![]() To me it would have been better classified as a “mystery” or even a “thriller”. Did I really see my grandfather being driven away in an ambulance when I was four? Or is this a memory I have reconstructed from stories told by my parents?Īlthough this book purports to be science fiction, I didn’t really see any elements of that. ![]() It made me think whether there are certain memories of mine that are incorrect, or that I am not remembering correctly. What we actually remember is only an illusion. I really liked the premise of the book: memories are not what they seem. Unfortunately, it is all too real and what the box reveals about his wife’s death will alter his life forever. Upon seeing such memories, Sean is convinced that there is something wrong with the box because nothing is as he had previously remembered it. The memory palace is a box that when plugged into your brain, shows you past memories. After several attempts, Sean finally wins. Every so often (and at random intervals) the widowers compete in a contest to win an undisclosed prize. We meet Sean Whittlesea as he is competing for a prize in his boss’s “widowers club.” Essentially, this is a invitation only exclusive club which is only open to widowers. Regardless, of my initial impression of the cover and title, I have to say that I really enjoyed the book overall. Based upon the cover, I’m not sure I would have picked it up at the bookstore. Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King, which is another book about a mysterious box, then the cover of Scarecrow Has a Gun seems rather dark and does not draw the eye. I think it is supposed to be a picture of the memory palace, but when I compare it to the cover of e.g. ![]() And even when the character in the book explained this reference, I am still not 100% sure I understand it in the context of the book - maybe that memories are not what they seem? That reality is not what we remember? I wasn’t too impressed either with the cover image itself. This reference is so obscure, that until the author made reference to it in the last 25% of the book, I had no idea. The title is actually an obscure reference to the fact that in the movie Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow at some point in the film has a pistol, but that nobody seems to remember this fact. I was under this impression due to the title “Scarecrow Has a Gun.” I was not correct in the slightest. My first impression, having not read the synopsis of the book, was that the book was a mystery / thriller starring a detective. I gave this book 4 stars, as my overall impression of the book was positive. I received this book from Netgalley as an ARC Audiobook. " -Tex Gresham, author of Sunflower, Heck, Texas, and This Is Strange June It’s a gut-punch meditation on the way our brains process mediation, memory, trauma, and grief. ![]() "With writing that’s both sharp and dense, Michael Paul Kozlowsky’s Scarecrow Has A Gun is a labyrinthine mystery that feels as if David Cronenberg and Don DeLillo had collaborated on a Philip K. “Michael Paul Kozlowsky’s brutally eccentric Scarecrow Has a Gun is a masterclass in Cartesian storytelling-simultaneously evoking Christopher Nolan’s clockwork precision and JG Ballard’s ultra-modern sense of irony, Kozlowsky has bestowed upon our cultural landscape a Rashomon for our Post-Truth, Mandela Effect-ed times.” -Jeff Chon, author of Hashtag Good Guy With a Gun Scarecrow Has a Gun is positively Neapolitan!” -Nick Mamatas, author of The Second Shooter ![]() “An intriguing, existential mystery, an exploration of an unhappy marriage, and a paranoid science fiction thriller. Ballard and Paolo Coelho chained together in a basement while a carbon monoxide alarm goes off, Scarecrow Has a Gun is at once disquieting and illuminating, eerie and sincere.” -Martin Seay, award-winning author of The Mirror Thief Suffused with an atmosphere that suggests J.G. Michael Paul Kozlowsky is admirably wary of these enticements, and has put that uneasiness at the heart of this book. A host of technologies exists to reassure us otherwise-novels, to be fair, among them-and each, like an invited demon, ultimately behaves according to its own proclivities. “The coherent self is a fiction: a fairytale we tell ourselves about ourselves. ![]()
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