Looking back at this
blog it is 6 years since I read Tristan Hughes' Revnant, a novel
compared to this novella.
But there is a
commonality between the two, in both there is a wrestling with past
events, an attempt at making sense.
It is also yet
another book set in the far north, Canadian rather than Alaska in
this instance.
The smallness of the
community seems to allow for a deeper exploration of relationships,
of life played out with the open secrets of village life (perhaps not
secrets but unspoken knowledge of events). But there are a number of
stories that are not told, the cast of characters around Zach and Eva
clearly have backstories, but we only get hints, this is perhaps a
sign of the bravery of Hughes as a writer – to leave these stories
untold.
For Zach and Eva
this results in others knowing much more about the events that
dominate their young lives than they themselves do. Zach's mother had
committed suicide, Eva's parents died in a plane crash, and in the
end Eva speaks for both of them “We don't get to know why.” - we
seek meaning in the events of our lives but sometimes the meaning
escapes us, and sometimes there is no meaning, things just happen.
Given Zach and Eva
are young people one might wonder why this book labelled youth
fiction, when others read recently, like Other People's House are.
The themes here are challenging, but they are in the other books.
Hughes has a reputation as a “serious” novelist, so this is
marketed as a grown up book.
