| Title | : | Morning is Dead |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 152 |
| Publication | : | First published February 28, 2010 |
Morning is Dead Reviews
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I am very happy I read this book. Since I've been dipping a toe or two into the bizarro reading pool, I have encountered many wonderful, original, and freaky ideas but this is the first book with the trifecta of a character I genuinely liked, a world I was interested in, and a story I wanted to know the ending to.
The writing is effortless, with a wonderful flow and there is a real story here. The book easily fits in the bizarro genre but there is a plot, or point, something missing from most other books I have so far read in the genre. I dislike bizarro fiction that is weird simply for the sake of being weird. The elements in this book all contribute to the story, to the character's state of mind. There is a large dose of grotesquery and I loved the (inner) setting.
I sympathized with the main character, his confusion and frustration. I guess the book claims Alvin's actions were due to . I liked how the book made me think about people who hang on the fringes of society, people who are rather useless and unproductive. I absolutely loved the rades. I can not say any more from fear of spoiling the book. I highly recommend this and will be reading more of Prunty's work very soon.
As the only piece of bizarro (with a plot) fiction I have rated 5 stars, I highly recommend the read.
Bonus points for the cop names, particularly Officer Assclown. -
This story is set in a city of surreal night; a dreamscape of chaos and grotesqueries. You cannot wake from this dream. It guides your movements while you try to hide in the shadows. Monsters are everywhere and your last hope is about to explode. Brush aside the rust. Can you open your eyes?
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Andersen Prunty’s night people in MORNING IS DEAD are an intriguing breed. They are fornicators and wretches, consumed by violence and sex and all manner of vice. As they “process” deeper into the night, their hopelessness grows and their humanity dims. What makes Prunty’s night different here is that it is populated by radioactive people called “rades”, all-night abortion clinics and its overwhelming clientele, covert technicians who wire homes to detonate, and a police force more dangerous than the worst thugs on the streets. The Dayton, Ohio depicted in MORNING IS DEAD is ruled over by a monolithic company called the Point, which seems to be behind every bad thing that happens to Dayton and its inhabitants, including the protagonist, Alvin Blue.
Alvin and his wife have grown apart and as this realization begins to dawn on him, the night suddenly decides to take him in to be processed, meaning he will never see the daylight, or the morning, again. With no job and no ability to conceive children, Alvin’s usefulness to society seems to be all used up, leaving only his skin, which is valuable to the Point for reasons that won’t be revealed here, lest too much of the story be spoiled.
What most interested me about MORNING IS DEAD is the notion of an alternate reality within the night. Drive through nearly any downtown in America and you see dark places – alleys and corners and buildings that seem different at night. In between these cracks lies another world where many dark things exist, which is what makes Prunty’s night feel all too real and unsettling. What would happen if someone who lives a daytime existence – work from 9-5, normal interactions with others, an employed family man or woman – was suddenly thrust into this other reality, where drugs and prostitution and vice is a way of life? This book examines such a scenario, and does so to dark, imaginative and entertaining results.
The other intriguing theme in MORNING is the town of Dayton itself, a Rust Belt city in Ohio that grew up around manufacturing and the auto industry. Just a couple years ago, GM plant closings near Dayton were called a “death knell” to the town because of how intertwined the company was in so many aspects of life. That vibe is echoed in MORNING and its fictional company, the Point. Though this is not directly discussed in the story, it shows up in clever ways, such as the scene where Alvin inspects the home of a “sleeper” or a person who never wakes during the night. The sleeper, who lives in the daytime and is (presumably) still a productive member of society (no doubt employed by the Point), is what Alvin used to be, but on closer inspection, Alvin sees that the man has begun to rust. He soon discovers he is rusting as well.
All aspects of life tend to ebb and flow through the Point, as is common in manufacturing towns where huge companies can employ as much as half the population, while a great many more are employed indirectly. The same holds true with the Point, which is insidious in its ways of using, and using up, the people of the town until there is nothing left. This is, of course, my opinion of what Prunty was going for here, or at least what I got from it. I could be way off on his intentions with this story, but if nothing else, at least he got me thinking, which is what I love about and look for in good fiction.
MORNING IS DEAD is a dark, disturbing glimpse at an alternate reality that, upon closer inspection, does not seem so farfetched, which makes it all the more unsettling. This was my introduction to Prunty’s work, and I look forward to more from him. His writing is crisp and intelligent, and MORNING IS DEAD is a great example of unsettling horror that relies on ideas and imagination rather than shock value and gimmicks to impart its message and leave a mark. But there’s still plenty of shock and blood and shoot-‘em-up violence in here to make it a tense page-turner, as well. I highly recommend it. -
Strange, unique, imaginative, batshit crazy. Well worth my time.
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Thank you Goodreads, and Grindhouse for the very first, First Reads, books I've won that I can say I really enjoyed. Although I think if my first first reads win, that sorry excuse of a book by the
Sped's had been mixed with this book the results would have been even better (a note to ALL authors present, future, and well fuck it past too.... Heidi and Spencer inserted as main characters into any book would instantly make the book at least twenty percent better (the equivalent of at least one Goodreads.com star rating), besides being amazing people and stunning characters themselves, they also are a new archetype that everyone can relate with. I shouldn't have even had to write this, but for some bizarre reason there has only been one book about Heidi and Spencer so far, come'on authors lets correct this miscarriage of justice and literature!!).
I liked the book quite a bit even if Heidi and Spencer were not the main characters.
P.S.
For future librarians concerned with appeal factors and readers advisory, this book will appeal to people who find foul language hilarious in an stunted development kind of way, who have ever worked the third shift in a shitty town and started to feel disconnected with the day time world, and women who get pregnant in order to sell their abortions to multi-national corporations. There are other appeal factors I'm sure but these were the big three for me. -
Andersen Prunty, Morning Is Dead (Grindhouse Press, 2010)
The big twist at the end of this novel has been revealed in a couple of other reviews I've read. I will avoid doing so here, but were I you, I would avoid reading other reviews of the book until after you've read the book itself in order to save yourself for the final chapter. Anyway.
Coming into this book, I thought I knew two things. The first was the word on the street that Andersen Prunty was poised to become the first bizarro author who could actually break into the mainstream, as opposed to mainstream authors who've been co-opted into bizarro (Robert Devereaux and Steve Aylett being obvious examples). The second is that there were zombies. Turns out the first is accurate, anyway. I can't claim to be anything remotely close to widely read in bizarro, but what I have read of it has often seemed the work of inspired amateurs; enjoyable, but lacking the sort of experience and polish that it takes to sell a novel to Doubleday or Grand Central or whoever the big publishing house is these days. (I've been out of the bookselling business for a while. When I was still in it, Random House was the big deal...) Prunty definitely has the enthusiasm of the inspired amateur about him, but there's also a bit of that spit and polish, as well. It's obvious there's an overarching theme here, there's a sense that Prunty really thought about where he wanted this book to go and what he wanted it to do, rather than just sitting down and seeing where the ride took him, and I cannot overestimate the importance of that in putting together a piece of professional-quality fiction. In short, I'm telling you that if you're intrigued by this whole bizarro thing and you're looking for your first intro to the genre, this is an excellent place to start.
Plot: Alvin Blue is in a coma in the hospital. His wife April is sitting beside his bed, waiting for him to either come out of said coma or die. The narrative goes back and forth between April conversing with her friend Maribel in the hospital room and pieces from Alvin's perspective. Are they horrific nightmares? Is he living some sort of purgatorical atonement in his head? Is something else entirely going on? Or, as it seems, has he truly slipped into an alternate dimension, where the local industrial plant (the Point) is actually a shadow government that controls all of Dayton, Ohio, where the sun never shines, where women make money by selling fetuses to Dr. Lucky's Abortion Clinic, where the cops are drugged-out sex fiends and radiation-scarred mutants walk the streets in search of fresh prey?
Morning Is Dead is a blissful, somewhat gross (though not nearly so much as most of the bizarro I've read) amalgam of Anthony Burgess' The Wanting Seed and Dark City, the Alex Proyas film. Those are two influences that it would be pretty darned difficult to screw up, at least as far as I'm concerned, given a writer with any talent whatsoever. And while Prunty's stuff does have the rushed, sometimes skeletal feel that's been common to the bizarro I've read over the past few years, he is undeniably a talented writer, and he does a solid job with this story. Well worth picking up, and as I said before, a very good introduction to this new-ish subgenre. *** ½ -
I really enjoyed this book. Anderson Prunty writes extremely atmospheric books with the right slow burning pace. This is one of those books I will be reading and enjoying again (....and again, and again, and again......)
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MORNING IS DEAD by Andersen Prunty (Grindhouse Press, 2010) tells the story of Alvin and April, an unhappy couple reeling from a horrifying event.
Alvin is in a hospital, barely alive. April keeps watch at his bedside.
While April reveals the story of what happened to bring Alvin to this state in the real world, Alvin enters a parallel dilapidated world of permanent night where cops are drug-addled goons, psychopaths roam the streets, demolition crews randomly blow up houses, radioactive zombies prowl for victims, and nobody has any hope. He tries to get home, only to be thwarted at every turn by the denizens of the night world, while April must ultimately decide his fate.
The final reveal wasn’t particularly surprising, but it was satisfying, and the story maintained my sense of wonder until all is revealed. A short work, MORNING IS DEAD is a nice little piece of horror, an enjoyable tour of a richly imagined parallel world of permanent night and madness. -
Morning is Dead is another nice job by Andersen Prunty. In fact, I think it’s probably my favorite book of his so far. The book is darker than some of his previous works. But, at the same time I found more humor in Morning is Dead. Maybe Mr. Prunty did not intend to be funny and it’s possible that I’m just a sick bastard. However, with police characters named Officer Fuckpants and Officer Bitchhole, I can’t help but to think that Prunty had to be grinning while he was writing parts of this one.
I won’t bother giving a synopsis of Morning is Dead. You can read the book’s description for that. My purpose is to tell you to read Morning is Dead. Buy it now. Read it. If you want a book that is scary, creepy, disturbing, surreal, and compelling, then you will enjoy Morning is Dead. The book is dark take on alternate realities that gave me a penicillin-resistant form of the heebie-jeebies . Or maybe the story just consists of the delusions of a brain damaged coma patient. I don’t know. I haven’t figured that one out yet. But I do know that I truly enjoyed the quick-paced and disturbing story and plan to check out more of Mr. Prunty’s work (The Beard is next up on my Prunty reading list). -
Andersen Prunty doesn't believe in foreplay. He gets right into the grittiness and the weirdness of his story then leaves you to sort out the meaning as you helplessly read along. In Morning is Dead protagonist Alvin Blue is both in a coma and is battling through a world in which his house is being prepared for detonation, the police are no more than drug and sex addled thugs, and radiated monsters called rades roam the eternal night. Saying anything else about the plot of this 142 page novel would not be a good idea. Let's just quote one of the characters and state that Mr. Blue is in "the blackest fucking rabbit hole you could possibly fall down". If you want a different kind of horror tale that never lets you go for days after you read it than Morning Is Dead will fit the bill. Another excellent novel from one of the most promising new writers in the Bizarro genre and possibly in any genre.
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2.5 stars with no inclination to round up.
Another two-star reviewer mentioned she started reading this, set it down one day, and then just never felt like picking it back up so never reached the end; I nearly did the same, finishing Morning is Dead only so I could get it off my dining room table where it sat collecting dust. The story is decent and the dual perspective helps keeps the reader from being completely lost, but the writing is underwhelming and there's no reason to care about anyone or anything in the book. I had high hopes but alas, this one wasn't for me. -
Freaky and depressing. It was pretty easy to see why things were happening the way that they were, but the sort of Silent Hill-ish characters made it interesting anyway. Sort of like reading the implosion of a person in reverse.
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Wierd, but the wierder the better.
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Uncomfortably strange and bizarre, which I'm sure was the point and also why I liked it so much.
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Morning is Dead is a short bizarro horror novel written by Andersen Prunty. I’m not going to lie to you. Prunty is one of my favorite authors so I always have high expectations and he has never fell short.
This particular story is told through alternating chapters. One involves Alvin Blue, an ordinary man who gets sucked into the night. The other story involves Alvin’s wife, April, who is watching over Alvin’s comatose body and takes place entirely inside of a hospital room.
Alvin is introduced to the world of the night, a distinctly scary yet weird reality, when he gets arrested outside of his house and a doppelganger takes his place. Alvin is thrown in a jail, run by the sleaziest cops you will ever see, and processed deeper into the “night”. Here, he begins to learn about his terrible situation. He learns that his house is about to be detonated and the only people who end up in the “night” are those who have previously worked for the Point.
All the while, Alvin has to deal with rades, who are radioactive creatures, super horny women, and an assortment of crazy people in a desperate attempt to find his way back to morning and his wife. The subsequent series of events take on an air of mystery and is slightly reminiscent of the more memorable episodes of the Twilight Zone.
Morning is Dead is funny, disconcerting, and overflowing with paranoia. Buy this book before you find your morning dead and withered on your doorstep. -
"Morning is Dead" is surreal. I adored every moment. Anderson Prunty is genuine in his writing. He doesn't hold back. Each page grabs you and hold you tight. Page after page the devilish story had a mind of its own. Each moment glorious then the next. I could not put this book down. It was immoral in a way but something said yes. Yes! Please read me. You must! Understand the mysterious side. I itch for more. More of this book. The end confussed me. Dragging me down a deep hole of puke and misunderstanding. However, days later I see it perfectly clear. Its amazing! It could not have been more perfectly proclaimed. This has to be the best book I have read this year. Thank you Andy for this marvelous work of art. It was simple yet titillating. I can not wait to read your other treasures.
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WOW!, I have read King and I have read Koontz, but this is unlike anything else that I have ever read.
Received this book from Goodreads and am happy to have done so.
This book is not one with smooth transitions but it is stark, it is harsh, it is in your face with its comments and the story.
King and Koontz work awhile with the normal and then gradually move things so that you are hardly aware of the transition into the horror aspect of the book. This book moves you to the horror part immediately and you are caught wondering what will happen throughout the book.
I enjoyed the book even though it is not the kind of book that I would often read.
Thank you for sending it to me.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'" -
My interest in this book came from the description on the back, making it appear to be a post-apocalyptic, futuristic story. Upon reading it, I discovered that that assumption was way off base, and that the actual plot moves inside of some crazy guy's head, while he's actually doing bad things in reality-life. All in all, it wasn't my thing. It didn't make enough crazy sense to me, and sort of felt like the book only gave the middle and the end of the story. What the f*** happened? and what exactly was the point? Since I can't answer either of those questions, I can't give it any higher rating than the "it was ok" mark. At least it was short!
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This is an extraordinary read. What happen to Alvin & April Blue is the question. The back and fourth narrative of April at Alvin's bed side talking to her friend bout Alvin's past. As for Alvin who is in a coma or an alternate universe where radioactive fades walk the streets to kill off humanity. I'll leave it at that a must read with a twist at the end not expected.
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I would have hated this book if it were any longer.
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Anderson Prunty is one of the best bizzaro authors around and this is one of his best!
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Although the writing itself was very well-done, the story moved along at a good clip, and my interest was kept, the ending just didn't do it for me. It felt like much less of a reveal than the build-up demanded. A good read that let me down in the end.
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A puzzling book that read like a dream. The reality was only more confusing and led to more questions.
I struggle with books that are more psychological/not concise so it may just be me.
The weirdness seemed a bit over the top, and the plot was ok, but definitely surreal. -
This was short and sweet. Not sweet as in happy in anyway, but satisfying. I loved it. This is good shit.
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In this story, the world is wrecked! Richly imagined worldbuilding, though, given the wreckage. If your quarantine needs a "this could be so much worse" shot in the arm...
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This was the book I was waiting to read from Andersen Prunty. I don't know a lot about him, he seems kind of elusive, but I'd read a few of his books before. The last one I read was Creep House, and I was really let down by it. After Sun Ruined and Hi I'm a Social Disease, I was expecting to one day read a real (short) masterpiece, but Creep House almost made me break my Kindle. But I had bought Morning is Dead at the same time, and went ahead and read it, promising to break off my Andersen Prunty flirtation if he didn't deliver. But oh man, like I said, this is what I was waiting for.
Prunty is of course grounded in horror lit. He may swerve off into surrealism or science fiction or crime, but he's always a horror writer, and Morning is Dead is not an exception. But this time he's hitting almost Kafka-like highs of paranoia, hallucination, and symbolism.
The story starts out, well, it switches back and forth every chapter between a woman sitting in a hospital room with a dude who's on life support, and a dude who, after stepping out one night for a cigarette before bed, sees he's locked out of the house, and the worst day (night) of the rest of his life begins. I don't want to ruin the plot, because it gets cooler and cooler, but the main character is stuck in a night that never ends, trying to find his way back to his old job, a place called The Point, which kind of runs the whole town. Get it, he's always trying to get to the point? Like Kafka's The Castle, everything seems to hinge on getting to The Point, and everything seems to be set against him doing so. Throw in a police force that act like crackhead Mongolian bikers, green-glowing radioactive zombies with needle fingers crawling all over the place, a doppleganger who has replaced the main character's life (living in his house, fucking his girlfriend), a psycho bow-wielding survivalist Ted Nugent type who drinks rabbit blood, an all-night abortion clinic that pays women for fetuses, subsequent hot punk sluts who will do anything to get pregnant, a "shucking room," where the skin of people is harvested, a team of SWAT-like dudes with gas masks wiring up houses for detonation, etc. etc. etc. Get stoked about all that.
I want to say fans of Joe Lansdale's splattery horror stories will love this, and they probably will, but one gets the feeling that Joe Lansdale is actually a dude you could probably go watch a ball game with, or have a beer on the back porch watching 4th of July fireworks. Andersen Prunty's work is fucking vile, really low to the ground, rawboned, a really really intense dude. I imagine after hanging out with this guy for a night in an apartment with no TV and garbage bags over the windows, you'd probably go home and cut your throat in the shower. -
This review contains massive spoilers. Don't read this until you've read the book.
This book is, like I've titled this review, a suffocating nightmare. And that's a good thing! Sure, we've all enjoyed stories featuring a confused narrator experiencing the threshold of death's door a 'la "An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge," but this yarn is a very clever and relevant take on this trope. Not only is the character of Alvin leaving his life as he roils in a coma, he's not leaving much of one behind in the first place. The "afterworld" of Alvin's twilight is a hellish circus of sex, drugs, and radio static. Sorry, no rock n' roll here. The denizens of this perpetual night are processed into a bleak, sickhouse reality that punishes them for playing by the rules of a corporation-dominated prime reality and daring to get out of it. As a reader, you will ask yourself: "was this exactly Alvin's fault?" No, but it illustrates how the Company Store oppresses even in the afterlife, as if they have a patent on even it. Fascist. Relentless.
The writing is quick and surreal without the po-mo confusion of a Burroughs cutup or being the conundrum known as "Gravity's Rainbow." He doesn't go into too much detail with the strangeness Alvin experiences because he cannot. There is no time to soak in the intricacies of Grandmother's hope chest when you're being chased by radioactive revenants and an insane archery enthusiast. Or a hooker's vagina. I'm already reading another one of Mr. Prunty's stories and that is even better than this one. I wish Amazon had six stars.
I hope nobody other than Ti West, Lucky McKee, or even Lloyd Kaufman would dare to direct a film version of this. Sooner or later, someone in Hollyweird will take note of this genius. Just hope it's the right one. Ok, scratch Lloyd. He's too funny and there is nothing funny about this book despite its pervasive absurdity.
