The conceit is fabulous: in 1969, the four Gold siblings visit a fortune teller who bestows upon them the date of their death. Like a stone dropped inThe conceit is fabulous: in 1969, the four Gold siblings visit a fortune teller who bestows upon them the date of their death. Like a stone dropped in a pond, the repercussions reverberate through time and we follow Varya, Daniel, Klara, and Simon across their individual life spans, their choices and actions made in spite of and in defiance of this "foreknowledge". Chloe Benjamin's debut novel The Immortalists juggles many questions - do we create our fates or are we slaves to them, how should and how do we live our lives when faced with certain death, what wonder or magic exists for us when we continually learn and know things that take the mystery away - but at the core are these four siblings, and how they reckon with each other and themselves. This is novel of substance, darkness, a family saga, filled with ideas but nothing explored too heavily as to detract from the narrative.
Most adults claim not to believe in magic, but Klara knows better. Why else would anyone play at permanence - fall in love, have children, buy a house - in the face of all evidence there's no such thing? The trick is not to convert them. The trick is to get them to admit it."
When Klara peels a dollar from inside someone's ear or turns a ball into a lemon, she hopes not to deceive but to impart a different kind of knowledge, an expanded sense of possibility. The point is not to negate reality but to peel back its scrim, revealing reality's peculiarities and contradictions. The very best magic tricks, the kind Klara wants to perform, do not subtract from reality. They add.
Benjamin has a quiet type of prose that sneakily pulls you in, a light touch that somehow fully renders portraits and moments and characters, and the first half of the novel in which the Gold family history and Klara and Simon take center stage is excellent: well-paced, well-plotted, and beautifully told. The complex mix of human frailty and power was fully on display in Simon's portion, and the push to live fully, for and as oneself comes into focus. Klara, the most enigmatic of the siblings, has a unique perspective and position as the titular Immortalist, an amateur magician whose true powers lie in her adept reading of the hearts and minds of others. Simon and Klara are the closest siblings, and their intertwined lives and acceptance of their fates made them extremely compelling to follow.
She had lost parts of herself as she lost her siblings. It was like watching the power incrementally turning off throughout a neighborhood: certain parts of her went dark, then others. Certain modes of bravery- emotional bravery- and desire. The cost of loneliness is high, she knows, but the cost of loss is higher.
The latter half of the book was somewhat less enjoyable, and the intimacy of the earlier storytelling of Klara and Simon was replaced by distance from Daniel and Varya. I believe this distance is intentional and makes thematic sense: if Simon and Klara are the two siblings who confront their mortal foreknowledge head on (perhaps to their detriment, we're left to wonder), Daniel and Varya choose to fight against it, disbelieve, try to ignore the fortune teller's pronouncement, though it insidiously inhabits their life choices and decisions as well. The major flaw for me was feeling disconnected from this portion of the narrative. Even as I can recognize that was likely Benjamin's idea to have the reader in a similar position as the two remaining Gold siblings, somewhat detached and adrift as the fortunes take hold, I did suffer from less interest, enjoyment, and emotional involvement from the reading experience. And yet, Daniel and Varya's bits have great moments, and the conclusion definitely brought the siblings back together, and some of the ideas and issues Benjamin explores are brought full circle.
She knew that stories did have the power to change things: the past and future, even the present. She had been an agnostic since graduate school, but if there was one tenant of Judaism with which she agreed, it was this: the power of words. They weaseled under door cracks and through keyholes. They hooked into individuals and wormed through generations.
Ultimately, this book hooked me and wormed into my heart and mind. I'd give this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. Chloe Benjamin's debut isn't a perfect novel, but she's a captivating storyteller with a brilliant concept, executed well overall. I really liked The Immortalists and will be even more excited to see what Benjamin writes next. Recommended for literary fiction lovers who don't mind a bit of unevenness, love a fresh voice, and appreciate a good story above all.
-received an ARC, thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons and Penguin Random House...more
Katherine Arden's fusion of an icy folkloric fantasy and historical fiction set in medieval Russia captivated me (and many other readers) in The Bear Katherine Arden's fusion of an icy folkloric fantasy and historical fiction set in medieval Russia captivated me (and many other readers) in The Bear and the Nightingale.The Girl in the Tower is a worthy sequel to Arden's spellbinding debut and Vasya, Morozko and the wonders of Arden's world are all here and full imagined, but the stakes are raised, the pace quickened, the political machinations deeper and the overall mood darker and more ominous. It couldn't be anything other than a 5 star read for me: I love Arden's worldbuilding (fantastical and historical) and was even more invested in the characters and their fates than in the first novel, even if this book is less enchanting and more adventurous and suspenseful than its predecessor. It kept me on the edge of my seat (I was desperately flipping the pages in the latter half, really feeling the tension, and read the final chapters curled in a protective ball) and left me awe of what Arden has created.
Everything I loved about The Bear in the Nightingale, Arden truly takes to new heights in The Girl in the Tower: Vasya's bravery and refusal to be subject to the constraints of womanhood for her time, the battle for belief between Russian folkloric tradition and the increasing power of Christianity (and the varying ways men and gods wield their power for good and evil), the framing device of the early folk tale and how it comes to inform the events that unfold. But Arden does not rest on our laurels, and the sequel gives us new perspectives and deeper understanding of Vasya's world. The historical fiction side of the first book is greatly expanded here, with ample time spent with Sasha, who piqued my interest in his small appearances in The Bear and the Nightingale, Olga and her family, and a fully introduced Dmitry, Prince of Moscow (a real figure venerated as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church). The conflict with the Khan and threat of Tatars is more developed, and the closeted life of Moscow's princesses in the terem is better explored. Arden's true skill lies in her ability to weave these parts with the fantastical elements to achieve her unique narrative thrust. And if you loved the first book's fantasy, never fear. Ghosts, enchanted horse racing, disappearing and silent bandits, and sorcerers all appear along with some more familiar spirits. The relationship between Vasya and Morozko becomes more complicated, more intimate, and more equal throughout The Girl in the Tower, befitting Vasya's continued growth into a young woman and Morozko's continued predicament of loss of belief plus a new struggle in a threat to his eternity, and their interactions continue to shine, albeit with a more dangerous veneer.
Vasilia's arc is powerful: the wild girl of The Bear and the Nightingale is still there, but in The Girl in the Tower she is faced with new temptations and challenges, and is often confused about what she wants and acts immaturely and rashly, sometimes with dire consequences. With a true taste of freedom under guise as the boy Vasilii the Brave, her existential conundrum about how to live her life are more heightened and the threat of being closeted in a convent or in the terem as a married woman is more real than ever. Her decisions and actions put herself, Olga, Sasha and many others into jeopardy, but Vasya wouldn't be our heroine if she didn't have a strong sense of self, a brave, sacrificing spirit, and a quick mind. In the sequel, Vasya truly begins to grow up, and her errors and imperfections fuel the plot's trials and tribulations that make for character building for her, exciting and nail-biting reading for us.
Overall, Arden is able to take a beautifully told, enchanting story of The Bear and the Nightingale, and present a worthy successor in The Girl in the Tower, one that lives up to the excellence of its predecessor but establishing its own darker, more dangerous tone, rapidly expanding the historical and fantastical worldbuilding while ratcheting up the tension and adventure. If you loved the first one like I did, at the least you will be satisfied, but I hope this kindles greater love in your heart for this world and these characters as it did for me. A standout sequel that leaves me (and I predict many other readers) craving more. Bring on Book 3!
-received ARC on edelweiss, thanks to Del Rey and Random House...more
The Woman in the Window owes much to Hitchcock, Rear Window, and the recent slew of domestic psychological thrillers like The Girl on the Train, and tThe Woman in the Window owes much to Hitchcock, Rear Window, and the recent slew of domestic psychological thrillers like The Girl on the Train, and to A.J. Finn's credit, his protagonist Dr. Anna Fox is a huge classic film enthusiast, which allows the author to nod to the novel's influences while adding to the mood. The meta spin to utilize these influences in the novel's construction and in the plot and personality elements works quite well, and in my opinion epitomizes Finn's overall execution of a smart, noir thriller, not perfect but easily, enjoyably and inescapably read in a single sitting. I began it casually on the commute home, but found myself pulled into Finn's web, and stayed up into the wee hours of the night to finish.
While I had some qualms with the book, mostly the slightly strange pacing, my initial, tired reaction to Anna's drinking and drug problems (until Finn revealed their source), and a somewhat lackluster conclusion relative to all that had been built up (though I'm the exception in finding the ending only passable, most other readers seemed to be gobsmacked by it), my overall experience was strong. The Woman in the Window is able to both rise above the average psychological thriller produced in the wake of the successful "Girl" books and be more than a mashup of great classic movie moments, Finn achieves this with a genuinely tense, noir atmosphere created from the claustrophobia of a (mostly) single location setting, and array of red herrings and plausible sources of harm and malice, a female protagonist the reader doesn't actively root against and can indeed sympathize with as one learns more about her, and most importantly, a true, tightly wound puzzle of the forward plot (did Dr. Anna Fox really witness a crime in a neighboring family's home, and whodunit) and the backstory that fills in the gaps of what we believe we know about Anna (her agoraphobia, her drunkenness, her estranged relationship with her husband and young daughter). Finn pushes his protagonist over the thin lines between what's real versus imagined, what's paranoia and what's danger, making the reader all the more eager to better understand Anna and solve the question of her past to interpret her present situation.
I'd give this 4 stars: I really liked it, read it quickly and eagerly, and my issues with the novel did not outweigh my enjoyment and appreciation. I've had a good streak with thrillers this year, and can definitely see The Woman in the Window being widely read once released. And I could see myself reading it again come winter, with a large glass of red wine in honor of Anna, followed by a Hitchcock or Hitchcockian film. Recommended for fans of recent psychological thrillers who don't mind a touch (or whole helping) of classic noir.
-received ARC on edelweiss, thanks to William Morrow...more
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