10% First Impressions: The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata
First, take a look at that cover art. Wow, that's beautiful. I have no idea what it means, what secrets of metaphysical physics it holds, but I'm intrigued, I'm interested. And my interests takes me to the description:
In 1929 in New Orleans, a Dominican immigrant named Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel titled Lost City. It is a strange and beautiful novel, set in a near future where a sixteen-year-old Dominican girl, not all that unlike Adana herself, searches for a golden eternal city believed to exist somewhere on a parallel Earth. Lost City earns a modest but enthusiastic readership, and Adana begins a sequel. Then she falls gravely ill. Just before she dies, she and her son, Maxwell, destroy the only copy of the manuscript.
Decades later in Chicago, Saul Drower is cleaning out his dead grandfather’s home when he discovers a mysterious package containing a manuscript titled A Model Earth, written by none other than Adana Moreau.
Who was Adana Moreau? How did Saul’s grandfather, a Jewish immigrant born on a steamship to parents fleeing the aftershocks of the Russian Revolution, come across this unpublished, lost manuscript? Where is Adana Moreau’s mysterious son, Maxwell, a theoretical physicist, and why did Saul’s grandfather send him the manuscript as his final act in life? With the help of his friend Javier, Saul tracks down an address for Maxwell in New Orleans, which is caught at that moment in the grip of Hurricane Katrina. Unable to reach Maxwell, Saul and Javier head south through the heartland of America toward that storm-ravaged city in search of answers.
Being that my mother was a native-born Dominican citizen up until a few years ago, that two generations of my predecessors were born and raised on the island, the book was doubly interesting to me for it's would-be mix of fantasy, social, and cultural storytelling. And unfortunately I haven't been the most avid reader of Caribbean literature. I had a stint, a brief love affair with Edwidge Danticat in my high school years, but besides that too few pen-to-paper stories from Caribbean authors (that I can remember) have regular been on my reading lists. But I don't know if the author is Dominican or of Caribbean heritage, so I can't draw any personal connections between him and his "multicultural interest" (so tagged on NetGalley) debut novel.
However, growing up in a Caribbean household, spending formative years surrounded by the different flavors of West Indian peoples and their cultures, I've learned how island storytelling can have a flavor unto itself. In Michael Zapata's The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, there's a floweriness, a poetic lyricism and structure, that as you read you get the sense that the structure of the story is being built around you. And so I have my unconfirmed suspicions and assumptions that the author is of Dominican descent, but regardless I'm enjoying the writing style, which feels comfortably familiar.
The eBook I received through NetGalley is 268 pages, and my first 10% (27 pages from the first page of the book to the next full break) took me closer to 20%, to page 46 . So far I have a lot of questions and I'm really invested in the story. So far the pacing and division of the text is interesting, but set up so that you lose track of page count and how far you've been pull in. I look forward to seeing where the story goes, if it's more of an allusive, generational tale of interconnectedness than anything. Based on what I've read so far I'm strongly recommending this book.
The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata has an expected publication date of February 4th, 2020.
In 1929 in New Orleans, a Dominican immigrant named Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel titled Lost City. It is a strange and beautiful novel, set in a near future where a sixteen-year-old Dominican girl, not all that unlike Adana herself, searches for a golden eternal city believed to exist somewhere on a parallel Earth. Lost City earns a modest but enthusiastic readership, and Adana begins a sequel. Then she falls gravely ill. Just before she dies, she and her son, Maxwell, destroy the only copy of the manuscript.Decades later in Chicago, Saul Drower is cleaning out his dead grandfather’s home when he discovers a mysterious package containing a manuscript titled A Model Earth, written by none other than Adana Moreau.
Who was Adana Moreau? How did Saul’s grandfather, a Jewish immigrant born on a steamship to parents fleeing the aftershocks of the Russian Revolution, come across this unpublished, lost manuscript? Where is Adana Moreau’s mysterious son, Maxwell, a theoretical physicist, and why did Saul’s grandfather send him the manuscript as his final act in life? With the help of his friend Javier, Saul tracks down an address for Maxwell in New Orleans, which is caught at that moment in the grip of Hurricane Katrina. Unable to reach Maxwell, Saul and Javier head south through the heartland of America toward that storm-ravaged city in search of answers.
Being that my mother was a native-born Dominican citizen up until a few years ago, that two generations of my predecessors were born and raised on the island, the book was doubly interesting to me for it's would-be mix of fantasy, social, and cultural storytelling. And unfortunately I haven't been the most avid reader of Caribbean literature. I had a stint, a brief love affair with Edwidge Danticat in my high school years, but besides that too few pen-to-paper stories from Caribbean authors (that I can remember) have regular been on my reading lists. But I don't know if the author is Dominican or of Caribbean heritage, so I can't draw any personal connections between him and his "multicultural interest" (so tagged on NetGalley) debut novel.
However, growing up in a Caribbean household, spending formative years surrounded by the different flavors of West Indian peoples and their cultures, I've learned how island storytelling can have a flavor unto itself. In Michael Zapata's The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, there's a floweriness, a poetic lyricism and structure, that as you read you get the sense that the structure of the story is being built around you. And so I have my unconfirmed suspicions and assumptions that the author is of Dominican descent, but regardless I'm enjoying the writing style, which feels comfortably familiar.
The eBook I received through NetGalley is 268 pages, and my first 10% (27 pages from the first page of the book to the next full break) took me closer to 20%, to page 46 . So far I have a lot of questions and I'm really invested in the story. So far the pacing and division of the text is interesting, but set up so that you lose track of page count and how far you've been pull in. I look forward to seeing where the story goes, if it's more of an allusive, generational tale of interconnectedness than anything. Based on what I've read so far I'm strongly recommending this book.
The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata has an expected publication date of February 4th, 2020.
Comments
Post a Comment