3 out of 4 stars
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Have you ever read a story from the stalker’s point of view? Or read about what it's like in the mind of the mentally ill? You probably didn’t, but if you want to, I will present you this great book I recently read. Here we go.
A Second, Less Capable, Head: And Other Rogue Stories by James Hanna is a collection of nineteen short stories. The stories are bizarre, grotesque, and sometimes humorous. We travel through the minds of the outlaws, sociopaths, and other troubled individuals. The author has personal experience as a probation officer in San Francisco, a prison counselor in Indiana, and an adventurer in Australia. From his experiences, a series of characters and situations come to life through his stories. They are memorable and stay with you long after you finish the book.
The first story bears the name of the whole book. You probably can imagine what this one is about. Virgil Ploughright, a Tea Party activist, finds out he is growing a second head. The normal reaction is to want to get rid of it, of course, but the doctor refuses to cut it because morality tells him it would be murder. It’s unexpected that Virgil’s girlfriend, Trixie, starts to get attached to his new head. The first story was my favorite one. It just made me think about the problem with a second head like it is something ordinary. I didn’t realize how bizarre it is to think about the moral consequences of another head.
Hanna’s characters have something unique. The probation officer, Tom Hemmings, appears in more than one story and is probably inspired by the author. Besides him, there are many unusual characters. Some stories have stalkers, schizophrenics, aliens, and drug addicts. One particular love story caught my attention. I wanted a happy ending for the lovers, but then I realized the story is told from the stalker’s point of view. Reading this, I thought it was an ordinary person because the protagonist usually is in stories. But in Hanna’s stories, we sometimes get the stalker’s perspective, or the schizophrenic’s. It is wonderful to experience that many perspectives in a single book.
The endings have something special. They are unexpected, sometimes shocking. Don’t wait for a happy ending, because it's not the right book. It has strange situations you don’t usually find yourself in, like a rape victim who confronts her assailant, or a family who takes an alien guest in their home.
Some of the stories are based around famous Nietzsche quotes. They highlight the author’s preference for introspection and philosophy. One story that uses such quotes is Fruits, the fifth story. Here we have Molly, a single woman who goes on a date with a man she met online. The cab driver warns her about her date, Jeb Judson, but she is intrigued. The author deals with subjects like Nietzsche’s Superman and the monstrosity of humans. He makes you think he knows what is going on inside the minds of deranged people.
The writing was exceptional. It engages you in the stories, whether you want it or not. I saw stories narrated in the first person, third person, and most unusual, second person. Second person narration usually appears in letters, but here it’s not a letter. It often has explicit language. For that reason, and because some scenes are disturbing, I recommend this book only to adults who like dark stories. I also recommend it to people who are passionate about psychology and the dark wonders of the human mind.
I found a numerous amount of grammar mistakes and typos, mostly repeated words and missing commas. But the thing that confuses me the most is the title. On the cover, I see that the title is written with a comma before the word 'head'. However, there shouldn’t be a comma. I found places where it didn’t have, for example, in the Bookshelves. The first story, the one with the same name as the title, doesn’t have a comma before 'head' as well.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It is a unique collection of dark stories that deserves to be read. The stories stay with you, and I feel like that is the point of a book. Unfortunately, the grammar mistakes did bother me, and they forced me to take a star off.
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A Second, Less Capable Head
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