The Inside-Out Man

by Fred Strydom

Brilliant jazz pianist Bent lives from gig to gig in a city of dead ends. He is plagued by fragmented visions of the past, and has resigned himself to a life of quiet desolation. That is, until the night he meets wealthy and eccentric jazz fan Leonard Fry.

In the days that follow, Leonard makes Bent a devilish deal, proposing a bizarre experiment in which Bent will play a vital part.

The deal provides an opportunity for Bent to start afresh, to question everything he knows, and for the two men to move beyond the one terrifying frontier from which neither of them can be sure they’ll ever return: the borders of their own sanity.

Fred Strydom’s novel The Inside-Out Man is a jazzy and surreal mind-bender of a book.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction

304 pages, Softcover

First published November 1, 2017

About the author

Here to frighten, enlighten and entertain.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quote: "Take away the things we own. The houses. The clothes. The cars. Take away the people. All the jabbering & the dinner dates and the handshakes. The schmoozing. Take away the weekend retreats and the jet-setting & the events and occasions and all the traditions on top of traditions. Take away the things we convince ourselves are important. Our little responsibilities to each other. Our mundane habits. Our rituals. What to wear. What to eat. Where to go next, do next, on & on & on. Take away this entire swirling cyclone of existence & then take away our ability to control any of it - and then ask yourself: what remains of us? Who are we without any of that?"

A captivating story by a masterful storyteller.

Mind-boggling. Mind bending.

I dare you to try work this one out.

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

To reiterate my comment on Fred's debut novel, "what the fuck did I just read?!"

I need to mull this one over a bit, but one thing is for sure: Fred Strydom is an excellent storyteller and an incredible novelist. "The Inside-Out Man" had me reading a genre WAY out of my comfort zone and loving every minute of it! This book is riveting, confusing, compelling, and gripping all the way through. Read it, and then maybe read it again.

[Alison Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who are we? Really - at rock bottom? Fred Strydom sets out to show who Bent Croud really is - or isn't. An intriguing, surreal mystery that severely bent my brain out of shape. At the end of the book I had as many questions as answers. A bright new light on the South African literary scene. If you want to try a novel that's different, and well-written, give Fred's novel a whirl.

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a twisted, gnarly, slippery story, guaranteed to leave you with chills down your spine and big questions about your own existence in your mind. I will say nothing more about it. You must start this one untainted.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Inside Out Man is a mind-trip of a novel about the effects of self-isolation and the lengths we’ll go to lie to ourselves in the guise of self-discovery.

If you like evocative prose and interesting descriptions, you will enjoy the prose of this novel quite a bit. For example, “It’s dark and warm inside. Not the good kind of warmth, mind you, the kind that hugs you in your bed in winter, but the warmth of sweaty bodies and backroom generators and things decaying in drains.”

Bent is self-deprecating enough to be relatable but not enough that he comes off as a pretentious whiner. He has a pretty tough life - he lives in a dumpy apartment, he’s alone, and he scrapes by playing piano gigs at bars. He had a rough childhood too, so his demeanour and despondency make sense. He’s not depressing though, which is a hard balance to perfect. I liked him.

The setting is also interesting because one hand you have Bent’s initial living arrangement that gets a lot of detail, but later on there’s a mansion he spends a lot of time in, and it doesn’t get a lot of description at all aside from his first visit. Yet, this has a purpose as well as an almost thematic suggestion that wealth isn’t real. The book is deeper than you think, even while reading it. Which is why it’s so compelling. When you get to the end, you grasp its almost deeper argument, if I can call it that.

The book isn’t perfect - there are some questions I had about Bent’s life between his current age and his teenage years, the third quarter gets a little bit off-track, there’s some fat-shaming that was unnecessary, the italicized dialogue was annoying, and at times it comes off as trying a bit too hard to be lofty. When he succeeds at a “literary” sentence, he nails it, but some of them fall flat. Most don’t.

Likewise, the third quarter of the book I’d say trails off a bit too long in a direction that feels not cliche but overdone in this genre, though the twist at the end of the novel is so good it redeems this and, actually, I’m not sure the twist would have worked without it. And like all good twists, it doesn’t come out of nowhere. When it happened I was like, damn I should have guessed, but the hints it dropped weren't so much hints but random spots on a map that, when connected, make sense. They aren’t clues unless you piece them all together after you read the whole thing.

The book teases you a bit. I couldn’t put it down.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

WTF did I just read? Granted, the writing was great, and I loved the protagonist's 'twitches' When he kills off a few folks who get in his crazy way...still, did he really kill anybody? I'm so damned confused.
Bent - the main character - started off as a rather withdrawn but sympathetic character. As the story progressed, he seemed to morph into a less likeable person. Which added to me not quite getting what the hell was going on. I guess the story went right over my head.
The way the book was written was weird too, with italics used instead of quotation marks whenever a character spoke...then again, as everything probably came from Bent's head...or outside of it, who the hell knows.
If someone else got this, please message me and tell me, so that you don't spoil it for anyone else. Thanks.
3.5 stars.

[Sam Hanekom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bent Croud is about to have a radical change in circumstances. A routine meandering between a run-down apartment, a bar and a piano shapes Bent’s life; jazz music in dark rooms filled with smoke in exchange for just enough money to get by. Only when a dapper gent by the name of Leonard Fry approaches the jazz pianist and offers him a private gig – with a 2 million rand payout – that Bent considers things could be different. All he has to do for this sum is play piano over a weekend; a straightforward, albeit hard to believe deal.

To satisfy his curiosity, Bent arrives at Mr Fry’s palatial residence at the appointed time, and plays his set. Two million rand richer, he prepares to leave when Fry introduces another proposition – a social experiment between the two men, which will require Bent’s presence in the house for a year. With nothing to lose, and a new lifestyle to gain, Bent accepts.

Fred Strydom is brilliantly sneaky – a story as darn and bent (cough cough) as the main character, The Inside-Out Man is as unpredictable as it is macabre and thrilling. Bent is thrust into a world of complete indulgence and murky moral grounds, and his reaction to this is a judge of his character and his sanity – how much can he keep from those around him, and how far is he willing to go to secure his new place in the world? The Inside-Out Man could make a brilliant film – think of a stylish mash-up of Gattaca and Inception, with a South African accent. This book is without doubt the best South African fiction title of the year, making the local literary scene that much more enthralling. Kudos to the author; he’s a rock star.


The Inside Out Man by Fred Strydom is published by Umuzi, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa.

[caitcoreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was first sucked into the world of The Inside Out Man by it’s descriptive imagery alone (e.g., “An old woman was standing behind me, a big red perm mushrooming around her head as if somebody had hit a nuclear pause button.”) but then really fell down the rabbit hole with the crazy, constantly developing plot. The story is told through the eyes of Bent, a jazz pianist living a life of desolation, until he meets a man by the name of Leonard Fry. Leonard is a wealthy and magnetic character with an unusual request: to have Bent lock him in a room of his mansion for a year to be left to his own mental devices. In return, Bent can live in Leonard’s shoes, inheriting a life of luxury. Insanity erupts and splatters itself over the pages of this story as it took me to realms that were completely unanticipated. It left me constantly reorganizing my thoughts as I worked out the puzzle that is The Inside Out Man. I’ve never read anything like this...

[Authorjen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I just read. It was weird enough before I got to the last few pages, but then it just... well it just jumped the shark.

I usually enjoy a good mind-fuck, but this one just didn't do it for me. Creepy protagonist (and not creepy in a good way) plus waaaayyyyy-out-there storyline plus a half-hearted and incomplete explanation at the end just left me hanging.

What really happened to Bent? I'm not sure, but safe to say that it was all a dream or fugue state or whatever. So he's the man in the room after all. But did HE hire a young piano player to lock him in a room? And if so, was it for just a year or forever? So no one other than Bent or the lawyer is real? Whatever. I didn't like it enough to care.

This is just a big "meh" for me. Two stars because I was interested enough to finish it, but not enough good story for additional stars. I'm sure some will love this bloated man-dream, but it was a big no for me.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange, distorted, convoluted story by a young South African author.
Bent, (his name is no accident,) a poor, talented young jazz pianist is contracted to lock-up a rich older man called Leonard Fry in a room in his own country house for a year; not allowing him out however he pleads and shouts. This is apparently a crazy experiment by a bored man, who has always had his material needs met and is looking for new experiences. Bent in a few words "bites off more than he can chew" - for the remainder of the story, read the book!
In conclusion, I am still not too sure what motivated the characters in the book; whether in fact, they were real, or figments of Bent's alcoholic, drugged-induced hallucinations. This story crosses the line between fantasy and sci-fi. Interesting read!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was captivated when I began this book. And now that I’m done, utterly confused. Is it like the theory about dreams that you are actually every character in your dream?

[Nick Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 STARS

This book is a mind-bending, captivating, deeply psychological, unsettling, absolute roller coaster of a novel.

When I say roller coaster, I literally mean a psychological roller coaster of epic proportions. I never knew when or what the next twist was going to be, and when they did happen, they were completely unexpected.

The downside to this book is the somewhat open-ended ending. It leaves you with questions, but I think that a book like this may actually be worse if every question had been answered at the end and didn’t allow for some personal existential and psychological explanation.

I don’t quite know how to feel about the actual story itself other than the fact that it was told extremely well. My brain feels like it just rode the world’s craziest roller coaster and I am still sitting in the seat with my hair frazzled and waiting to exit…

All in all, if you enjoy deeply psychological surreal horror, this one deserves a read…and a re-read.

[Caitlin Holt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a man who should’ve just gone to counseling instead of locking himself in a room to deal with his issues.

I overall enjoyed this descent into madness and I enjoyed all the little clues throughout the book that come together at the end when the twist comes.
Some of the things that I think were supposed to be clues didn’t quite translate for me, unless I missed something. I guess this is one of those re-read books so you can find all the little things you may have missed the first time.
Decent read overall. I’d read more of Strydom.

[Eric O. Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fred Strydom’s The Inside-Out Man belongs to that most unpopular horror subgenre- the surreal horror tale. Like many such stories, The Inside-Out Man is a riddle of a novel. The twist: we learn there’s no real answer. That’s the magic of it.

The novel first introduces us to a down-on-his-luck jazz pianist named Bentley Croud, who goes simply by Bent. He lives in a rundown apartment building located in an unnamed city in South Africa, in a part of town notable for drug addicts and various people of disrepute. One neighbor is a convicted pedophile, who was once a university professor. Bent, however, keeps mostly to himself. He seems to have no friends or family: his mother drank herself to death, while his father abandoned him as a child. One day, he gets a call from an uncle informing him that his father has passed away. After the funeral, during the reading of his father’s will, Bent learns that he’s been left an antique key in a fancy box, but no one knows the significance of the object. The attorney suspects that it’s of sentimental value. Later that evening, as Bent is trying to fall asleep, he imagines the presence of a man in his apartment. A possible specter of his old man.

Later, Bent meets the same man at the club he’s working, but this time in the flesh. It isn’t his father, but a millionaire named Leonard Fry. The millionaire makes Bent a proposition. He will pay Bent two-million Rand to play the piano at a weekend party he’s holding at his remote mansion in the countryside. Unsurprisingly, this party turns out to be not unlike the one in Arthur Schnitzler’s Dream Story. A naked woman greets Bent at the door and guides him into the house. She informs him to stay in a room containing a piano, and to play whenever he is instructed to do so over the telephone. Bent complies with these instructions.

After this gig is through, Leonard Fry makes Bent another proposition. Leonard wants to lock himself away for a year in a room in his mansion. His goal is to learn who he is when he doesn’t have his privileged life. Bent is to play a role akin to a prison guard; he’s to house sit and bring Leonard his meals, which are to be delivered through a slot in the door. Bent accepts the job.

Bent soon becomes accustomed to the high life, slowly transforming into Leonard. He starts wearing Leonard’s clothes and sleeping in his bed. He sees everything he could have been if he had grown up in privilege. Somehow sensing this change in Bent, Leonard starts complaining that Bent hasn’t earned any of this privilege. He starts mocking Bent, telling him that after a year he’ll return to his life of squalor. Since Bent is not allowed to speak back, he bears this abuse with bitterness. But soon, he breaks.

Bent decides to kill Leonard by starving him to death.

From here, the riddle only gets more convoluted. Bent sees a man starts lurking around the mansion. He takes up with a strange woman named Jolene, who may or may not be Leonard’s lover. And then Leonard’s son Howard shows up, adding a complication to the murder plot.

What’s clear is that there’s a pattern. Bent’s mother and Jolene are both single mothers. Howard and Bent are both piano players. The book features a series of doubles coming into contact with each other.

MY TAKE ON WHAT's GOING ON:: Eventually, the situation reverses. Bent finds himself locked away in the room. He finds that he is full of guilt- for having killed both Leonard and Howard. He also finds a letter from his father in the room outlining his feelings of guilt for abandoning his son. It turns out it’s not his fault. Bent’s mother kept Bent away from him.

But does this make sense? As Bent’s mother is an alcoholic, it should have been easy for a millionaire to get custody of his child. That’s where all the pedophilia stuff comes into play. I think the pedophilia neighbor is just another double of the dad. This also explains a flashback scene in which Bent’s mother freaks out when she accidentally takes her son to an R-rated movie. This is the secret behind the secret.

Anyway, the inside-out man is the father and child stuck inside each other. When the punishing child is on the outside of the room, the father destroys the child’s sense of self, making him feel worthless. When the child ends up inside, he is faced with the guilt of having killed his father. Ultimately, we don’t know if the story is about a father who feels guilty about abandoning his child or a son who feels guilty for killing his dad. The novel works both ways.

Anyway, people who like David Lynch movies will love this book. The book also reminded me of Du Maurier’s The Scapegoat as well. My only issue is that the writing isn’t very evocative or emotional. There’s too much telling; and the narrative is too obsessed with just the riddle elements. That’s why it’s not the sort of book you can re-read. Unlike a Lynch movie, which you can watch again and again.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness takes it's toll
But listen closely
(Magenta:) Not for very much longer
(Riff Raff:) I've got to keep control

I remember doing the Time Warp
Drinking those moments when
The blackness would hit me
(Magenta:) And a void would be calling.

This book is a total mindf*ck and it is spectacular in its mastery.

[Natasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rich people with weird tendencies? At first, I thought that this was another version of The Girl Before by J. P. Delaney. You know where there's a rich benefactor with a big mansion trying out some bizarre experiment by housing random strangers. In the end, those strangers turned up dead?

Well, this turned out to be nothing like that. It's more of a psychological exploration of a very confused man filled with lots of inner monologues. The good thing is nobody is murdered but that twist, in the end, is open to different interpretations.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Inside Out Man by Fred Strydom is an unusual novel with an intriguing but rather convoluted storyline.

Raised by a single mother who died when he was a teenager, Bentley "Bent" Croud is a talented jazz pianist who plays in local bars a few times a week and lives in a rundown apartment he has dubbed the "Crack Radisson".  Learning of his barely recalled father's death, he receives a bit of a puzzling inheritance.  Not long after hearing this news, he is offered a hefty sum to perform at weekend party on Leonard Fry's large estate.   After the weekend is over, Fry has another proposal for Bent which is rather bizarre. In exchange for access to all of his possessions for the next year, Bent agrees to serve Fry three meals a day after he locks himself in a room in his mansion.  At first enjoying his luxurious accommodations, things take a rather odd turn after Bent meets Leonard's friend, Jolene.

Bent is an interesting character who does not seem overly unhappy with his life when he first meets Fry. He has a passing acquaintance with his neighbors  and although the bars where he plays piano are not high end, he is comfortable with the bartenders and patrons. Bent agonizes over his decisions to Leonard's two very different proposals, but in the end, he is curious enough to agree to his benefactor's somewhat peculiar propositions.

The Inside Out Man is well-written and at first the storyline is engaging and interesting. However, the novel quickly takes a very strange and dark turn and readers will have a difficult time knowing whether or not Bent's experiences are real.  Fred Strydom brings the confusing novel to a twist-filled conclusion that is somewhat ambiguous and rather unsatisfying.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise has promise, but the plot itself has many twists and turns. When you think you figured out what was going on, only to see that another surprise pops up in the next chapter. Inside Out Man is a psychological horror novel, and it shows through the eyes of the main character Bent, as he gradually loses his marbles during his solitude stay. This book being outside of my usual horror-themed taste, is a slow grower, but halfway through the story is where I stayed hooked. Overall, Inside Out Man is good horror read about questioning your own reality, and I can see Mr. Strydom is on a promising path. I think I could give his future works a try, and this one a read again in the future.

[Consuelo Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

More philosophical and literary than The Raft (which I loved!) but once again a satisfying read with unusual characters put into a most unusual situation. He handles tricky plots with elan. Strydom is a very talented writer. I look forward to his future novels.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to come back to this one when I actually figure out what happened and what I read. Surreal horror is a hell of a ride.

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't the jump scare type horror; it was the psychological, uneasy, uncomfortable, confusing type and it genuinely made me question lots of things. I thought it was pretty good.

[Megan Lister · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did the author really “and it was all just a dream” us?

Not sure how to rate this one so three stars. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. It may benefit from another read down the line.

[olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

really not a fan of this book. was it written beautifully? absolutely. did it make me feel uneasy, like good psychohorror should? definitely. was it coherent, understandable, or enjoyable to read? no. like, not at all.

i finished this book over the course of two days--day one, with the first half, was great! it was compelling, confusing, everything i wanted out of a novel. a seedy young artist making a deal with a suave, rich devil to live the life he'd always dreamt of at a terrible price? sign me tf up!! i loved it, and i couldn't put it down. strydom's prose, too, is elegant, and the questions he asks within it are profound and genuine. it seems like he had a lot of fun writing it. there was so much i didn't understand that i was sure would be tied up at the end of the book, and i was excited to see how the pieces fit. unfortunately, they didn't.

the second half of the book went right off the rails. when i finished it, i audibly exclaimed "oh, come ON!" i can't say it was bad even if i wanted to, because i'd have to understand it to say that, but i will say this: the ending was garbage. the author wants us to put together pieces of a puzzle only he understands, except it's not a puzzle, it's a word game, and oh, actually, it's not a word game, it's the rantings of a lunatic and you're following dream logic. it's all a lose-lose scenario, a convoluted mess of a novel. i wanted to like it!! i really did!!! but it wasted my time.

three stars because the premise was so inviting/interesting, and the prose itself was nice.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, only because I spent a lot of time feeling annoyed with the main character and then at the end I felt a little cheated. But the more I thought about it after the fact, and reviewed critical scenes through the filter of hindsight, I began to like it more. I appreciate what the author did here, this was an ambitious undertaking which I think he managed to pull off well. The only thing that still bothered me was just how unlikable our protagonist grew to be. After a while I frankly didn't care why he made the boneheaded decisions that he did. But now I'm really glad that I stuck with it.

Our main character, Bent (Bentley) begins the novel by describing himself as other than what you would expect with a name like Bentley. He's a fabricated representation. A poor doppelganger filled with flaws, a "bent" caricature. Hmmmm...... So this made me think about him. So are there twins? Are there two sides to the same person? Is he an unreliable narrator because he's being hounded, haunted, by what he should be? By his past actions? If you take the story at face value, like I did, then you do become a bit annoyed by Bent's actions and his incomprehensible thought processes. However, if you read it as being a bit more symbolic, almost like a dream, then perhaps you won't be as stumped by the ending as I was. I'm glad I read the book. It was a quick read that keeps you both guessing and cursing in equal measure, but stick with it. You'll be glad you did.

[Lior Sinai · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the Raft, I had to read Fred Strydom's second book. This is a very different book; it is a much darker and twisted tale, and is set on a smaller scale, with most of the action confined to a few set pieces. That said, I really enjoyed it, and if you liked the Raft I think you'll like this one.

The story drew me in quickly. It is narrated by Bently Croud, a cynical, hardened jazz pianist. The reader is let in fully on his distorted view of the world, and he is a great character to follow as this deranged story gathers momentum until its mind-numbing conclusion.

The one fault I have with this book is, like many mystery novels, it holds on to too much right until the end. The final twists and the ending are excellent, but I do not feel like it was necessary to hold back so much. For example, by the time the importance of the key is finally explained, I had long forgotten about it.

Overall, I preferred the Raft, but that may just be my preference for sci-fi. This book deserves its own praise, and confirms that we can expect more great stories from this South African author.

[Sarabeth Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh man. This book was something else. Superbly written with a mind-bending elegance that made it hard to put down. The imagery alone that the author wove through the story was unheard of and a breath of fresh air from over-used cliches that most writing relies on. It's definitely a book that can (perhaps should?) be read a few times over and the narrative is still riveting. While there is a plot, most of the momentum comes from character introspection and an in-depth look at the human condition. Lots of the things remarked on are the type of thoughts that everyone has but feels like it's unique to them and their own outlook on life that you don't even realize that everyone else thinks the same way until you read your own innermost thoughts spelled out in a book. It's novels like this, that you can tie your own thoughts to, that I find most compelling as opposed to an action-thriller with characters too flat and out of reach.

[Rhiannon Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is hard to comment on without revealing its secrets... I love a challenging plot and this one has it!

Strydom gives us a great Möbius strip of a story with this novel. He knows how to set a scene and really draw you into this crazy spiral of a plot. Our protagonist is a likeable, down on his luck, pianist who gets an intriguing offer of a lifetime that seems a little (a lot, really) sketchy, but has a big payoff for seemingly little effort. When he accepts this offer, everything begins to unravel in the most peculiar and disturbing ways. Hallucinations? Ghosts? Stalkers? Madness? Time displacement? Maybe all of it, maybe none...

You'll wonder what you're reading... suspense, for sure. But you'll be puzzling out if it's a horror, a mystery or something much more subtle and insidious right to the very end. Just as you're nearing the finale and feeling satisfied that you've got a grasp on everything, it twists into the impossible and makes you want to start all over again.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want a novel that will mess with your head, this is it. Wow. My brain hurts now. 🤣 Fred Strydom is a talented writer. He can really turn a phrase.

Bent is a likable character at first. As the book goes on though, he becomes less and less likable which made it hard to root for him. The plot is interesting and unique, but it does drag a bit in the middle. The twist I was expecting is not the one I got. At all. Normally that would be a good thing, but I'm honestly not sure how I feel. I have a lot of questions. Though I'm unsure about the ending, I did love the author's writing, and I enjoyed the story for the most part. I would recommend The Inside-Out Man to anyone who loves mind-bending stories. 3.5 stars rounded up.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very strange book, yet an oddly compelling one. In fact, I'm upscaling my rating of it to reflect its originality, because it's a rare thing these days.
Of course, this book is older, before people have started to lock genre fiction into such strict cliched boxes.
The cover suits it perfectly, for the plot of this novel is very much a Möbius strip come to life. A twisted journey of a down-and-out jazz pianist who comes to inhabit the life of another, much wealthier man.
The tone is almost neo-noir, and the narrator, while not easily (or at all) likable, is interesting enough to follow as he peels the onion of his life, layer by layer, to uncover the truth.
Fans of malleable realities and puzzles for plot ought to enjoy this one.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Sarah Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is nightmarish in the purest sense - every moment is somehow off-kilter even if you can't quite place why, the rug is constantly pulled out from under you, and after feverishly searching for answers and logic you eventually realize there are no answers or logic to be found. Reading this felt a lot like the literary equivalent of watching David Lynch's most powerfully odd works like Eraserhead or Inland Empire, a dream state that works purely on the id. I feel like if I thought too long and hard about the logistics of this story it would probably collapse but, much like Lynch's works, it works so well as an experience that washes over you that I don't even care about the answers