The Realm of Secondhand Souls

Rating:
Summary: too many similes, not enough substance
Review: As an ardent fan of Alice Hoffman, I enthusiastically sought out In the Realm of Secondhand Souls, hoping Ms. Shea to be another author who could weave magic and mysticism into everyday life. However, I found myself drowning (a constant image in the book) in her relentless description of the most inconsequential occurrences, places, thoughts. Every sight, smell, touch opens the emotional floodgates. This in itself would be all right, the problem arises when in the blink of an eye that emotion is negated - taken to the opposite extreme. Every situation is punctuated with the ying and the yang to the point where no longer do you see the characters as emotionally complex beings whose insights mirror or complement your own, but as creatures fraught with neuroses whose demons are self imposed and are in themselves the characters' only reason for being. The book is not without merit. The first part telling of Novena's early childhood is beautifully written. I think this is due in part to the number of characters it involves - Novena's mother, Catorza, and the Greek chorus, of sisters, aunts, and friends present at the child's birth. The interaction and emotional state within and among them is deep, insighful and truly beautiful. It is when the cast of characters is whittled down to Novena, Zan, and the peripheral Elegia, Whit, Annaluna and Alexis that the magic and mysticism becomes tedious, a series of similes in which a character cannot perform a single action without its deeper significance being explored, explained, examined. What started as a treat of sensual images becomes a cacophony of demons, nostalgia, unrelenting description. For a book of nearly 400 pages I had hoped for more of a story. Maybe next time.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful book...
Review: I was contentedly reading along what appeared to be an interesting story when I tripped over the beginning of Chapter 5. The description of a girl living in a house of boys blew me away. I have lived that experience and the words and emotions jumped out at me. As the eldest sister to four younger brothers,I relived the days of being overwhelmed by the raging testosterone! I had to stop and catch my breath. This is truly a gifted writer. As one who is herself in the final phases of completing my first novel, I am now thoroughly intimated. I almost want to throw my own feeble manuscript in the trash because I could never replicate the textural flavor of this work. This is a writer who knows how to evoke all senses in telling a unique story. Please let there be another book like this one in the pipeline!

Rating:
Summary: substantial magic
Review: Ms. Shea's debut novel borrows heavily from the magical realism school of Allende, Esquival, Marquez. Shea's writing is superb, its sheer beauty and luxuriousness taking one's breath away yet breathing life into one's being, much as Novena inhaled Annaluna's breath to sustain herself.

The lushness of the prose and style complements the dense and fathomless subject matter. Unlike true magical realism, though, there is some grounding here. One does not need to suspend all disbelief; perhaps the novel tugs so much at one's core because deep down so many of us yearn to believe such magic can happen...that Shea has woven together disparate pieces of fabric from us all into a grand creation worthy of Novena's skills herself.

The filmy gossamer permeating the story tugs at us, pulls us into the magical web, the tangle of spirits and souls inhabiting not only Novena's world but ours as well.

There are a few disappointments here...some loose ends, as it were, that I wish had been addressed. But the overarching whole of the Novena-Zan-Annaluna dynamic was supremely satisfying.

Like the dust that seeps into the cracks, the ghosts who come to visit, the memories that never quite fade though we may not see faces or hear voices clearly anymore...a sudden aroma, a filmy vision, a chance encounter...all can lead to the ghosts and spaces we harbor within ourselves.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: The beginning of this book drew me in, with its beautiful prose and the powerful imagery of eight women, gathering their brand new baby in a newly annointed "lucky" dress. The middle kept me engrossed, and while it was a bit muddled, it was still enough to keep me enjoying the book immensely. The end, I admit, was more of a challenge-I had lost a bit of rapport with the characters, partially because of Zan, an antagonist to even the reader I suppose. However, the end fit just right, and it was really a very good book. I plan on re-reading it, to maybe pick up a few things I missed the first time. I would recommend it to anyone who likes poetry, and beautiful, flowing prose-this book is a little bit of both.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: The beginning of this book drew me in, with its beautiful prose and the powerful imagery of eight women, gathering their brand new baby in a newly annointed "lucky" dress. The middle kept me engrossed, and while it was a bit muddled, it was still enough to keep me enjoying the book immensely. The end, I admit, was more of a challenge-I had lost a bit of rapport with the characters, partially because of Zan, an antagonist to even the reader I suppose. However, the end fit just right, and it was really a very good book. I plan on re-reading it, to maybe pick up a few things I missed the first time. I would recommend it to anyone who likes poetry, and beautiful, flowing prose-this book is a little bit of both.

Rating:
Summary: Needs less decription and more character development
Review: The truth is that I was drawn to this novel's title... it sounded promising and upon reading the first paragraph I was mesmorized with the wonderful descriptions and the metaphors. The characters seemed to show promise, but unfortunately they were weakly developed... and what began as a beautiful story of family and tradition (eight praying women), turned into a dangling web of abuse and dementia (Zan)... Indeed, at times the novel reads as if it is two separate stories, the lyrical and fresh tale of Quivera, Elegia, and Annaluna... and the rivalry between Zan and Catorza... To add injury to insult, the beautiful passages about antiques and their worth and history is recapitulated with the later appearance of the secondhand clothing store... In short, the novel was repetitive and although at times alluring, the ending was flat and no characters were redeemed.

Rating:
Summary: Births
Review: There is a wonderful birth* scene in this story of secrets. Secrets that fester, that cause action and angst. Secrets revealed. *Other novels with births surrounded by vehement circumstances of one sort or the other: Rebecca Ore's 'Being Alien'; Sylvie Germain's 'The Book of Nights'; Sheri S. Tepper's 'Shadow's End'; Karen Joy Fowler's 'Sarah Canary'; Tanith Lee's 'Book of the Mad'; and Anne Rice has a wild birthing scene under a tree in a storm in one of her books but I can't remember which one. All these books most interesting to read.

Rating:
Summary: Births
Review: There is a wonderful birth* scene in this story of secrets. Secrets that fester, that cause action and angst. Secrets revealed. *Other novels with births surrounded by vehement circumstances of one sort or the other: Rebecca Ore's 'Being Alien'; Sylvie Germain's 'The Book of Nights'; Sheri S. Tepper's 'Shadow's End'; Karen Joy Fowler's 'Sarah Canary'; Tanith Lee's 'Book of the Mad'; and Anne Rice has a wild birthing scene under a tree in a storm in one of her books but I can't remember which one. All these books most interesting to read.