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A review by lykkes_laeserier
An Extraordinary Turn of Events by J.C. Hopkins
4.0
Geronimo Vang is not Geronimo Vang. The man that became Geronimo Vang died from an apparent drug overdose and woke up in the morgue without any recollections of his prior existence. Now, however, he has become Geronimo Vang and is a successful writer living in New York City, enjoying all the finer things in life.
We meet Geronimo Vang just when he encounters the love of his life, Mihn Vang, who is also a writer. After a few hiccups, they marry and are very happy. So far, so middle of the road and a typical New York literary fiction novel about intellectuals and their intellectual travails. Just as the novel teeters on the edge of the mundane, though, it takes a turn and becomes a lot more interesting when Geronimo’s daughter from the past, Dorothy, shows up.
The novel is set a decade or so in the future, and we are in speculative fiction territory if not actual science fiction land, which adds interest to the texture of the novel. I particularly enjoyed all the political and societal happenings going on in the background that are casually referred to at times. As Minh says, however, art is life, and life is art, and both are at the heart of this novel, not politics and social upheavals unless they directly impact Geronimo Vang’s life. Which, admittedly, they do at times.
I personally enjoyed J.C. Hopkins’ “An Extraordinary Turn of Events” quite a bit and read it in a matter of days. It is well-written and well-imagined and would, I imagine, appeal to broad spectrum of readers of both literary fiction and more speculative fiction. We even have a bit of a potential murder mystery thrown in for good measure.
We meet Geronimo Vang just when he encounters the love of his life, Mihn Vang, who is also a writer. After a few hiccups, they marry and are very happy. So far, so middle of the road and a typical New York literary fiction novel about intellectuals and their intellectual travails. Just as the novel teeters on the edge of the mundane, though, it takes a turn and becomes a lot more interesting when Geronimo’s daughter from the past, Dorothy, shows up.
The novel is set a decade or so in the future, and we are in speculative fiction territory if not actual science fiction land, which adds interest to the texture of the novel. I particularly enjoyed all the political and societal happenings going on in the background that are casually referred to at times. As Minh says, however, art is life, and life is art, and both are at the heart of this novel, not politics and social upheavals unless they directly impact Geronimo Vang’s life. Which, admittedly, they do at times.
I personally enjoyed J.C. Hopkins’ “An Extraordinary Turn of Events” quite a bit and read it in a matter of days. It is well-written and well-imagined and would, I imagine, appeal to broad spectrum of readers of both literary fiction and more speculative fiction. We even have a bit of a potential murder mystery thrown in for good measure.