The Inverted House of Reality: A Review of ‘Duplex’ by Kathryn Davis
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5
Kathryn Davis’s novel Duplex is not a book to be passively read; it is a book to be inhabited, to be explored like a strange, forgotten house filled with half-remembered dreams. Released in 2013, this work of speculative fiction defies easy categorization, weaving together elements of suburban realism, fairy tales, science fiction, and cosmic horror into a narrative that is as unsettling as it is profound. Davis’s prose acts as a hypnotic guide through a world where the mundane and the magical are not separate realms but two sides of the same coin, constantly shifting and bleeding into one another.
A House Divided: The Central Metaphor
The novel’s central metaphor of the duplex—a house divided into two distinct, yet connected, halves—is the key to unlocking its thematic power. One side is the familiar, suburban world where a young girl lives with her neighbors and grapples with the anxieties of adolescence. The other side, however, is a fantastic realm populated by malevolent sorcerers, sentient household objects, and benign, bug-like “salamanders” who serve as oracles. Davis uses this structure to explore the porous boundary between the inner and outer worlds, between memory and reality, and between the self and the other. The seemingly simple suburban drama is constantly refracted through the lens of the fantastic, forcing the reader to question which narrative is more true to the human experience. The book becomes an intricate meditation on how our lives are built upon a foundation of unseen, often magical, forces.
Unsettling Dream Logic
Davis’s narrative style is purposefully fragmented, a dream logic that resists linear progression. She moves between perspectives and timelines with disorienting fluidity, demanding that the reader surrender to the strange flow of events. This non-linear approach is one of the book’s greatest strengths, creating a sense of being lost within a mythic landscape where time is not a straight line but a tangled knot. The characters, from the protagonist who yearns for a sorcerer’s love to the mysterious robots who appear at odd moments, are not fully explained but are instead revealed through their actions and desires, much like the figures in a surrealist painting. This narrative ambiguity creates a powerful sense of atmospheric dread and wonder, proving that the most compelling stories are often the ones that leave the most to the imagination.
Ultimately, Duplex is a masterful and singular work of fiction that carves out its own unique literary space. It is a book that will not appeal to every reader, as its deliberate opacity and reliance on mood over traditional plot may alienate those seeking a more straightforward experience. However, for those willing to embrace its dreamlike strangeness, it offers a deeply rewarding journey into the subconscious heart of storytelling. Kathryn Davis reminds us that the most extraordinary things are often hidden in plain sight, just on the other side of a wall, or at the end of a street, waiting to be discovered.
About The Author
