Thomas Morris

Open Up

I had never read anything by Thomas Morris but the blurb in NetGalley had me curious so I asked for an ARC. However, Morris is already a recognized author and this work is again longlisted for prizes, so one goes into it with some expectations.

Thomas Morris writes about ordinary people's ordinary problems with a half realist half psychoanalyst perspective. He describes some regular events and relationships, but in some of them allows the characters to introspect and take us through their doubts, pains, blocks, fears, be them endured or overcome. In these moments Morris shows his skills as an imaginative writer. In another, the setting itself is akin to a fable, but the existential exploration is just as strong. A couple of the pieces are shorter, more simple and thematically straightforward.

The collection doesn't start strong, "Wales" was too simple for me. It's centered on a father-son relationship and the day they went to watch a football match. There's something there, but I didn't feel it.

"Aberkariad" is the second tale about parenthood, but this one is longer, much more complex, enticing and even surprising. There's space for naivete and angst, for age and gender issues, for hedonism and stoicism, for existentialism and biological imperatives, for nihilism and hope. And yes, it's about seahorses.

This is followed by “Little Wizard”, a very introspective, sometimes diary-like story of a man that lacks self-confidence but manages to keep a masked existence as a cool easy going dude. His mask and his inner self come to clash as he understands he needs to risk one of his safeties if he's going to try to find his idea of happiness.

“Passenger” is probably the best piece of writing in Open Up. It's here Thomas Morris unleashes his David Lynch persona, exploring the personality, history and progress of a man whose relationship is both a safe haven to let himself live superficially and then a force that makes him come to terms to all he's tried to avoid all his life. His self-psychoanalysis manifests some Twin Peaks moments and take the writing to another level.

“Birthday Teeth” is again a simpler story, about a young guy who thinks of himself as a vampire, about to get his teeth sharpened, seeing it as a moment to come into his own, but who also drags into it so much of his baggage, his personal history, his dreadful relationship with his mother, and others I'll avoid because of spoilers. There's some hallucinating, maybe there was some Peaks left in Morris after the last one, and there's some kind of parallel between becoming an adult, having his birthday teeth, dealing with what he's running from, not wanting to deal with his own responsibilities and faults, and some paranoid delusions (are they?).

All in all, this was interesting most of the time, if quite uneven, and the good ones - Aberkariad, Little Wizard and Passenger - make for a worthy time. The fact that I see some of my own self, my own history, in some of these moments has to be stated, as it surely enhances my experience reading Open Up. I'd be interested to check Thomas Morris' next work, be it short fiction or novel length.

André Nóbrega

I had never read anything by Thomas Morris but the blurb in NetGalley had me curious so I asked for an ARC. However, Morris is already a recognized author and this work is again longlisted for prizes, so one goes into it with some expectations.

Thomas Morris writes about ordinary people's ordinary problems with a half realist half psychoanalyst perspective. He describes some regular events and relationships, but in some of them allows the characters to introspect and take us through their doubts, pains, blocks, fears, be them endured or overcome. In these moments Morris shows his skills as an imaginative writer. In another, the setting itself is akin to a fable, but the existential exploration is just as strong. A couple of the pieces are shorter, more simple and thematically straightforward.

The collection doesn't start strong, "Wales" was too simple for me. It's centered on a father-son relationship and the day they went to watch a football match. There's something there, but I didn't feel it.

"Aberkariad" is the second tale about parenthood, but this one is longer, much more complex, enticing and even surprising. There's space for naivete and angst, for age and gender issues, for hedonism and stoicism, for existentialism and biological imperatives, for nihilism and hope. And yes, it's about seahorses.

This is followed by “Little Wizard”, a very introspective, sometimes diary-like story of a man that lacks self-confidence but manages to keep a masked existence as a cool easy going dude. His mask and his inner self come to clash as he understands he needs to risk one of his safeties if he's going to try to find his idea of happiness.

“Passenger” is probably the best piece of writing in Open Up. It's here Thomas Morris unleashes his David Lynch persona, exploring the personality, history and progress of a man whose relationship is both a safe haven to let himself live superficially and then a force that makes him come to terms to all he's tried to avoid all his life. His self-psychoanalysis manifests some Twin Peaks moments and take the writing to another level.

“Birthday Teeth” is again a simpler story, about a young guy who thinks of himself as a vampire, about to get his teeth sharpened, seeing it as a moment to come into his own, but who also drags into it so much of his baggage, his personal history, his dreadful relationship with his mother, and others I'll avoid because of spoilers. There's some hallucinating, maybe there was some Peaks left in Morris after the last one, and there's some kind of parallel between becoming an adult, having his birthday teeth, dealing with what he's running from, not wanting to deal with his own responsibilities and faults, and some paranoid delusions (are they?).

All in all, this was interesting most of the time, if quite uneven, and the good ones - Aberkariad, Little Wizard and Passenger - make for a worthy time. The fact that I see some of my own self, my own history, in some of these moments has to be stated, as it surely enhances my experience reading Open Up. I'd be interested to check Thomas Morris' next work, be it short fiction or novel length.

Regan Martin

Idk how else to explain this but this collection is almost like being sober but experiencing someone ELSE be on hallucinogenic drugs, like if that were possible. Seahorse story slapped

Open Up

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