16 Comments
User's avatar
Tim Wright's avatar

Wow, this works on several levels. I like how you illustrate addiction coupled with hoarding and agoraphobia. We're getting it from the inside out with the first person narrator. Max Frisch did something like this in "Man in the Holocene." Carson McCullers worked a lot with the theme of loneliness and loss, material worth stealing.

Iggy Thomas's avatar

I love your references to Max Frisch and Carson McCullers. Their way of getting inside loneliness and loss is exactly the kind of feeling I wanted to hit. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on this!

Tim Wright's avatar

You keep writing stories like this. Sooner or later, it'll find a larger audience. Taking the reader for a ride into madness with a first person narrator is not easy.

Andrew's avatar

This felt painfully accurate. Not moralized, not dramatized—just honest in the way addiction actually works: the quiet accumulation, the false relief, the way it promises fullness while slowly thinning everything out.

What struck me most was how ordinary it all felt. No rock bottom. No cinematic collapse. Just a cart that keeps filling because stopping would require facing the emptiness underneath. That’s the part so many writers miss—and you named it with real clarity and restraint.

Thank you for writing this without flinching or posturing. It felt true.

Iggy Thomas's avatar

Thank you so much my friend!

Andrew's avatar

Absolutely!

I loved the style and feel so much that I wrote out a draft of a post yesterday about an internal dialogue I was having. I don’t know if it’ll end up coming across as strong but I’m hoping to edit it and post it soon.

Keep up the great work!

Iggy Thomas's avatar

Looking forward to reading it,

Also love the concepts and theme of your page. As a Christian man I appreciate the work that you are doing over there and I’ll be doing some reading of yours soon.

Andrew's avatar

Ah thanks, that means a lot!

Hannah Torkelson's avatar

Do many emotions here. I loved it!!

Rick_KC's avatar

Iggy, I wish I was 1/10th the writer you are. This put me on my back. Brilliant.

Iggy Thomas's avatar

Rick, that’s really kind of you. I don’t see us on different levels, just the same mess from different angles. I’ve been digging your work too. Glad we’re crossing paths.

Rick_KC's avatar

Thank you. I am thankful to be on your radar and you on mine. You are one helluva writer, my friend.

Bryan Wiler's avatar

Brilliant, lyrical, sad, funny. Damn, really good stuff here.

Iggy Thomas's avatar

Thank you my friend.

Bryan Wiler's avatar

The pacing was top-notch, and I adored how the narrator made a statement and then immediately said some version of that never happened/it didn’t work out that way/that isn’t true

Iggy Thomas's avatar

Absolutely! I had so much fun writing it that way. Letting the narrator say one thing and then pull the rug out from under it. Feels alive, chaotic, a little mischievous,just how I like it.