****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I am not typically a reader of Stephen King, though critics have compared this book to his work, as well as that of Neil Gaiman, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Like Gaiman, Harun leans on the imagery of mythology and fairy tale to seek larger meaning in a world where the cruelties and losses sometimes seem unfathomable. At the same time she weaves a story that feels genuine, peopled by well-drawn, thoughtfully articulated characters. The story centers on five young people, a close-knit and generous "family" of sorts, that supports each other in their struggles with poverty and the often harsh realities of the logging town in which they live. When two characters appear who are outsiders to this community, Kevin Seven and Hana Swann, the precariousness of the five friends' lives is illuminated. Seven and Swann are both villains and catalysts. In many ways, due to poverty, racism, loss, and lack of opportunity, the pot was already boiling. Seven and Swann simply turn up the heat. The end of the book, though suspenseful, feels as though it was always inevitable. Are Swann and Seven manifestations of the devil? While the book reflects on the nature of evil, the elements of magical realism are so deftly and subtly handled that we can accept Seven and Swann as both archetypes and dangerous strangers. Finally, the book is also peppered with e-mail exchanges between Leo, the narrator, and the unseen teacher of his internet physics course. These exchanges become increasingly surreal and their tone is almost reminiscent of a Borges short fiction. Somehow these exchanges intensify the feeling of the community portrayed in the book as a microcosm. The writing is vivid, beautiful (poetic in the best ways), gritty when it needs to be, but never mannered -- and never, never used to overshadow the stark realities and hurts of the character's lives. I would highly recommend this remarkable book.
