3 out of 4 stars
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Zeyan Zyrus deftly articulates his thoughts and feelings in I, a collection of page-long soliloquies. It is difficult to specify a genre for this book. Some of the monologues resemble memoirs, while others are accounts of ordinary incidents. Several stories seem to narrate a dystopian world. My personal favorites are “Curseday”, “Orbis”, and “A treehouse”, to name a few. The first one shows an aged male lamenting his dead twin. The second story reflects a world where women are kidnapped and are taught to fight for themselves in a secret facility. The third one is a memoir recounting the boundless energy and freedom of one’s childhood.What I thought about was my feelings and what I felt was my thoughts
The author’s writing style is unique. With dreamy sentences and a multitude of imagery, this book demands a place somewhere between prose and poetry. It resembles an abstract painting where one color seamlessly mixes into another. The narratives often alternate between a third-person perspective and a first-person perspective. Some of the stories even end in incomplete sentences.
Startling titles like “The Belly Button of the Sky” and “Intergalactic Memorandum” pique the reader’s intrigue. The unique word choice is another point worth mentioning. ”Longstanding curtains” and “shoreless ocean or oceanless shore” convey the idea of a monotonous day. At one place, the binary system is described as “Zeros Rendezvous Ones.”
The imagery of the book was beautiful and vivid. The reader is able to visualize the scenes through Zyrus’s words. For example, the author describes the setting sun as
In another story, the sun isThe demure lady… trying to hide again.
The core theme of the book is human life. The inconsistency of life and the inevitability of death emerge repeatedly throughout the book. In many of the pieces, the characters are overloaded with the burdens of life. Not fully living but barely surviving, they spend the days waiting for death, the final respite.vomit-yellow wrapped by a polluted haze, over the skyscrapers.
There is an undercurrent of depression in almost all the stories. Many of them recount how our lives represent absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Our lifelong search for meaning proves futile as we gradually blend into oblivion.I say this is life, good things could happen, bad things will, all that can be joyful are short, never easy to start never easy to end, in between we mostly put our heads to rest or try so hard for nothing substantial
Yet Zyrus longs for the transient pleasure derived from our mundane existence, the lures that bind us to life. Many of the characters, therefore, embrace life despite its fleeting nature. He declares that
One theme repeatedly appearing in the book is the absence of God in our daily life. More than once, God is portrayed as the creator (with a small c) and an observer, but never our leader. However, I would leave the judgment to the readers.love has turned out to be the treatment for the cancer of existence.
The best part about the book is the symbolism. Zyrus frequently reveals familiar objects in a unique light. Sometimes, a tireless typewriter and a lonely mannequin become symbolic of our seemingly busy but intrinsically meaningless life. Occasionally, re-reading some parts of the book unveiled a completely different meaning to me.
However, my reading experience is not without complaints. First of all, the book was excessively lengthy, especially with most stories reflecting an almost similar theme. Moreover, the pace of the book was excruciatingly slow for my choice. Occasionally, it was hard to glean meaning from the long-winded sentences. I often had to re-read entire paragraphs. In addition, the word count per page is extremely high. For a book of this length, an index would also be preferable.
Considering the above-mentioned points, I rate the book 3 out of 4 stars. From a technical standpoint, there are a few typing errors. The thoughts and feelings conveyed in I require a mature audience. Moreover, many of the stories contain explicit scenes unsuitable for young readers. Devout believers in God might find some ideas offensive. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy leisurely reads and like to ponder over the content. Additionally, those who love poetry will appreciate this book.
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