Anonymous
by Jason Tanamor
Reviewed by Matt Adcock
"Stories are what make the world go round.
Stories entice people.
Stories influence..."
This story is called 'Anonymous' and its a hip freakfest nightmare ripped straight from the beating heart of suburban USA... If you're looking for some new powerful postmodern hard hitting fiction - like say Chuck Palahniuk or Douglas Copeland (note for reference that I am a fan of both) then Jason Tanamor is a funky new name to conjure with.
First things first - when I mention Palahniuk, I mean it. Tanamor writes fiction which if blind tested many would swear that Anonymous was the work of the Fight Club / Choke / Diary master author of the Zeitgeist...
Here's taster:
"The voices in the drainpipes, shooting out of
the toilet bowls, they’re talking about their lives when
they get out. When I get outta here, a voice says, I’m
going to change my life.
Another voice, it says, Me too.
I’m serious, the first ghost says, no more
bullsh*t for me.
Thanks for the stories, one voice says. And
then a flush.
These stories, the facts and the fictions often
get misconstrued.
Unknown, he is laying on his bed about to fall
asleep. Listening to the stories, telling his own, in
some way he’s united the guys.
He yells out loud, so that all the inmates can hear his voice traveling through
the drainpipes, “When you finally leave this dump, just
remember that you’re anonymous.”"
And that's the rub - do you know anything about that person you're sitting next to on the train, on the bus. That nice looking chap who serves you a coffee, who fixes your car, who sells you a newspaper?
As the cover blurb says...
"People are never what they appear to be. Thats why getting to know a person is so important. A persons hair, the way he dresses, his composure, thats what people notice. Its not like you can pick a pedophile or a sex addict out of a crowd. You never meet a person and think, That guy is a pedophile. Or That guy is a sex addict. You say, That man had a nice smile. Or, What a great guy. For a group of prisoners, however, thats all they think. Murderer? Child molester? Scam artist? Better yet, What did you do to get here?"
And so Anonymous is nifty series of tales, told by faceless prisoners blowing thier secrets and shame down the drain pipes... You'll get to hear from a generally unsavoury bunch spanning crimes great and small. There - that's Unknown, he's inside for pretending to be the manager of Brad Pitt, or Tom Cruise, that guy - he's Unknown, he's a sex addict, preying on women, scamming their affection from them. Or that guy... he's got anger issues, the next guy - bitter recriminations...
Reading Anonymous is like taking a audio tour of a high security jail, the tales told will shock, challenge and amuse in equal measure. Tanamor has a gift for skimming the scum from the top of a boiling pot of rancid emotion and making you taste it.
Not for the faint of heart, Anonymous isn't quite as hardcore as Palahniuk in full flow, but it'll freak out those who live in their own safe little worlds and never look outside.
Darkmatt Rating out of 5: öööö (grim but good)
Get yourself a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Tanamor/dp/1434838285
Read Tanamor's blog here: http://jasontanamor.blogspot.com/
