Immobility is about an amnesiac man named Horkai, and in typical amnesic style Horkai begins this novel having no idea who he is, where he is, or who those around him are. So, he must trust the word of those around him, namely a man named Rasmus. Rasmus tells Horkai that he has been brought out of a cryogenic state after 30 or so years and must go on a mission to retrieve something for Rasmus. So, Horkai does.

 

Now the first half of the novel plays around with Horkai's alternating discovery of and hesitation to accept his surrounds. It's a typical blank memory novel for a while. But then, the novel quickly becomes so much more. It becomes, what I interpret, as a commentary on organized religion, specifically the aggressive, and perhaps selfish, nature of religions missionaries.

 

See, during Horkai's journey, he finds people who seem very willing, eager even, to help him. They seem trustworthy. And each time, the reader is lulled into a sense of trust. We want to believe these people are truly out to help Horkai. But they never are.

 

Evenson's own struggles with organized religion are documented online, so I won't go into them here, but this book feels to me like perhaps his most personal. And this includes The Open Curtain which very much plays with the conventions of Mormonism, and until Immobility, I would have called his most religion-conscious book. And what's interesting is that Immobility does this without overtly calling attention to itself as an exploration of religion.

 

So even if you don't like long form detestation of religion--all two of you out there, right, because I know you guys like to party heathen style--even if you don't like this kind of book, don't discount it. There's a lot more to love here. For instance, the story takes place in an alternate history setting, post-apocalyptic, similar to Cormac McCarthy's The Road. The main character, Horkai, has no legs and must be carried by two people who are referred to as mules, and who refer to Horkai as a burden. Mix in a bit of The Matrix, some sci-fi elements, and sprinkle a bit of pestled Viagra, which must be in there because I was rock hard while reading this.

I have to say that Brian Evenson is an author to look forward to.
This book starts with a character Horkai being awakened from storage after a long time to procure a storage tank needed by "the community" or "the hive" as they call it. But the problem is he is being paralyzed from the waist down and coudn't remember what had led him to that situation and therefore he is confused and sometimes questions his own judgement. To accompany him are two "mules"(they may be human) qatik and qanik. i ended up developing a sympathy towards them at the end and even like them most. Somewhere in between the book poses the question that "is it better for the humanity to die out ?" But well that is left for the readers to decide
i would recommend this book to every reader because this book is a treat which one should not miss and if you are a post-apocalyptic fan then what could be better than that !
oh Brian Evenson what have you produced , i need to consume more book of yours !!

Every once in a while you stumble across a book which surpasses all your expectations. 'Immobility' is one such book.

I mean, here you have, the much used trope of a post-apocalyptic scenario (although, I must admit that PA is one of my favorite sub-genres and I would read even a mediocre book if it's classified as PA fiction) with your usual wastelands, radiation and the always present hunger for food and all other things which are common in a book of such type.

But the “commonness” ends there. What we have here is an amnesiac lead character, Josef Horkai, who is woken from his cryogenic sleep after 30 years to perform a vital task for a surviving community under whose care he was stored. He cannot walk as he is paralyzed from waist down, so he is to be carried by two “mules”, Qatik and Qanik (who are human, maybe)to the place where he is to accomplish his mission of retrieving a canister whose contents are vital for the survival of the community.

In spite of the desolate surroundings, the book is filled with excellent dark humor, in fact one of the best kinds I have come across in quite a while. And the “mules”, despite being interchangeable right until very later in the novel, come across as very resolute of characters, and also one of the many characters you’ll really care about as the book progresses.

The book defies the major trope of post-apocalyptic fiction that is selfishness, and the characters portray an unflinching quality of selflessness (especially the “mules”), and of course to an extent Horkai himself, despite his own reservations, tries to remain obedient to the cause.

By the end I asked myself, what would I do in such circumstances? And I found myself agreeing with all of the characters, good or bad, because when I mulled over the story in my head, I concluded that each character did his best under such trying circumstances and I would have done exactly the same, more or less.

You can’t say that about many books, can you?

Josef Horkai has been awoken from storage after thirty years to aid the community. Only he can safely venture forth into the ruined landscape, and return with an item could mean the future of humanity. Evenson weaves a carefully constructed tale of a dystopian future where trust is a rare commodity and answers are a thing of the past. I was immediately drawn into Evenson's novel, and couldn't wait each day to get back to this book.