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Abortion, addiction, procreation, rape, and suicide—these are topics most people are familiar with, either personally or by association. Although there is intense interest in these topics, they receive relatively little open discussion—in part, because each of these issues stirs deep moral philosophies and evokes controversial and divergent opinions. Controversial topics such as these are often absent from public discussion, or worse, discussion of these issues is censored or avoided. Enter: Jan Smitowicz. He brilliantly accomplishes the daunting task of exploring each of these topics (and many more) in a single manuscript. Smitowicz utilizes a unique medium to broach such important personal and societal issues: a fiction novel. Orange Rain: A Revenge Novel follows Vietnam War veteran, Max Wright, on his revenge journey against Monsanto Corporation. The novel is set in the mid1980s USA, but the issues plaguing individuals and society then are still relevant in today’s society. From one astonishing scene to the next, Smitowicz boldly transcends the line between honesty and absurdity, including shocking portrayals of amputee porn, rape (twice), and murder. Despite the wild nature of Orange Rain, a single thread weaves through Max’s revenge journey: the wondrous ability of humans to suffer so deeply and tragically, yet continue onward. Smitowicz elegantly unveils the “grotesque horrorshow of modern life” in his writing. Although shocking at times, he offers unapologetic and profound insights regarding the ugly truths of how people deal with personal tragedy and suffering. Chapter 6 of Orange Rain provides a particularly deep and honest discussion between the story’s characters about the lengths to which people sometimes go to numb their pain. Smitowicz brings clear and vivid awareness to the dark rabbit hole of drug abuse, depression, and suicide, even embarking on a “tangential indulgence” in Chapter 2 to highlight how serious and tragic suicide is. Smitowicz’s discussion of the inevitable suffering humans endure throughout life provides a platform to advocate antinatalism. The argument that being born is always a serious harm and, therefore, that producing children is morally indefensible (i.e., antinatalism) is hotly debated (see Benatar and Wasserman 2015). Smitowicz, unsurprisingly, does not shy away from this topic, but instead embraces it. Chapter 5 follows Max to San Antonio, Texas, where he meets a group of social activists. Smitowicz depicts a conversation between the characters in which the social activists explain to Max and his friends that procreation is a major obstacle to social revolution, and that all the men in the activist group have had vasectomies to prevent procreation—mirroring the real-life choices and philosophical positions of the author. The vigor with which Smitowicz approaches these issues, if pursued by evolutionary psychological analysis, might improve our understanding of these phenomena. Depression and suicide are often portrayed as pathological. An evolutionary psychological perspective, however, might suggest otherwise. Evolutionary models of psychopathology (e.g., Del Giudice 2016) posit that pathology arises when evolved psychological mechanisms are not functioning as they were “designed” to function, or when evolved psychological mechanisms * Nicole Barbaro nmbarbar@oakland.edu

Ugly Truths: A Review of Jan Smitowicz, Orange Rain: A Revenge Novel