Entropy in Bloom, author Robert Jeremy Johnson
I am so excited to have found this wonderful short story collection. The rare kind of excited that only comes when you start reading a book and know that you are going to find everything else the author has written even if it’s not at the library and you actually have to buy it with your own money.
The collection starts with a story called The League of Zeroes in which people undergo very extreme body modification surgeries simply to get the most attention. When author Johnson began to describe a woman who had her lips removed trying to drink through a straw I knew this book would be a winner. Just picture that for a second.
Most of the stories in the collection lean toward the grotesque. They aren’t necessarily horror but that would be the only genre who would be accepting of these tales.
Every single story in Entropy in Bloom is original, unpredictable, and witty. All of them build entire worlds with only a handful of pages. Some of the stories lean toward the supernatural but they all are grounded in real emotion and trauma.
The story entitled Dissociative Skills is truly one of the most disturbing pieces of literature I’ve ever read. I loved it so much I will surely read it multiple times. It had a profound effect on me both emotionally and physically, I had to avert my eyes from the page and may have felt a bit queasy. But even past the nausea I felt a strong sympathy for the characters. That is the definition of masterful writing.
There is so much sadness on the pages of Entropy in Bloom. So much grief, trauma, mental health issues, addiction issues, daddy issues, and so much more. Themes of bad parenting, toxic masculinity, and self harm are very strong here. Apply trigger warnings as needed.
It’s clear that these stories are personal for Johnson. He puts a lot of his own pain on the pages. It’s an exposing collection that I hope was cathartic to write.
Overall, the book doesn’t hold the reader’s hand and allows you to interpret your own conclusions from the stories. You get to draw your own connections and apply the stories to your experiences, you get to really make them you own. This is a profound art that is often lost to the desire for mass appeal.
Entropy in Bloom was easily one of my favorite reads of 2021 and I strongly recommend it for any readers with a strong constitution.
5/5 skulls 💀💀💀💀💀
If you like Entropy in Bloom you might also like Some of Your Blood
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Buy it here: Entropy in Bloom: Stories
is this in digital form anywhere?
I read it digital from the library.