A clever but wearisome performance of postmodern literary theory.
A confusing novel loosely dramatizes Finland’s tumultuous political history.
J.I. Vatanen is a young Finnish actor, and after a performance, he’s drawn to twins M. and Maiju Lassila. The gender of the twins is apparently less than obvious—people ask all the time—but they identify as nonbinary. Maiju, though, is a female name, and throughout the narrative told by Vatanen, both are referred to as females. This basic uncertainty is at the heart of this bewildering memoir-novel, which at every turn communicates information to the reader that is often, sometimes immediately, called into suspicion. The trio become very close, forming a “magical embrace,” and Vatanen and Maiju in particular are “soulmates” from the start. Their friendship occurs during a perilous time in Finnish history—they all meet at the end of the 19th century when Finland is ruled by Russia, though with an “extraordinarily light” hand. The Russians execute a coup, however, and assert a more aggressive control of Finland, one designed to produce the “Russification” of the country, a history intelligently conveyed by the author. But the plot isn’t the point. The entire book is presented as a “psueodotranslation” of Vatanen’s work—it’s never obvious that the book Robinson purports to translate exists. Also, the book is a fictional memoir written by Vatanen about Maiju, but both names are pseudonyms for Algot Untola, a Red agitator executed during the civil war. Algot comes back to life, calling into question even his death. In short, Robinson ensures the reader is always lost and makes it clear this is his intention in the preface to the book, a literary approach with a long pedigree the author dutifully acknowledges. So what precisely is the point of deploying a derivative literary technique to tell an unintelligible story that lacks dramatic power? This question is likely to occur to the rare reader who makes it to the end of this postmodern facsimile offered as an experiment.
A clever but wearisome performance of postmodern literary theory.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2022
ISBN: 9781639885305
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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