"Mono" by James Knight

“Mono”, by James Knight, is a novella about the natural history of sharks. No, wait. It is about the sharks that you have met in life, and about those weird friends of yours. It is a story about dreams and mirrors and the masks you are wearing right now. It is a book of fragmented stories, related poems, other books and the fragility of your memories.

It is also a book peppered with James´ irreverent images. These images do not illustrate the book, although they sometimes open another door on the story you are reading. The images could be a parallel novella, another story happening at the same time. They are doors to different rooms in the house that is James´ mind. And sometimes the rooms are dark.

James Knight´s “Mono” is daring and playful. You can see that James is having fun when he writes. He is an explorer of the narrative and he walks along dark corridors confidently, leaving behind traces of his raw, beautiful and unapologetic way of writing poetry.

Once you have read James´ books you cannot read the next one little by little. You want to read them completely. Immediately. You know that you will feel moved, scared, even disgusted at times. Yet you also know that you will laugh and you know that you will smile with the boldness and the beauty of his words. 

You can buy "Mono" here.