two twins meander like ants across the globe
encountering WW2, Antarctic chills, and great love
Fiction, 2021
I don’t fully know how I feel about novels that feel epic. Epic in scope, time, generations, themes, and references. I can, however, decide that I like when an author exercises indulgence. Hanya Yanagihara, for example, is an indulgent author. Margaret Atwood, though lengthy and bejewelled, isn’t necessarily indulgent. What I’m talking about is when an author assumes they have the reader's attention as a given and proceeds to spiral into whatever interests them. In this recommendation, Shipstead segments random chapters with sections titled “A Brief History in (Blank)”. Sometimes they list aviation facts, act as mini-biographies of pilots, or paint fictional stories that barely touch the main characters' lives. This is the kind of mania that I can get behind.
All of this was my long-winded way of telling you, that this book is a biggie. No fear! I understand if it’s too long to hold an attention span ravaged by TikTok and vaporised in the growing-up-with-the-internet wasteland, and come back next week for a different novel. The story is not a wanderlust-filled great adventure that also provides insight into the glamour of film production. This is a story about two twins, Jamie and Marian who grow up without their parents, instead raised by an alcoholic artist uncle, Wallace. Through a turn of fate, two pilots end up crashing at Wallace’s house. An obsession with flying ensues for Marian.
We follow the two as they grow up, analysing their periods of closeness and detachment, like elastic bending only to snap back. The main narrative is occasionally intercut with small chapters set in the present tense that follow Hadley, a famous but chaotic movie star who has been cast as Marian in a new film. The case of Marian is a mystery, as she disappeared in an attempt to complete an ambitious project. The journey to understand what happened is as dense as chocolate fudge cake.
Film - Anne at 13,000 ft
Song - Matilda - Harry Styles
I loved this book. My mom's book club all thought it was too long though.
Matilda????!!!