... a powerful, political, sometimes humorous, often frightening portrait of a parallel world that lurks in the near future in all of its dystopian glory ... One of the reasons that this story resonates on the page is Veselka’s lyrical prose, her ability to ground the events in a place and time while also slipping into surreal moments (without explanation), events and scenes unfolding into emotional, dimensional tapestries ... But this novel is not without humor. Even if Della is laughing on the outside while crying on the inside, she and her friends find a way to joke about serious matters ... Vanessa Veselka has written an engaging, touching book in Zazen, one that leaves the reader saddened by the unnecessary loss and destruction. But there is still a grain of hope buried in the ash ... a unique and lasting work of art.
Zazen’s readers will want to return to it in years to come, if only to hear Della’s voice ... Veselka is at her best when she’s expressing Della’s extreme bitterness about the world, and the desire to get rid of it ... If...act three of this novel gets muddled, the reader can trust that this lines up with the significant question posed by Veselka and other authors who have taken on the dystopian look of America: how does one find beauty in so much destruction? What separates this novel is the way Veselka honors the complexity of a young, intelligent generation at once confused and overwhelmed, but willing to enact change.
Veselka gives all her characters space to exist on their own terms. If you’ll excuse a writing workshop cliché, she gives them the rope, and while some characters end up hanging themselves, others use it to climb upward instead. These are, in some ways, pretty reprehensible people (even Della isn’t necessarily someone you’d want to have over for dinner with the family), but the characters are all rendered with respect and humanity that is more than admirable in a literary and media culture that sometimes seems overly prone to cynicism and biting sarcasm. But perhaps the thing most remarkable about Veselka’s novel is the same thing that makes it such a tough book to review. I’m afraid to ruin the mystery. In much of so-called literary fiction, plot plays second fiddle to character and voice and a thousand other immaterial things. In Zazen, on the other hand, Veselka grabs plot by the lapels and brings it to the forefront of the book without sacrificing the effectiveness of the more ethereal aspects of good fiction. Though I’ve been trained to read for language, sound, beauty, and philosophy, and this novel has plenty of all, I was just as fascinated by the intricate turns the narrative took as it progressed, just as wowed by material revelations in the story that wouldn’t have stood out as clearly in other literary novels.
Vanessa Veselka’s gritty frenetic writing serves up an exciting new flavor among today’s literary menu of MFA influenced prose; not a conventional, well-crafted tale but a streaking flash of barbed satire and 21st century malaise ... Zazen is a powerful novel because it points out the sheer amount of uncertainty and distraction surrounding any person in the modern world ... The burning question in Zazen is whether revolution could be the answer. Echoing Paul Bowles’ anguish and Tom Robbins’ comedic flair, Ms. Veselka’s answer is unconvincing, but the irony is unmistakable: How did the country that was founded on revolution end up watching 999 cable channels and shopping at WalMart?
Zazen by Vanessa Veselka not only grants us access to [an[ unexpected point of view, but also creates a world where uprisings and escape seem futile, despite fashionable interest in them ... It’s only natural for readers to wonder whether the images of this crumbling dystopia, confusing the real and the figurative, simply stand as metaphors that Della has self-constructed to convey her own mental states. Are the places she refers to actual physical locations or just the war-torn landscapes in her mind? There is Old Honduras, and there is New Honduras—both seem real, yet not real at all ... Certain readers may find a book like Zazen perfectly frustrating ... Looking out into infinity and finally addressing the vastness outside themselves, these rebels [like Zazen's Della]who refuse to rebel manage a quick step forward. They pull away from particular images that have kept them stuck. In these dystopias, that small final step feels significant, even though it may not be the massive uprising or karmic lashing we look for in a traditional apocalypse.
... both a study in character, and a dystopian and thrilling story. One of those rare beasts that are intensely literary and a page turner at the same time. To say it’s a dystopian novel, would be to try to slide it neatly into one of our generation's best-beloved genres, that of dystopian fiction, and therefore cut the raw, squirming edges off, marginalising the artistry of the words, the view into the tumultuous headspace of the main character, the mood of bright charge, of thick, grotesque despair. Half-way through, I began to feel a tightness in my chest. Fear. That Veselka would run out of steam. That it couldn’t possibly keep being this good. Spoilers: it could. The high-wire dancing continues right to the end ... Zazen, then, is one of those works that like lightning streaks and dashes across the sky, a novel to fulfill an essential purpose: to remind ourselves that literary bravery, in this form and others, is not only possible, but utterly necessary.
Readers will be delighted by Veselka's wit and social commentary and engaged by Della's personal journey. Recommended for anyone interested in a perceptive analysis of modern society and the evolution of the human character.
Veselka's prose is chiseled and laced with arsenic observations, and though she unleashes some savage social satire, her focus is more on the hypocrisy, heartache, and confusion that drive Della and those around her. But don't be distracted by the chaos and disorder: Veselka makes a case for hope and meaning amid sheer madness.
