Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Notzon struggles to balance narrating experiences with revealing characters' thoughts and emotions, resulting in snapshots of events that often give way to the main character's substantial interiority. The overarching theme—acceptance of self and others—runs throughout, and Notzon gifts characters' experiences with post-colonialism and ethnic discrimination a powerful voice.
Prose: Notzon's style is distinctive, with dramatic and expressive prose that results in an intense character voice. That strength also complicates the narrative in places, lengthening descriptions and requiring readers to pay close attention in order to follow the narrator's sentiments.
Originality: Though the story's themes are conventional, Notzon's unique writing techniques paint a forceful portrait of Jacob and Grace's experiences with discrimination and hate. Jacob's probing of the dark side of humanity is illuminating, as in the conversation he has with himself after hearing Shmuel's survival story.
Character/Execution: Notzon has crafted an analytical story that harnesses extraordinary imagery to dig into character emotions, and the consistent authorial intrusion will prompt deep thought in readers. Though the diction overwhelms in places, ultimately it produces a voice-driven story through its witty, intellectual narrator. Jacob's compassionate nature invites reader empathy, while Grace's character is primarily developed through Jacob's interpretation of her experiences. Supporting characters play their roles well, bolstering Jacob's observations and enlightenment.
Date Submitted: July 06, 2023
Amid all this, despairing over the “pointlessness of a human pursuit” and haunted by intense discussions with a Holocaust survivor, he discovers that the truth of that murder is somehow linked to his sister’s withdrawal from the world. “What are we?” Jake asks, and Notzon captures his searching despair in pained, charged language touched with the philosophical and the poetic, balancing the dark (“I spent Saturday in the hollow depths of hell”) and the sumptuous (“the endless azure sky clutched at the fish-boned wispiness of diaphanous cloud”.) At times, the prose’s density comes at the cost of narrative momentum, but the diverse characters cast a serious spell. Especially moving is the tender bond and profound understanding between Jake and Grace. The impact of childhood sibling rivalry, another urgent theme, resonates.
Divided into two parts based on Jake’s journey, the novel succeeds in weaving together the cast’s disparate stories with a considerable degree of skill, illustrating its themes but never feeling schematic. A prologue highlights key ideas but gives away much of the denouement, so the resolution doesn’t surprise, exactly, but it makes a potent case for empathy, communication, and human resilience. Readers who relish fiction that interrogates the “human pursuit” will find this entertaining and edifying.
Takeaway: Engrossing existential novel about a brother-sister bond and an urgent mystery.
Comparable Titles: Burhan Sönmez’s Labyrinth, Brian Phillip Whalen’s Semiotic Love.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2017
What starts out as an intellectual challenge becomes a psychological mystery. You will be immersed in this book until the last page.
This is one of those stories, filled with metaphors as it examines (or the character examines) good and evil, and light and dark. The story weaves a great tale of trauma, drama and character depth. Jacob is one of those characters that has made choices in his life, and learns how other's lives affect his and are affected by evil and darkness. It's very well put together and story shows the life of Jacob, rather than telling us about him.
