Remarkable ... In another author’s hands, these departures might be experienced as digressions, draining suspense and power from the story, but Reva they alchemizes them into something between imagination and reality, an original way to investigate the artifice of the novel — its limitations but also its expansiveness ... Original ... Reva places her metaphorical arms around all of it — with the intention of using language to express the inexpressible: senseless violence, loneliness, extreme suffering and grief ... Wildly inventive.
Startling ... Isn’t an easy read, but it is brilliant and heart-stopping. Authorial interludes can feel like interruptions, but by breaking the fourth wall, Reva forces us to pay attention to the ongoing devastation behind the narrative while unpacking the compromises of storytelling.
Bold and blistering ... A shape-shifting, snail-hugging, war-weary, fist-shaking blast of a book ... The writing in this middle section winks, stretches, and all but tap-dances, but there’s anguish, too ... A work of real-time reckoning.
The characters call upon a specific breed of literary fiction: with motivations and backstories explicitly spelled out, with occupations just eccentric enough to spike interest. The beginning had me ready to endure a novel of painfully eccentric characters, which is why the metafictional turn in the second part is so exhilarating ... The fourth wall break is sobering, funny and gripping ... When we return to the characters, it’s with renewed force, desperation and urgency ... Nimbly balances its wider scope with its smallest, shell-bound characters.
Absurdist ... This darkly humorous story pulls off a ridiculous yet sobering plot with clever metafiction that inadvertently dissects the Russo-Ukrainian War. The powerful symbolism of Yeva and her snails will keep readers riveted.
Equal parts madcap caper, contemporary allegory, and wartime reckoning, Reva’s debut offers a fresh take on the current Russia-Ukraine war from a diasporan point of view.
Her success at keeping that storyline alive, full of suspense and humor, while never letting go of what is really happening in the lives of Ukrainian people at home and abroad, is what earns this book comparisons to Percival Everett and George Saunders, though it is also entirely unique. A noteworthy literary achievement and also a good story, sure to be widely discussed and enjoyed.
