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Formats
Ebook Details
  • 01/2021
  • 978-0-6450839-0-3
  • 272 pages
  • $1.49
Paperback Details
  • 01/2021
  • 978-0-6450839-1-0
  • 272 pages
  • $12.99
Nick Bruechle
Author
The World Without Mirrors

Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)

When Jayne Silver moves into a share house in Brooklyn with three young men, her charismatic best friend Abby quickly becomes a permanent house guest. Incensed by plans for yet another militaristic ‘humanitarian intervention’, the household friends create a pacifist-activist group, Patriots Opposed to War – POW. At first, the group engages in mainly online activity augmented by low-level vandalism, but things change rapidly. Spurred on by the ineffectual results of their activities and inspired by the adrenalin rush that illegal acts brings on, these hazy hedonists graduate from low vandalism to burglary and destruction, and ultimately to armed robbery and mass murder It’s a story of relationships and ideals, appetites and adventures, and it leads to a shattering, bloody climax.
Reviews
Bruechle (The Psyman) enthusiastically interrogates the morality of American warfare through the story of a small group of college students who decide to fight back against American warmongering and greed. When NYU junior Jayne Silver moves off campus to a house in Brooklyn, she spends most nights partying hard with her three new housemates and her best friend Abby. Abby soon convinces them to form a pacifist group called Patriots Opposed to War, or POW, to “‘wake up the sheeple and expose the truth about war.’” POW’s activism starts small with anti-war graffiti, flyers, and social media posts, but their tactics soon escalate, risking far more serious consequences.

The dark progression of POW is driven by Abby, who holds her compatriots in thrall with her charisma and sex appeal. As the group’s activities stray further and further from its pacifist roots, sensitive readers will find the lurid and gory descriptions of violence disturbing. Jayne, whose utter devotion to Abby rivals her infatuated male housemates, embraces POW’s ominous mission creep and relates their violent exploits with gleeful relish, creating a jarring juxtaposition and discordant tone that will keep readers both unsettled and engrossed.

Although Abby’s frequent strident speeches and Jayne’s dogmatic rationalizations infuse the book with philosophical and political commentary, The World Without Mirrors never feels stuffy or gets bogged down. Instead, the plot surges along, with its steadily rising tension intermittently disrupted by genuine shocks. Bruechle’s playful language, occasionally tinged by his Australian roots, belies the story’s serious subject and imparts an energy to the narrative that makes for inviting reading. Though the story tends toward the sensational and outrageous, it nevertheless proves thought-provoking and insightful. This fiery critique of American foreign policy is a page-turner that is bound to shock, fascinate, and challenge its readers.

Takeaway: Open-minded readers up for a hard look at America’s involvement in foreign wars will find this novel an exciting read.

Great for fans of: Laleh Khadivi’s A Good Country, Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang, Cory Doctorow’s Radicalized.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B

Formats
Ebook Details
  • 01/2021
  • 978-0-6450839-0-3
  • 272 pages
  • $1.49
Paperback Details
  • 01/2021
  • 978-0-6450839-1-0
  • 272 pages
  • $12.99
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