Plumbing the Depths: A Review of William Azuski’s Travels in Elysium
(Iridescent Publishing, 2013), ISBN: 978-3-9524015-2-1 By Joey Madia What is the nature of reality? What is the value in Metaphor? Is there a single Truth to human existence or are our truths as unique as the number of people who populate the planet, or stars in the sky? William Azuski’s engaging array of characters tackle all of these questions and more in the metaphysical thriller Travels in Elysium . Akin to Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and John Fowles’ The Magus , Travels is rich in geography and symbolism and invites frequent pauses (facilitated by its short chapters) for contemplation. At 539 pages of small, densely packed type, the book is as physically daunting as those of Eco and Fowles and just as metaphorically rich in material. The descriptions of the Greek island and its people and culture are needfully concrete—they anchor the reader in a solid landscape from which the story and characters launch into spiritual, metaphysical, and atempor