A five-star reader review published on Foyles praises the unusual world and emotionally driven surrealism of R. Morello’s psychological novella, Upside Down.

Titled “Deeply Surreal,” the review by Sandy Gourd focuses on how the book’s inverted reality does more than provide an imaginative backdrop. Instead, the world itself responds to the characters’ emotional experiences, turning grief, disorientation and hidden pain into something they must physically navigate.

When Emotion Reshapes Reality

In Upside Down, Caleb’s reality fractures following the funeral of his sister, Shelly. He awakens beneath the familiar world in a strange mirrored realm where the concealed parts of people exist without their everyday defenses.

The result is a setting that operates according to emotional truth rather than conventional physical laws. Memories, suppressed feelings and unresolved wounds influence how this world is experienced, allowing the book’s psychological themes to become part of its environment.

The Foyles reviewer highlights how this approach gives the story a dreamlike quality while maintaining an internal consistency. Although the world is strange and unsettling, its surreal elements have a clear purpose: they reflect Caleb’s fractured emotional state and deepen the reader’s understanding of what he is experiencing.

Surrealism With a Purpose

Surreal fiction can sometimes keep readers at a distance, particularly when its imagery feels disconnected from its characters or story. The review praises Upside Down for taking a different approach.

Rather than using surrealism as decoration, Morello makes it fundamental to the novella’s structure. The inverted world, its shifting emotional logic and the exposed counterparts Caleb encounters all help reveal what the characters have tried to conceal.

This connection between setting and emotion allows readers to experience Caleb’s disorientation without losing sight of the story underneath it. The reviewer found the result immersive, an indication that the novella’s unconventional reality remains grounded in recognizable human emotions.

An Unexpected Reading Experience

Part of the impact of Upside Down comes from how it challenges expectations. It begins with personal loss but expands into a broader examination of trauma, identity, depression and the private selves people hide from others.

Caleb’s journey through this shadowed counterpart to reality gradually reveals that he is far from alone. The people he encounters carry their own buried historie