Cbr15bingo Take the Skies/Take Flight — entire story is set on a train trip
This might turn out to be the weirdest book I read all year. I’m not sure I even understand exactly what happened, and the meaning(s) of this tale are probably deeper and more complex than my poor brain can fathom, but I did find it very interesting and hard to put down. I’ve read a couple of Helen Oyeyemi’s other books and thought they were excellent. She has a talent for reimagining fairy tales and presenting them in her own unique voice, but Peaces is something all together different. Xavier Shin’s eccentric aunt sends him and his lover Otto on a private honeymoon train trip. The train’s itinerary is a mystery and the only other people on board are the reclusive Ava Kapoor, owner of the train; her engineers Laura and Allegra; and a couple of mongooses. What was supposed to be a relaxing ride turns into a mystery involving the strangely connected pasts of all on board. All I could think while I read it was that if Wes Anderson wrote novels instead of making films, this would be the kind of novel he would write.
Otto and Xavier seem like a happy couple, but of course they both have had lovers in the past. That is not necessarily a problem but as the story moves along we see that Otto, trained in mesmerism, is a bit insecure in the relationship. Ava stands to inherit a fortune from a man who hired her to play the theremin for him every night but two problems stand in the way: his son and the question of Ava’s sanity. Allegra is an assistant and love interest for Ava but perhaps also for Laura, who has a rough past that Xavier is involved in. It’s all very complicated but the way Oyeyemi spools this out is fun and entertaining to read. The key figure in these relationships is the mysterious Prem. Who is he? Is he?? The climax of this story is super strange but the more I think about it, the more I like it.
It seems to me that one of the themes Oyeyemi is examining in this book is the phenomenon of social media and following/unfollowing. On social media, we want to be seen; there is no point in being there if you aren’t followed and seen. What if, in real life, someone simply didn’t follow or see you? Related to this is the matter of breaking up with someone in real life. When a relationship is over, do you go for the clean break? Do you try to continue reaching out to the “ex”? What about the awkward situation where a couple breaks up and the friends have to make choices about who they continue to see/follow? Peaces, in my opinion, is Oyeyemi’s way of looking at these complicated situations and the impact that these decisions have on individuals and their social groups.
Peaces is a challenging but worthwhile read. Oyeyemi is an incredibly creative and innovative writer who somehow finds a way to inject humor and whimsy into the unfunny situations of break-ups and rejection. Peaces is a wild ride for its characters and the reader.
