THE END OF APHRODITE

Folk offers a complex novel that gradually reveals the individual and intertwined stories of several women.

Fifteen-year-old Samantha, in first-person narration, begins this mystical, often ethereal, tale about relationships in 1986, the final year of the novel’s chronology. As the book opens, she and her mother, Mira, are visiting her mom’s younger sister, Etta—the eponymous Aphrodite. Etta gives Sam a blank journal to help her sort out her feelings of teenage angst; however, much of her writing will be about her intriguing aunt. Mira is the more traditional of the two sisters, while Etta is the almost-free spirit who defies convention. She’s now living with Patrick, an artist who considers her his “muse.” After years of distress over Etta’s free lifestyle, Mira has finally come to accept her sister for who she is. But there is more sorrow to come: Mira, who’s still mourning the death of her mother, is about to experience another devastating loss. The narrative undertakes a back-and-forth jog through the previous two decades. Third-person narration, which alternates with Samantha’s voice, fills in the early years of Etta’s back story, beginning in 1968 and running through the 1970s. Leaping forward again to 1986, readers meet Mira and Sam’s neighbor, Joan, whose teenage daughter, Elise, disappeared 10 years ago; Joan tells Sam that Elise usually visits in the spring, and readers learn through Joan’s and Elise’s back stories that these visits are spiritual apparitions. Folk, the author of Totem Beasts (2017), peppers her artfully composed story with religious and mythological references. The coastal Massachusetts setting effectively frames one of her themes: the mystery, majesty, and inspirational magic of the sea and its creatures. The frequent switching of time frames and back stories is structurally interesting, even if it also adversely affects the pacing of the narrative. In the end, however, what at first appear to be separate tales coalesce, and it’s revealed that it is young Samantha who, through her words and art, will carry forward the legacy of Etta—“the goddess we’ve left behind.”

A haunting and poignant reflection on grief, spirituality, and the loving bonds that provide guidance and sustenance.