He likes it! Yay!
“The Secret in the House of Smiles” by Paul Jessup is classic surrealism, a subgenre of dark fantasy that sometimes has me baffled due to its tendencies to break the usual story mold and yet still maintain entertainment value while enlightening. In my experience, the majority of surrealistic tales tend to fall apart (often due to an author’s attempt to be “unique” by throwing in a Where’s Ishmael, which isn’t all that unique), but some do shine through. “The Secret in the House of Smiles” is one that shines through. While being bizarre, there is motive behind the characters’ actions, and the beginning and end connect in a…somewhat…logical way. It even takes a science-fiction approach to its magical nature by taking theories of quantum mechanics and stretching them to the extremes of believability. Overall, Jessup weaves an interesting tale that threatens to bake brain cells with its bizarreness—a literary carnival of otherworldly perceptions.
Congratulations
(What’s a “Where’s Ishmael?”)
I have no clue- google doesn’t even bring stuff up.