A review by snazel
Central Station by Lavie Tidhar

4.0

This book is absolutely a tour de force, and I mean that both in the colloquial "dude, that's so cool, that's awesome" way and the more literal "wow, that's amazing how did you DO that" way. It functions as both a short story collection and a novel, seamlessly weaves together no less than twelve POV characters, integrates languages both real and invented (including poetry in invented languages), and brings forward modern cultural and faith heritages in a realistic way, adds in invented heritages that feel like they've got history, and makes the whole thing read as both dreamlike and incredibly grounded. So yes. Tour de force.

I had no idea what was going on but I was 100% there for the ride, and true only real misstep for me was the ending. If you're looking for resolution of the mystery of some characters, it does not come. We never see what happens to the children, or the shamleau, or anyone really past their moment in POV— with one exception. We do get to see the final triumph of an ailing character as

Spoiler

he kills himself. The doctors make clear that there is no cure for what ails him, he's happy to finally be done,

but I had been reading a tone of hope and community for previous stories, so that coming right at the end of the book rather left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm sure it's a studied artistic decision and a meditation on the nature of closure in general, I just didn't like it.

Overall though, 4.5 stars.