Reading Invaginies by Joe Koch feels like a trust fall. You have to fully let go of any literary and real-world constraints and plummet through some of the most grotesque, bizarre, and transgressive body horror to get to the other side of this collection, but scraping off all the pus, liquids, and mindfuckery is worth it. In other words, enjoying this collection largely depends on getting really cool with some really weird shit really quick.
Open any social media spaces surrounding books, and you'll see curated lists about weird fiction. While they all absolutely take you to some surreal and messed up places, I honestly don't think many can compete with the honest what the fuck energy as Invaginies. While Kock goes a bit easy on readers by clearly tackling themes of queerness, gender identity, social politics, and sexual repression, to name a few, it's still an experimental collection that will have you scratching at the surface of the story to get to the center of the meaning. You'll probably have to flip the pages back and forth a few times because, seriously, what the actual fuck, but trust me when I say the disorientation is worth it.
This is a collection where bodies shift and mutate, where disease and rot mix with sexual desire, and you're a little nauseous but thankful for it. This collection shocks the system and forces you to look at the lived experiences of others in ways that revolt and excite and make you question everything. In one story, we follow an unhinged man who has succumbed to right-wing propaganda and has taken to torturing himself with 1984-inspired rat traps and wearing dresses to secure the masculinity "the libs" are trying to take from him. In another, a smuggler's body becomes more and more alien as he forces objects inside it. In yet another, we're thrust into the mind of a female heretic being burned at the stake, so while you're taken to a lot of different places, you can always expect a bit of disgust and a lot of madness.
Koch writes with a fearlessness that reminds me of the spirit of horror - each story feels rebellious and confrontational as it submerges you in visceral images of split tongues, charred flesh, and puss-filled infections. But beyond the blood-lubbed scenes of depravity is a story of humanity - even if it's slowly melting into a distressing pool of goo.
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