Peaces

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Peaces
Peaces (Helen Oyeyemi).png
First edition (Faber, 2021)
Author Helen Oyeyemi
LanguageEnglish
Genre Slipstream [1]
Publisher Faber and Faber
Publication date
1 April 2021
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (paperback), e-book, audiobook
Pages272
ISBN 978-0-571-36658-3 (paperback)
823/.92
LC Class PR6115.Y49 P43 2021

Peaces is a 2021 novel by Helen Oyeyemi. The novel takes place on a train with several passengers.

Contents

Writing and composition

Oyeyemi has said the novel "[tries] to have a bit of back and forth with" Can Xue's novels Love In The New Millennium and The Last Lover as well as the writings of Carl Jung. [2] The work of British writer Barbara Comyns also influenced the novel. [3] The novel takes place on a fictional train, [4] called the "Lucky Day" and Oyeyemi was "keen" from the outset of writing the book that it would be a "train book". [5] While researching trains to write the book, Oyeyemi visited several of Ludwig II of Bavaria's castles. [6]

Critical reception

According to Book Marks, the book received a "rave" consensus, based on eighteen critics: eleven "rave" and seven "positive". [7] In the July/August 2021 issue of Bookmarks , the book was scored four out of five. The magazine's critical summary reads: "It is a compelling ride, but, the Toronto Star critic advises that readers must be willing "to buy into the oddity and bizarre scenarios the author infuses into the fibre of her story". [8] [9]

Sara Cutaia, in a review published by the Chicago Review of Books , referred to the novel as "delightfully weird and deliciously eccentric". [10] Reviewers at other outlets, including NPR and Vox , also positively referred to the novel as "weird". [11] [12]

References

  1. Manusos, Lyndsie. "Too Weird or Not Weird Enough: What is Slipstream?" Book Riot, 15 June 2021.
  2. Ukiomogbe, Juliana (6 April 2021). "Helen Oyeyemi on Why Writing is Like "Inner Space Travel"". Interview Magazine. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  3. Doll, Jen (5 February 2021). "Helen Oyeyemi Writes the Ups and Downs of Love". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  4. Kleeman, Alexandra (6 April 2021). "Helen Oyeyemi's New Novel Is Not a Fairy Tale". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  5. Iversen, Kristin (7 April 2021). "Helen Oyeyemi Finds the World of Her Novel on the Train". Literary Hub. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  6. Shaw, Helen (29 March 2021). "The Queen of Fractured Fairy Tales". Vulture. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  7. "Peaces". Book Marks. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  8. "Peaces". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  9. "Peaces". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  10. Cutaia, Sara (7 April 2021). "A Wild Ride Through the Mind in "PEACES"". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  11. Grady, Constance (8 April 2021). "Helen Oyeyemi's unsettling new novel Peaces starts weird and gets weirder". Vox. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  12. Iglesias, Gabino (7 April 2021). "Too Many 'Peaces' Overload An Otherwise Entertaining Story". NPR.org. Retrieved 19 April 2021.