Gregory Morrison

Greg Morrison has written one of the strangest (and most interesting) books I have read in the last several years. Four D, Morrison’s collection of four short stories, is both confounding and thought provoking. At times, particularly during the book’s first offering, “Space,” I had little idea where the story was heading or what had really happened in the portions of it I had already read. I hate to admit it, but the story was probably over my head. Hoping to clear up at least some show more of my confusion, I pressed on to “Four Rooms.”

“Four Rooms” is not quite as surreal as “Space,” and I was able to lose myself in this story of a young woman trying to negotiate her way through a series of interconnected rooms and doors. She has no idea why, or how, she has ended up in such a place, but she is determined to escape this trap. Several times, she finds herself at what seems like the end of the line – much like what one experiences in working a maze puzzle – but eventually, sometimes through sheer luck, manages to find her way to the next room. Again, I am not at all sure of Morrison’s real meaning here, but I enjoyed the nerve-wracking atmosphere the story evoked.

Morrison uses a much more straightforward, linear approach in the book’s third story, “Luigi.” Luigi wants to change his life, and he does it by burning every bridge linking him to his past life. That includes employers, friends, and lovers. He is not a man I would want to sit down to dinner with, but Luigi is a character that I will remember for a long time. Watching him so recklessly dismantle his life is similar to the feeling one gets when trying not to stare at the aftermath of a bad car wreck while slowly working one’s way around it. This is an excellent short story.

The final story, written more in the surrealistic style of the first two, is entitled “Guest” and, at only 18 pages, it is by far the shortest story in the collection. The story’s brevity, however, did not make it any easier for me to understand its author’s intent or message. All I can say for certain about reading this one is that it left me with a distinct feeling of dread - a very moody story.

Four D is Gregory Morrison’s debut work. While I will remain somewhat bewildered by most of what he has written here, I sincerely applaud him for the experience of reading “Luigi.”

Rated at: 3.0 show less

this book consists of four short stories. it is very thought-provoking and it challenges you to think about what it is saying. however, I was entirely sure what it was saying so although I found it interesting, it did ultimately leave me a little confused. the stories are quite abstract, and the style is quite challenging. overall I think I'm glad I read it, but I'm not entirely sure what I've taken from it.

Four D
by: Gregory Morrison

I won this book from a Library thing giveaway

This is a book comprised of 4 short stories. "Space", "Four Rooms", "The principle of Luidgi", and "Guest". The first story, "Space" is about a being that makes people and things disappear regularly. This makes things uncertian from day to day but the main character seems to deal with it and even find a romance.

The second story is "Four Rooms". Elise, who is on medication for being stressed, hears voices in her head. She show more wakes in a strange room. She has to find keys to open the doors in this room and in the mean time does alot of re-evaluating her life.

The Third story is "The Principle of Luidgi". He wants to change his life and so begins to cut evey tie he can to his former self.

Then the Fourth story "Guest". This is a very short story. A man waits in a hotel for this "guest". She does arrive, but is very strange and does strange things. I'm not sure I really get this one very well.

This book is for the "thinker" in you. It's not a bubbly easy read, but, in a strange way, I liked it. I'm planning on reading it again, thinking I may catch more the second time around then I did in the first reading. I enjoyed the book and will recommend it. show less

I don't know how I feel about this book, even though I've taken the time to think through what the stories were supposed to mean. They are good stories, just missing something to make them come together. Details and more depth for each would help. I did enjoy the concept though, so it wasn't completely bad.