Brian Evenson’s “Immobility” Review: 2/5 “A Disappointing Novel by a Rather Stellar Writer”

For many who have read Brian Evenson 2013 “Immobility,” they are usually more familiar with his short experimental stories, as I have read, as well. The story of Horkai, a man who doesn’t know anything, is set out into a world with no particular mission, and nobody is telling him anything. Rasmus is quiet even after he threatens a few scientists, too. The reason for that isn’t clear in the beginning, and the mission he’s asked to do is not very clear. The outcome is Brian Evenson’s tight prose can close around the narrative, like a noose that Horkai doesn’t even know how or why it’s happening. The connection that people will see is Jason Bourne, or at least the slowest version possible. But maybe the weird conviction of Horkai is that he’s sent out just as we are reading the book. Someone inside Horkai’s shoes is asking all the questions, but most readers might be infuriated by that, and I would argue this is how the character is feeling. The character is not being told something directly or indirectly.