A review by erboe501
Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

5.0

Helen Oyeyemi is one of my top three contemporary writers. I never know quite what to make of her books when I've finished them, but I love the ride. I underlined so much in this book, about relationship dynamics and turns of phrase. Her books are hard to define by genre. Magical realism, perhaps, because there are definitely things happening in the book (furniture on ceilings, trains that defy the odds of time and place) that elude explanation. The mystery of this novel, whether a certain character, Prem, really exists or is "unseen" by another character, Ava, could also be magical realist if we believe he was "unseen", or made invisible to Ava while other characters continued to see him. Or, this unseeing could be a metaphor. The unseeing could be read as a larger conversation about who we consider disposable or non-essential on our journeys to our life partners. I also love how her people and places are diversified with non-Western Europeans. There's a heavy Eastern European influence. When I found out Oyeyemi is Catholic, that somehow clicked into the heavily symbolic, off-kilter, guilt and passion tone.

A bit of Wes Anderson, but with more grit. Whimsical but with an undercurrent of tension and potential violence. I'd love to live in the world Oyeyemi creates on the train The Lucky Day, until the tension breaks.