Rio Youers’ ambitious second novel is told from the perspective of Westlake Soul, a 23-year-old surfer who has been paralyzed after a brutal wipeout. He lives in a persistent vegetative state under the care of his family and an attractive nurse, none of whom is aware that the accident has transformed Westlake, giving him a superheroic, free-floating, magical consciousness. And like all superheroes, he’s in a fight for his life.

The story poses an interesting dramatic challenge, as Westlake struggles to effect change while remaining essentially powerless. He can communicate with the family dog, talk to birds, and travel at will to the moon, yet his loved ones don’t know he’s still sentient. The book also has a curious metafictional aspect: several times the narrator asserts he is “dictating” his story to a writer while the events are actually happening. The central conceit – of an astrally projecting dude-mind, diving alongside whales one moment, listening in on the phone calls of the girl he loves the next – parallels the reading act, which has the ability to similarly transport us out of our physical bodies in an almost voyeuristic way.

However, Youers’ intriguing concept is too often let down by his style, which depends on pop-culture allusions and similes that stand in for descriptive prose. Characters look like Cameron Diaz, or “like the guy who played Two-Face in The Dark Knight.” This approach could be meant to recreate the inner monologue of a young surfer, but placing such thoughts in the head of a guy with a supposedly heightened consciousness has the effect of drawing the reader out of the story. This is a shame, considering the weighty philosophical material the author otherwise deftly engages with.

The superhero plot doesn’t quite come together, either: the context and the villain are never adequately explained, and it is unclear whether certain events actually occur or are simply a fantasy created by Westlake’s damaged mind. While this ambiguity might be the point, it has the unfortunate side effect of draining many scenes of their tension.

However, the family dynamics are well done, particularly the confessions the family members make to Westlake’s apparently lifeless form. The idea that a loved one in such a condition could in fact be present is perhaps the most devastating aspect of the entire novel.