27 March 2016

Review #379: Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.”

----Anaïs Nin



Idra Novey, an American author, pens her debut entertaining literary fiction, Ways to Disappear which is part mystery and part family drama where the main story is centered upon a famous Brazilian author who goes missing under strange circumstances, and due to her disappearance, her American translator travels to Rio to find her author and in that process she gets to meet the family and gets to know the author who was hiding a lot about herself.




Synopsis:

Deep in gambling debt, the celebrated Brazilian writer Beatriz Yagoda is last seen holding a suitcase and a cigar and climbing into an almond tree. She abruptly vanishes.

In snowy Pittsburgh, her American translator Emma hears the news and, against the wishes of her boyfriend and Beatriz's two grown children, flies immediately to Brazil. There, in the sticky, sugary heat of Rio, Emma and her author's children conspire to solve the mystery of Yagoda's curious disappearance and staunch the colorful demands of her various outstanding affairs: the rapacious loan shark with a zeal for severing body parts, and the washed-up and disillusioned editor who launched Yagoda's career years earlier.



The famous Brazilian writer Beatriz Yagoda goes missing when she climbed a tree with a suitcase and a cigar. Hearing the news of disappearance, Yagoda's American translator, Emma, soon rushes to Rio despite of her boyfriend as well as her parents' reluctance. Emma meets the Yagoda siblings in Rio where she takes refugee after hearing threats to her life as well as on the author's life from a loan shark. Little investigation on to the author's finances, reveals that she is neck deep with debts, and if they do not make haste, that loan shark might take revenge by severing the body parts of the siblings. Fearless Emma takes a trip with the son towards the end of the island and to various parts of the country to find the author, which is when she gets to know about the author's long-time-ago editor. What happens next is for you to find out? Grab a copy of the book now to read the incredible yet unusual story about this author's life.

The author's writing style bowled me over as it is flawless and laced with humorous anecdotes and emotions. The narrative is equally engaging and witty. The pacing of the book is really fast as the chapters are short and crisp with detailed descriptions about each and everything thus making it feel like the scenes are unfolding right in front of the eyes of the readers. The story is quite engrossing that it will keep the readers turning the pages till the very end. The author's weird life and secrets will make the readers glued to the heart of the story and as the story progresses so are the twists and suspense gets deeper and complicated which will make the readers anticipate till the very last page.

Although the climax is bit unusual and unpredictable, which put me off for a bit. As I was expecting things to turn differently. The mystery and the suspense around the disappearance and the continuous disappearances of other celebrated Brazilian authors made the story quite intriguing and compelling to read on.

The background of Rio is vividly captured in the canvas of this story and it definitely made me feel like I was standing under the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio and feeling the humidity under my skin. The author has arrested the details of Brazil quite minutely from the weather to the streets to the culture to the food to the people to the linguistic differences, except the fact that Rio is filled with criminals and everyone carries a gun with them, which I found very untrue and inappropriate in this story.

The characters are a gem of this novel. Each and every character is laced with humor, strangeness in their demeanor, longing-ness and are kept down to very simple. The main character, Emma is brave and is upfront and who stand up for her heart's wishes. I liked her attitude of handling difficult situations and talking sense into the heads of the weird siblings. The supporting cast is equally well-developed.

There is also bit of romance which the author has captured with lots of passion and heat. Overall, this is an entertaining family drama-cum-mystery novel, that not only moved me but also tantalized me.

Verdict: if you like to read about Brazil, and about how the best-selling authors and their relationships turn out to be, then definitely grab a copy of this book for sure.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Idra Novey's publicist, for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book. 
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Author Info:
Idra Novey is the author of the novel Ways to Dis­ap­pear and two collections of poetry. Born in west­ern Penn­syl­va­nia, she has since lived in Chile, Brazil and New York. Her fic­tion and poetry have been trans­lated into eight lan­guages. She's written for The New York Times, NPR’s All Things Con­sid­ered, Slate, The Paris Review and Guernica. She’s also trans­lated four books from Spanish and Portuguese, most recently Clarice Lispector’s novel The Pas­sion Accord­ing to G.H. She teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University.
Visit her here 



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