Who Would Like This Book:
A Tree or a Person or a Wall offers a smorgasbord of surreal, darkly inventive stories that blur the boundaries between dystopian warnings and modern morality tales. Matt Bell’s writing is poetic and haunting, combining unnerving images with lyrical beauty - kind of like if fairy tales were rewritten by a thoughtful philosopher with a wicked imagination. If you love literary fiction with a bent toward existential horror, philosophical allegory, or enjoy short stories that linger long after the last page, this book will definitely be your jam. Ideal for fans of inventive structure and those who appreciate stories that challenge and disturb in equal measure.
Who May Not Like This Book:
If you come to this collection hoping for straightforward scares à la Stephen King or Edgar Allan Poe, you might leave disappointed. Many stories are enigmatic, fragmented, and heavy on symbolism - less about clear narrative, more about atmosphere and unsettling implications. Readers craving tight plots or clear resolutions may find the ambiguity frustrating, and those sensitive to bleak or disturbing themes (especially involving children or apocalyptic worlds) should be forewarned. This collection isn’t for the faint of heart or anyone looking for easy answers or comfort reads.
About:
A Tree or a Person or a Wall by Matt Bell is a collection of dark and disturbing short stories that delve into themes of captivity, loneliness, marriage, existential horror, and the repercussions of human folly. The stories feature a wide range of characters, from refugees to mutant gang members, and explore post-apocalyptic worlds, dystopian societies, and surrealistic scenarios. Bell's writing style is haunting and evocative, with a focus on beautiful language and thought-provoking imagery that lingers with the reader long after finishing the book.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings for A Tree or a Person or a Wall may include themes of childhood trauma, captivity, psychological distress, and depictions of moral degradation.
From The Publisher:
"Blurs the often fine lines between literary and genre fictions, allegory and horror, magical realism and bizarro . . . An unforgettable reading experience" ( The New York Journal of Books ).
A nineteenth-century minister builds an elaborate motor that will bring about the Second Coming. A man with rough hands locks a boy in a room with an albino ape. An apocalyptic army falls under a veil of forgetfulness. The story of Red Riding Hood is run through a potentially endless series of iterations. A father invents an elaborate, consuming game for his hospitalized son. Indexes, maps, a checkered shirt buried beneath a blanket of snow: they are scattered through these pages as clues to mysteries that may never be solved, lingering evidence of the violence and unknowability of the world.
Named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Review of Books , A Tree or a Person or a Wall brings together Matt Bell's acclaimed short fiction-the story collection How They Were Found and the acclaimed novella Cataclysm Baby -along with seven dark and disturbing new stories, to create a work of singular power.
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