BOOK REVIEW: THE HALF FREAKS BY ​NICOLE CUSHING

After meeting Harry Meyers,
you might wish you hadn’t!

Perhaps I might not be the best person to review The Half Freaks, mainly because I struggled to make much sense of it, but who knows, perhaps that was the point? I have a feeling it is one of those books which will be equally loved and loathed by an author with a reputation for producing fiction which is way beyond left-of-centre. Although it is only a novella, even for a shortish work the plot was still pretty thin and I did wonder whether the author deliberately went out of her way to be as filthy and confrontational as possible? Particularly, after a while I grew weary of the repetitive and sometimes gross masturbation scenes which came along at alarming frequency. Bizarrely enough, the story is apparently narrated by the author Nicole Cushing whom I know only of by reputation, but other works such as The Sadist’s Bible are referenced in the opening chapters.
 
The narrator tells the story of a dysfunctional loser called Harry Meyers whose mother dies near the beginning of the story and much of the plot surrounds his failings (which are not all his fault) to have her put to rest. The narrator also tells the reader that Harry is “just” a character so perhaps what we are reading is a story within a story? That is probably open to interpretation and the narrator is probably an unreliable as they come. But in a story as bizarre as this I don’t think it matters too much and the reader can take it as it comes, much of it is wildly off-the-wall and you may well fancy a shower after a couple of those aforementioned masturbation scenes.

We’re told early on that “Harry Meyers never married and has no prospects” which opens a chapter entitled “Backstory (A Complete Fabrication)” so, as I said much of it is fabricated and I was quickly frustrated by sequences which did not strike me as particularly funny: “He resides in a town called The Town, which is located in a state called The State, which is located in a region known as The Region.” Other readers might have found this prose to be clever, subversive, or loaded with hidden meaning, if so I missed the intelligence bus. That’s the thing with weird fiction; reactions vary wildly and this is one of those types of books.
 
After the death of his mother Harry struggles to deal with the funeral arrangement and, surreally, things get way out of control as a pushy funeral home (Tranquillity Mortuary Services) makes his life a misery by messing up the budget version he requested. But never fear, there is plenty of masturbation and “chaffed cock” scenes to keep the reader going as things spiral out of his control and he realises his mother’s life insurance was not up to scratch. Along the way, in a very conversational tone, and with very black humour the story escalates with a combination of lewd behaviour and screwball absurdity.
 
Unfortunately, I found neither the narrator or Harry particularly engaging or sympathetic characters (even if he looks like ‘Quasimodo Flintstone’) and I his meandering trials attempting to sort out the funeral to be underwhelming, even if it does become a side-story in the wider world of absurdity he seems to live in. At a certain point the story adds a fascinating second layer which refers to the “half freaks” and their “Menace” and their weird place in reality. Harry even has his own set of rules on how to handle these horrible slobbering monster like creatures! I found this plotline more interesting that the funeral, but again it made limited sense, but absurdity is what the author was obviously looking for. If anything, this part of the story deserved more page-time.
 
This in-your-face and very confrontational fiction which aims to shock and is undoubtedly an acquired taste. Some readers may well find dysfunctional Harry to be a hoot, personally I found it patchy and even though it had its moments, a slightly frustrating read.

Tony Jones

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