God In The Machine
A review of Brian Eckert's 2024 novel
God In The Machine
Brian Eckert
A Thin Slice of Anxiety Press
2024
Buy the book, here.
…
Hello everyone.
Happy new year.
…I’ve been working at a new job, which I work five to six days a week. I hardly have time to write new material.
But here’s something for everyone who has my trust!
“A book review!”
I’m not going to beat around the bush. Let’s get down to what this is before you go and immediately buy it.
There is a lot of cool things about this work of art.
It is 6MB and has 313 pages as a .pdf file, manifesting into a book.
I like the theme of the circular image. It's very magical. The pressing color is black and white. I see a man or alien in the center showing an array of black buildings, and a center lane of black minions praying to the center. It's very new age and magical like a religious bible.
It features a standard chapter section with numbers following, no table of contents. The chapter and page numbers are font size in a specific creepy font to make it look like this is a horror novel with a serial killer in it.
The intro quote is good: “I awoke to a siren blaring outside my window.”
Each paragraph is not indented and is just a block of writing. This technique is meant to be read in a dark coffee house, for every 10-minute session per chapter.
“the machinery of the world.”
“the same dream for weeks.”
This is a first-person story followed by “I” in most actions. Whether he wrote this as a memoir for future readers, or this is a snapshot of self-consciousness that wasn’t meant to be read. There is no indication that the events here are “fictional,” let alone, that the “novel” here could be a real account, a “Roman à clef.” This might as well be an Autobiografiction.
It is also debatable whether this is a “story” or not. I can recount what the author wrote about, but I wouldn’t classify this stream of consciousness as any “story” whatsoever. The writer here is not a “storyteller” and shouldn’t be treated as one. The real importance of the novel is the flow and song of the English text, either read or spoken aloud. Unlike poetry, this memoir chooses its scene-building and direction carefully.
I’m not sure if the Times New Roman font. does it for me, let alone the creepy font on each chapter number. I’d much prefer Garamond font like I’m reading an old book.
There are no indents in the text; just blocks of words. It’s easier to read passages as maxims, as isolated thoughts, then linked together as a story, which is optional when you digest it as poetry. Reminds me of OK Soda self-help notes.
Such as,
"Do you have the feeling you could be much more productive if only you used the right workflow strategy during your day? Enter the Time Chunking Method. Time Chunking helps people get more done, stay motivated, and carve out more free time. Start enjoying a higher level of productivity today! Please watch the short video in the link and let us know what you think. If you would like a free copy of the eBook, The Time Chunking Method, just respond to this email and HR will send you a copy." (pg 11)
Or like this passage:
“The sameness of the city was crushing. Everywhere I looked I saw the same cars, the same people, the same trees, the same buildings, the same scenes playing out over and over again. There was nothing free about any of this. It was as predetermined as the Earth’s orbit around the sun.” (pg 15)
Also,
The “Pay Per Clicks” is about the absurdity of the economy. Not the whole argument, but the farce the reader realizes when things have come to this.
This work really reminds me of Antero Alli’s Angel Tech zine.
…And that’s all my thoughts.
Hopefully The Paris Review will pick this up.
So in the meantime, you should really buy a copy.
Buy the book, here.
-pe
1-1-2025