Hystopia

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

At the bitter end of the 1960s, after surviving multiple assassination attempts, President John F. Kennedy has created a vast federal agency, the Psych Corps, dedicated to maintaining the nation's mental hygiene by any means necessary. Soldiers returning from Vietnam have their battlefield traumas 'enfolded' - wiped from their memories through drugs and therapy - while veterans too damaged to be enfolded roam at will in Michigan, evading the Psych Corps and reenacting atrocities on civilians. This destabilized, alternate version of American history is the vision of the twenty-two-year-old veteran Eugene Allen, who has returned from Vietnam to write the book at the center of Hystopia, the long-awaited first novel by David Means. In Hystopia, Means brings his full talent to bear on the crazy reality of trauma, both national and personal. Outlandish and tender, funny and violent, timely and historical, Hystopia invites us to consider whether our traumas can ever be truly overcome. The answers it offers are wildly inventive, deeply rooted in its characters, and wrung from the author's own heart.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

After four story collections, Means delivers his first novel, and it's a dazzling and singular trip. The novel within this novel is flanked by interviews, editorial clarifications, and multiple attempts at a suicide note by "author" Eugene Allen, a Vietnam vet who reconciles the death of his sister by writing the story of three wounded Vietnam vets and two wounded women connected by repressed-or "enfolded"-trauma. Returning vets have their traumas-and all other associated memories-erased by the Psych Corps, a federal agency created by J.F.K., who has survived six assassination attempts and three terms in office as the 1960s draw to a brutal close. Rake, on whom the enfolding treatment didn't work, frees Meg from Corps treatment and keeps her captive on a murderous rampage across Michigan. They take shelter with fellow vet Hank, who has partially reversed his enfolding treatment and quietly plots to save Meg from Rake. Meanwhile, drug-addled Corps agents Wendy and Singleton embark on a "mission gone haywire" in pursuit of Rake. The two narratives alternate between briefly disorienting perspective shifts but eventually converge. Means (The Spot) writes stunning prose and draws his characters with verve-Rake is a memorable psychopath. This tale reads like an acid flashback, complete with the paranoia, manic monologues, and violent visions, proving that some traumas never go away. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Having established his literary standing with short stories, Means (The Spot, 2010) delivers his long-anticipated debut novel, a compelling, imaginative alternative-history tale about memory and distress. Now in his third presidential term, John F. Kennedy has survived multiple attempts on his life, flaunting his fearlessness in a series of national wave-by tours. Meanwhile, fresh off the battlefield, Vietnam War vet Eugene Allen pens a speculative tale in which the seemingly immortal Kennedy has founded Psych Corps, a government organization committed to preserving the mental state of soldiers and thus the country by expunging their traumatic memories with drugs and therapy, a process called enfolding. Psych Corps agents must track down veterans who have evaded the procedure, a band of whom are wreaking havoc around the Midwest. One such rebel is Rake, an impulsive murderer who leaves his bloody signature in his wake, dragging along his enfolded partner, Meg, who's not sure how she got into this mess. Another enfoldee, Psych Corps agent Singleton, plays by agency rules until he's off the clock, when his affair with a coworker threatens to reawaken his suppressed memories. By turns disturbing, hilarious, and absurd, Means' novel is also sharply penetrating in its depiction of an America all too willing to bury its past.--Fullmer, Jonathan Copyright 2016 Booklist