Kundo Wakes Up

I found this to be so different from The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday that at first I wasn't sure if I would finish this book. It doesn't help that I start out skeptical of stories of sad men trying to figure out why their wives left them. But, as it turns out, we are supposed to be skeptical of Kundo, and his eventual growth here, coupled with the way that the story just continues to unfold into increasing dimensions of unexpected strangeness, made sticking with it rewarding. Especially the messages about the power of human connection in the real world, however broken it may be, despite the lure of shiny virtual words to disappear into.

Although this novella flirted a bit with conventional cyberpunk, Hossain has a much more poignant and, dare I say it, adult story about loss and letting go. Sure, there is no shortage of the fantastic elements Hossain has so far deployed in his literary universe, but the ending is far from pat in terms of having to make choices. The route the Kundo of the title takes on the way to truly waking up is very emotionally satisfying.

I bought this at the use bookstore on Church St., just a random find. Nice cover, good blurbs, I know nothing about the book other than what's on the jacket.