The Doloriad
A Novel
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4.0 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"[The Doloriad] just might be what your rotten little heart deserves." —J. Robert Lennon, The New York Times Book Review
One of Vulture's Best Books of 2022. Winner of the 2023 Republic of Consciousness Prize and short-listed for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.
Macabre, provocative, depraved, and unforgettable, The Doloriad marks the debut of Missouri Williams, a terrifyingly original new voice
In the wake of a mysterious environmental cataclysm that has wiped out the rest of humankind, the Matriarch, her brother, and the family descended from their incest cling to existence on the edges of a deserted city. The Matriarch, ruling with fear and force, dreams of starting humanity over again, though her children are not so certain. Together the family scavenges supplies and attempts to cultivate the poisoned earth. For entertainment, they watch old VHS tapes of a TV show in which a problem-solving medieval saint faces down a sequence of logical and ethical dilemmas. But one day the Matriarch dreams of another group of survivors and sends away one of her daughters, the legless Dolores, as a marriage offering. When Dolores returns the next day, her reappearance triggers the breakdown of the Matriarch’s fragile order, and the control she wields over their sprawling family begins to weaken.
Told in extraordinary, intricate prose that moves with a life of its own, and at times striking with the power of physical force, Missouri Williams’s debut novel is a blazingly original document of depravity and salvation. Gothic and strange, moving and disquieting, and often hilarious, The Doloriad stares down, with narrowed eyes, humanity’s unbreakable commitment to life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Williams debuts with a bizarre and strangely beautiful story of an incestuous family surviving in a postapocalyptic wasteland. A woman known as "the Matriarch" started a family with her brother. Jan, the oldest of their many children, made his own family with his sister Agathe. Dolores, the Matriarch's first daughter, described by the omniscient narrator as "fat," "stupid," and without legs, is resented by Agathe for her inability to help with the farming. After the Matriarch has a vision of another family who survived their ruined world, she sends Dolores away to be married. The younger siblings, meanwhile, resist the Matriarch's calls to procreate, and spend their time watching episodes of an old TV show called Get Aquinas in Here on VHS tapes, in which the medieval philosopher comments on various disturbing situations. One of the show's stories involves a girl who is admired by her community, but hated by her epileptic brother, whose seething grows into an incestuous lust. The dreamlike narrative can be hard to follow, but Williams's lyrical, visceral prose ("Dolores shuffled in her skin, as though she wanted to shuck it off") brilliantly sustains her nightmarish vision. This bold and demented effort is definitely a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, but those who like it will be really into it.
Customer Reviews
Head empty no thoughts
Really wild read. Somehow the authors writing style made my brain feel like it was melting until I became a little dumb moth trying to comprehend the shiny light fading in and out that was whatever meaning this story may or may not have. Which is ties in perfectly with the themes this story seems to have going on. Would not recommend if you want a riveting storyline but if you’re here to expand your perception of what writing as an art medium can do then it’s a cool ride for sure.