3.7 AVERAGE

katep's review

5.0

This book is SO up my alley, it’s not even funny. And I LOVED it. The bare bones description goes like this: during the 2003 Northeastern blackout, our protagonist Mallory has to make it home from a business presentation on the complete other side of Toronto. Which, if you aren’t familiar, is a giant, giant city. With no power anywhere. Like you do. And because this is a gender bent retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, things go weird, quickly.

Feistner grounds the story with a wonderful main character, making Mallory relatably exhausted, desperate, and yet resourceful, tenacious and spunky, someone who you can see yourself in, be proud of, and cheer on. And the transitions between the mundane world and the supernatural flow beautifully, signalling the shift clearly without breaking stride, and keeping the momentum of the tale. And what momentum! I could barely put the book down, and enjoyed every second of it.

In her journey across town Mallory passes by so many iconic landmarks, so that anyone even vaguely familiar with Toronto will recognize some. Much of the action happens in the Annex, though, and I got a special thrill from the attention to details, as I’ve lived in the neighbourhood for more than a decade. So I whooped with glee at the tiny references, like the name of the street I happened to bike along yesterday on my way out to meet a friend for gelato.

The novel is a love story to Toronto, and a love story to the Blackout — and the wild stories held by everyone who lived through it. Feistner does a beautiful job weaving it all together, transforming Odyssey mainstays into Torontonians (and totally realistic ones at that, if you know, you know), but you don’t need to be familiar with the Odyssey to enjoy the epic journey Mallory undertakes to get home to her boyfriend.
torielik's profile picture

torielik's review

4.5
adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

as a torontonian who lived through the blackout, there was a underlying current of nostalgia throughout this story. the little call backs to the odyssey were fun and I genuinely laughed throughout. a fun, whimsical look at the humanity that reveals itself in times of crisis, I really enjoyed this book!

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loriz's review

3.0

Think I would've gotten more out of this if I'd read The Odyssey...