erudite, though a rather alternative mind, Straughan’s satirical tales retain just enough of a hint of realism to create an intelligent discourse surrounding the nonsense of contemporary human behaviour, and the reader is left with a lasting impression that despite the madness, everything actually, on some level, does make sense!
Despite each chapter being to some extent ‘stand-alone’, they are nevertheless connected by the trouser-forgetting protagonist, who rapidly grows on you as you commiserate with the many, many distractions and obstinate characters that come hurtling his way, most having more than a passing resemblance to those we encounter in our own marginally more sane universe.
Whether you choose to enjoy Straughan’s wickedly clever book as brilliant social commentary, you are just in the mood for a kooky chuckle or if you are at all deficient in the sanity department, you will enjoy it immensely!
