The Modern Man - A review of "The Rage"

"The Rage" is Mathew Babaoye's latest work, and easily his best. Set in the current era, it follows the main character Damon through his daily life: waking up alone in his messy apartment, taking the bus from his ghetto to the financial district for soulless sales work, and coming home to gang violence or the rocky relationship with his girlfriend, Monica. A simple tale of rising anger at unfair circumstances on the surface, but there is so much more.

Capitalism is a meatgrinder for some, chewing individuals up and only spitting them out after 40 years (if they're lucky) used up and discarded for the next fresh-faced batch of peons. Damon's story explorers this from the ground floor: he is a sales grunt in a financial planning office, and his boss is the epitome of "the man". Damon's anger is not misplaced here, and the travails of his workplace are explored in convincing detail, but the novel shows how he is also complicit in his own subjugation. There is a part of him that enjoys the grind, even as the people he work with provide a dark reflection of his own doubts and self loathing.

Poverty is a part of modern life for every country, from the 3rd world to the 1st. Damon lives in the ghetto, dealing with lost souls and gang violence almost on a daily basis. It is another facet to the "modern man" story, especially as economies around the world erode and diminish the middle class, increasing the low. This is where Damon's anger comes in handy, and first pushes him to transform beyond human using "the rage", which makes him into a Hulk anologue. Damon gets angry enough that he temporarily gets bigger, stronger, faster, and begins to glow red. Confronted in a climactic scene by a gang he has angered, Damon cleans the streets by taking them out with his bare hands. It is a moment of earned catharsis, and leads the reader to believe his path to becoming a "superhero" will be a sure one.

Relationships between lovers are a hot topic for some, although I have never cared much for imposing my beliefs on others. Damon's relationship with his girlfriend is complex, and quite modern. She makes more money than him, is more secure, and educated. She is also much better looking than him and has a strong personality, mostly dominating their relationship in a way he greatly enjoys (considering how angry and aggressive he gets the further along in the story you go, the only one he submits to is her). The revelation that this independent, amazing woman has suffered abuse in her past makes perfect sense considering her new relationship with Damon, however, and the end between them is a shocker.

Superhero stories tend to dominate the modern narrative. Films, television, and even novels are rife with superpowers, heroes and villains. This book has a superpowered character but takes it in a fresh direction. Damon's Earth has no superpowers until he comes along, and most of the book he denies that anything has changed or that it should alarm him, even as he begins to transform from a schlubby office worker into a massive, protean ideal of masculinity. His struggles to balance work, love, and his budding powers make for a tensearc as he allows the powers to usurp his own self control over the course of the story, until eventually things are almost completely out of control and one is unsure whether the character is now a superhero, a supervillain, or something else entirely.

There are some minor spelling/grammatical mistakes that should have been fixed, and hopefully will in a subsequent Edition. Otherwise the story is well realized, complex, and explores many different themes and issues relating to the modern world, and the ever changing ideal of the "modern man". 4.5/5