emfiliane reviewed Freeway by Mark Kalesniko
Review of 'Freeway' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A psychedelic journey through old memories, angry angsty visions, and a dreamy fantasy of a past life, where every crappy event of the present has been smoothed out into perfect life in the golden age of Hollywood, anchored by a brutal freeway journey from Glendale to Simi Valley. The book is surprisingly engaging, with excellent art accentuating every expression, Alex's longing and rage pouring out onto every page while his life fall apart around him.
Existential angst suffuses the pages, the loneliness of real world failures and helpless frustrations subsumed by the need for another ending, good or ill. Each chapter becomes more ominous, as a rattling black car draws closer, death personified, with dark majestic buildings pitted against lonely streets and endless humpbacked cars on the freeway, and Alex's life falls apart around him in past and present. The personal interactions are the backbone of the story, but the …
A psychedelic journey through old memories, angry angsty visions, and a dreamy fantasy of a past life, where every crappy event of the present has been smoothed out into perfect life in the golden age of Hollywood, anchored by a brutal freeway journey from Glendale to Simi Valley. The book is surprisingly engaging, with excellent art accentuating every expression, Alex's longing and rage pouring out onto every page while his life fall apart around him.
Existential angst suffuses the pages, the loneliness of real world failures and helpless frustrations subsumed by the need for another ending, good or ill. Each chapter becomes more ominous, as a rattling black car draws closer, death personified, with dark majestic buildings pitted against lonely streets and endless humpbacked cars on the freeway, and Alex's life falls apart around him in past and present. The personal interactions are the backbone of the story, but the backdrop of greater Los Angeles is easily a major character in itself, featured in nearly every panel and captured in all of its glory.
Easily the most captivating part of the story is the way past and present seamlessly meld into each other; the author knows LA all too well, remembers or has extensively researched many locations throughout downtown and San Fernando to experience both 2000s and 1940s Los Angeles in their prime. Some of the saddest scenes of all are when the hustle and bustle of prewar downtown fades into the sterile streets of its modern equivalent, houses and hills replaced by skyscrapers and overpasses. I'm an urban historian, and for this alone I treasure the story.
As the story progresses and we see the deep scars that led to the Alex's black mood, and the strange obsession with a young girl once glimpsed, the skipping and psychedelic aspects get stronger; in the final chapters nearly every frame rushes back and forth between his different worlds. Leading up to the final page is an incredibly tense, difficult to follow, emotionally charged sideshow, until giving a moment of peace in a broken world, more powerful than American Beauty's by far.
Pick it up if you can, if you enjoy anything off kilter. It's worth it, even if you'll finish unsettled... as if you just woke from a half-recalled nightmare.