Reviews

• History with a Twist

  I have read this book and its various stories several times already and I never tire of reading it. The author takes us back into early colonial times in Brazil and tells us stories from a very different angle than what we are used to. There's a mysterious monastery harboring secret meetings and you would never guess the ending. There is Jim from Twain's Huckleberry Finn 20 years after his escape running into Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and complaining (to the interviewer) that all people are interested in is his life before the Civil War and not his current life in freedom. Imagine, a fictional character stepping out of the page... There are many surprises here, all informed by deep historical knowledge. It is one of the best reads in the last few years.

• Brainy, challenging, & compelling fiction

  I loved this book. The stories are cerebral & serious but also completely engaging. I was particularly moved by "Rivers," which imagines a years-later meeting between Jim, Huck Finn, & Tom Sawyer. I never quite knew what I was in for when I began each story, and was so delighted & surprised by how they all unfolded. An amazing exploration of race, history, memory, sexuality, and oppression conducted through gorgeous & muscular use of language.

• Great read!

  Intuitive author

• This was a terrific book, beautifully written and surprising

  This was a terrific book, beautifully written and surprising. By far the best book I read this year. It's so different from Keene's first book Annotations that it caught me off guard, but in a good way. Expansive in scope, willing to take on centuries of racism in a complex way, with the scope and reach of a 19th century novel, I can't recommend it highly enough.

• Innovative, fascinating, brilliant

  Among my favorite memoirs by a poet. Just fantastic.

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