"Joseph Bates's debut short story collection Tomorrowland
offers stories full of strange attractions and uncanny conceits, a
world of freakish former child stars, abused Elvis impersonators,
derelict roadside attractions, apocalyptic small towns, and parallel
universes where you make out with your ex. At its core, the world of Tomorrowland is our own, though reflected off a funhouse mirror--revealing our hopes and deepest fears to comic, heartbreaking effect." (Goodreads) (Read from December 17-18, 2014)
My Review:
★★★★★
Tomorrowland
is a fantastic collection of short stories. I must say my favorites—and
the ones that taught me the most about Dr. Bates—have to be Guilt City,
A Survey of My Exes, and Future Me. I found them heartwrenching and
heartbreaking in their own special ways. It shows that it is entirely
possible to be self-aware of yourself and your problems, and clearly the
effort is made by each of the narrators to fix himself. It truly
explores the human vices and the human desire to better oneself. Each
story has a character that is very aware of his own failures, but it is
the hope of redemption that keeps him going. Tomorrowland as a
collection is a very self-aware, very meta collection of stories, in
which Dr. Bates takes the time to examine his own psyche and his own
shortcomings, possibly in order to try and improve them.
Any way
you look at it, Tomorrowland is an enjoyable, gripping read that truly
makes one empathetic for the narrators, which is the sign of an
effective, powerful book.
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