Prunty, Andersen. Zerostrata. Portland: Eraserhead Press, 2008. 144 pp. $10.95. ISBN 1933929758.

An extremely entertaining and touching work of fiction from Bizarro author Andersen Prunty, Zerostrata proves to be an amazingly compelling and insightful story about the loss of innocence, and the struggle to regain what was lost.

Hansel returns home, remembering nothing about his current life. His perceptions of the outside world are non-existent; however, he feels a force driving him toward this reclamation of youth. His family, the “Nothings,” prove to be more than intangible characters playing out an empty existence. To Hansel, they serve as a constant reminder of the cynicism, bitterness and anger of adult life. He realizes that they’re too far gone, and he must struggle to find the simple happiness he once had. Zerostrata is Hansel’s tree house, his sanctuary, and a symbol of his childhood.

While reading this, I was reminded of Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. While most bildungsroman (coming-of-age) protagonists progress from an early age, maturing, and then adapting to their social surroundings, Caulfield is a bildungsroman anomaly, who resists against maturity, as well as settling into the social and moral fabric of society. Interestingly enough, Prunty’s character Hansel proves to be something of a bildungsroman anomaly of his own, resisting against the present, progressing towards his past. But why deviate to the naivety and simplicity of youth?

I had the opportunity to discuss these ideas with Andersen, and he remarked about the importance of being able to experience life and the world from a different point of view—from an innocent, untarnished stage of existence: childhood. Our capacity for knowledge and understanding would be vast if we were able to look at life through a child’s eyes, without any of the cynicism, scepticism, or distrust that is everyday life for adults. Children look at life and death in simple, pragmatic terms. As Caulfield says in Catcher: “Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody." While wonderfully amusing, this quote speaks volumes about belief structures, and the need to break down the cynical convictions and certainties of civilization, and seeing the world from a new perspective.

—Richard Nicol