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nickvoro's review
5.0
Dr. Shabazz, a psychologist we met in A Survivor’s Guide to Engine Failure at 35000 Feet (available here: http://numerocinqmagazine.com/2016/01/02/a-survivors-guide-to-engine-failure-at-35000-feet-fiction-lee-d-thompson/) makes another appearance. A welcome one. Although, if I can level with you dear readers, I’ve met him several more times. Sessions held, appointments scheduled, and those very appointments kept.
My thoughts from an e-mail to Lee, on Mon 8/17/2020 (Slightly edited to imitate a proper review although when have I ever written a proper review…)
“She’s saying Mouth Human must die, must always die, must die and must not take in the air or the light of the sky. What do you think of that, Doc?”
It’s a hallucinogenic tale, a mix of Jodorowsky and Lynch and Burroughs. It made me feel uncomfortable, enthralled. The fire scene made my thoughts race, images of arsonists setting fire to buildings. The Slow Loris is a seer. It’s a conversational piece, a psychological study, it’s about humans, humanity, what it is to be human, it’s about the human mind, poetry of the broken-down people, an undeniably gorgeous piece of writing, poetic and piercing and a must read.
“Fear, he doesn’t realize, is just a thought that’s reached a dead end. It can’t escape itself. And it panics.”
This story might be impossible to find now in the original chapbook format. Sold, all sold out. But I have a feeling this isn’t the last time we shall hear from Dr. Shabazz.
And remember folks, “Croquet is sedation, golf is the real fucking world.”
ENDMATTER
This copy is number 93/125.
My thoughts from an e-mail to Lee, on Mon 8/17/2020 (Slightly edited to imitate a proper review although when have I ever written a proper review…)
“She’s saying Mouth Human must die, must always die, must die and must not take in the air or the light of the sky. What do you think of that, Doc?”
It’s a hallucinogenic tale, a mix of Jodorowsky and Lynch and Burroughs. It made me feel uncomfortable, enthralled. The fire scene made my thoughts race, images of arsonists setting fire to buildings. The Slow Loris is a seer. It’s a conversational piece, a psychological study, it’s about humans, humanity, what it is to be human, it’s about the human mind, poetry of the broken-down people, an undeniably gorgeous piece of writing, poetic and piercing and a must read.
“Fear, he doesn’t realize, is just a thought that’s reached a dead end. It can’t escape itself. And it panics.”
This story might be impossible to find now in the original chapbook format. Sold, all sold out. But I have a feeling this isn’t the last time we shall hear from Dr. Shabazz.
And remember folks, “Croquet is sedation, golf is the real fucking world.”
ENDMATTER
This copy is number 93/125.
miramichireader's review
5.0
This 2017 chapbook by New Brunswick author Lee D. Thompson is either the work of a literary genius or a literary madman (not that the two are mutually exclusive). Having a small acquaintance with Mr Thompson impels me to put him in the former category as this 35-page exercise in creative writing left me staggered by his vision into the schizophrenic mind of Lester, a young man who lives in his mother's basement, refuses medication and communes nocturnally with Lara, a Slow Loris in the city's zoo.
Lester is also the patient (or is he?) of Doctor Shabazz, a psychiatrist who Lara refers to as the "mouth human". Perhaps because he talks more than he listens, unlike Lester (her friend human), who furiously scribbles down every utterance emanating forth from Lara's mind ("I'm her amanuensis" he informs Dr Shabazz):
"Lara, even when she sleeps, teaches me. She teaches me to listen, and to not listen."
Mr Thompson consigns significant trust to the reader to interpret the sparse verbal exchanges as well as the strained interactions between Doctor Shabazz and Lester (the golf vs. croquet session is a particular highlight: "I played golf as a boy, Lester." "And then as a girl, Doc?") as well as his responses to Lara's various "enlightenments". Mr Thompson gets inside a story like a jazz musician gets inside a familiar song, turning it upside down and inside out, leaving threads of it recognisable if you listen closely. A talented musician will inspire the listener in the way an author who has a way with words will inspire a reader causing him or her to ponder over the story long after the book is shelved. Lee D. Thompson's mouth human must die is a concise, exceptional example of inspired creative writing. 5 out of 5 stars.
( This is Volume Two in the New Brunswick Chapbook Series from Frog Hollow Press. Full review is here: http://bit.ly/mouthhuman)
Lester is also the patient (or is he?) of Doctor Shabazz, a psychiatrist who Lara refers to as the "mouth human". Perhaps because he talks more than he listens, unlike Lester (her friend human), who furiously scribbles down every utterance emanating forth from Lara's mind ("I'm her amanuensis" he informs Dr Shabazz):
"Lara, even when she sleeps, teaches me. She teaches me to listen, and to not listen."
Mr Thompson consigns significant trust to the reader to interpret the sparse verbal exchanges as well as the strained interactions between Doctor Shabazz and Lester (the golf vs. croquet session is a particular highlight: "I played golf as a boy, Lester." "And then as a girl, Doc?") as well as his responses to Lara's various "enlightenments". Mr Thompson gets inside a story like a jazz musician gets inside a familiar song, turning it upside down and inside out, leaving threads of it recognisable if you listen closely. A talented musician will inspire the listener in the way an author who has a way with words will inspire a reader causing him or her to ponder over the story long after the book is shelved. Lee D. Thompson's mouth human must die is a concise, exceptional example of inspired creative writing. 5 out of 5 stars.
( This is Volume Two in the New Brunswick Chapbook Series from Frog Hollow Press. Full review is here: http://bit.ly/mouthhuman)