PositiveSlateDuplex resonates on a unique frequency and forces readers to adjust to its wavelength. It’s a book to tune into rather than break down ... A traditional plot or character sketch won’t do this topsy-turvy story justice, and Duplex will be frustrating to readers who demand clarity and continuity. But taken on its own terms—as a book that defies genre and storytelling expectations—this off-kilter world in which humans, robots, and Bodies-without-Souls all co-exist hums beautifully to its own rhythm. It’s a series of dreamlike, often erotic, images and interconnected plot lines that don’t so much build to climax as swell to create an intoxicating atmosphere ... As these references to time build throughout the novel, it’s clear the mystical duplex isn’t as fantastical as it first seemed ... Davis cares most of all not about what those alternate paths might have been, but with how it feels to encounter them. This cosmic novel may give readers the dizzying sense of coming unhinged, but it’s also a reminder that the momentum gained from shifting back and forth between possibilities—not the actual going through the door—is the movement that propels us forward.
Dave Eggers
RaveThe RumpusIt’s the type of book that makes you aware of the chasm between the way you see yourself and the way the rest of the world sees you. AHWOSG made me extremely uncomfortable. The parts I loved about the book were similar the parts I hated about myself. I realized the only way I could tell a story —even a fictional one — that felt honest was not to smooth over the rough edges. The rough edges were the story.
