3.25 stars

This is a metaphysical, satirical, mad-cap romp through a "mad city" where panic and apathy are alive in equal measure in the populace. Set in 2020 at the outset of the Covid pandemic, people are irritated, confused and yearning for hope in a world that seems to be getting grimmer by the day. There were sections that were actually pretty funny with physical manifestations of theoretical paradigms shifting in and out of our world and wreaking weird havoc, but more often than not I found myself drawn out of the story because things got too unwieldy and kind of overbearing. While I was able to figure most of the elements of this story out eventually, I kept feeling like I wasn't following the characters properly within the narrative and had a hard time keeping straight the five W's - who, what, when, where, why (which is a reading pet peeve of mine). But I get that the main goal of the book is to keep the reader off-balance, so in that regard I'd say the author succeeded 100%.

I have to be totally honest - I really went through a difficult time with this book. However, I don't like to leave DNF reviews, and the writing style itself was good, so I pushed through. But I had to keep putting it down and then coming back a couple days later, and that's not normally how I like to enjoy my books. If you can appreciate the more challenging aspects of this story in a "this doesn't have to make sense to me in a linear way" sort of thing, then go ahead and jump in; theorists and sophists would likely have a field day with this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, author Dragos Moldoveanu, and So-and-So Publishing for giving me free access to a digital ARC of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own and are provided here voluntarily.

"Paradigms For A Mad City" is a wild and funny adventure set in Brooklyn. When a woman is kidnapped, only Liam Lieu, an aspiring author, sees it happen. As he tries to save her, strange things start happening all over the city. Liam's friends, a detective, and a hospital worker get caught up in the chaos too. This gothic comedy takes you through their crazy journey, poking fun at the madness of post-pandemic America and showing how people try to find balance in weird times.

Definitely a bizarre book, probably perfect for people who enjoy a feverdream style book that doesn't seem to make sense, but unfortunately it was a little too out there for me. Interesting concept, though!