The Man on the Ceiling

It seems some people just didn't get this book. I suppose I understand their confusion. Its a very experimental book in how it combines autobiography and story all the while doing this as a collaboration. Its impressive considering how difficult a challenge this must have been. I liked it. There were some deep insights in this book and they avoided giving easy answers or simple stories. Its not exactly a novel, but I wouldn't go so far to say the label doesn't apply. There are many stories within the book. More importantly, its about the process of making stories out of life experience and making sense of life experience through story. There is a cleverness to this book, but it didn't seem pretentious to me. What the authors set out to do necessitated cleverness. I enjoyed how smoothly they mixed nonfiction and fiction. I was satisfied enough with this book that I give it an overall good review. It was worth the money spent. It wasn't perfect, but its hard to imagine any two authors collaborating to create something better. I've never read anything that compares to this book and so reviewing it is difficult. Fortunately, I had no expectations going in and so I was able to judge it on its own merits. However, if someone buys it hoping for a normal novel, then they'd be dissapointed. There is something specific that I appreciated the most. Horror is too often limited to the perspective of the individual. This book is about how closely related are love and fear. Its a hard book to get a grasp of, but I think it will grow on me more and more. I immediately read back through the book after finishing it. I'm sure its a book I will return to many times.

The Man on the Ceiling is a true masterpiece of domestic horror - frequently sad, deeply moving, and scary. If you care one iota about literary horror fiction, read this book.