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A review by cgj13
The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
5.0
This book consumed me!! 6 days is all it took--that's pretty fast for me. I can't believe this is the authors first novel.
I loved the layout-one chapter present, one chapter past. It kept both stories moving without my brain having to work in overtime to determine which story line was which.
This novel is about figuring out past history and working through curses.
About halfway through the book I had figured it out that Simon would be the one to drown, not his sister Enola. And that she came back because she wanted to protect him.
There are still so many unanswered questions. Did Churchwarry know that he was related to Ryzhkova? or more like, how is he invoked in this curse. Because he knew the McAvoys were related to Peabody's. Wow. Wasn't that a twist at the end? And the cards, some of them washed up at the end--is it the end of the curse or will they find their way back.
I found it interesting that Simin did not enter the water intending to die, but instead to save everyone by burying the deck in the water. But the horseshoe crabs working to pull him down.
Is this what it was for all the women?
I love the theme the author puts in there about language (the tarot cards) having double meaning--it's so true. What one hopes, and what is reality. Both in spoken word and the card language between Amos and Evangeline.
... "Ryzhkova was accustomed to tarot with its layers of meaning, interpretations, and reversals, and how a picture might look one way but contain a contrary truth. Used to her silent apprentice, she had forgotten that language itself was subtle and slippery as her cards, and that words contained hidden seeds that blossomed with a speaker's intent."... "Their language had been one of double meanings, a weakness of the cards. In giving her Strength, he'd hoped she might see it as comfort, that he would protect her. Abide and all will be well; he would learn to be happier, to take care of her. But she was breaking, and in so had sought an older meaning, one unique to them, from when he had knelt and placed his head in her hands, lion acquiescing to lady."
I loved the layout-one chapter present, one chapter past. It kept both stories moving without my brain having to work in overtime to determine which story line was which.
This novel is about figuring out past history and working through curses.
About halfway through the book I had figured it out that Simon would be the one to drown, not his sister Enola. And that she came back because she wanted to protect him.
There are still so many unanswered questions. Did Churchwarry know that he was related to Ryzhkova? or more like, how is he invoked in this curse. Because he knew the McAvoys were related to Peabody's. Wow. Wasn't that a twist at the end? And the cards, some of them washed up at the end--is it the end of the curse or will they find their way back.
I found it interesting that Simin did not enter the water intending to die, but instead to save everyone by burying the deck in the water. But the horseshoe crabs working to pull him down.
Is this what it was for all the women?
I love the theme the author puts in there about language (the tarot cards) having double meaning--it's so true. What one hopes, and what is reality. Both in spoken word and the card language between Amos and Evangeline.
... "Ryzhkova was accustomed to tarot with its layers of meaning, interpretations, and reversals, and how a picture might look one way but contain a contrary truth. Used to her silent apprentice, she had forgotten that language itself was subtle and slippery as her cards, and that words contained hidden seeds that blossomed with a speaker's intent."... "Their language had been one of double meanings, a weakness of the cards. In giving her Strength, he'd hoped she might see it as comfort, that he would protect her. Abide and all will be well; he would learn to be happier, to take care of her. But she was breaking, and in so had sought an older meaning, one unique to them, from when he had knelt and placed his head in her hands, lion acquiescing to lady."