Book Review: The Circumference of the World

 

Image: The cover of the book is a graphic with a background of deep green circles spiraling towards the center becoming darker until becoming black, resembling an eye. On top of that are more circles of yellow and green resembling moon phases spiraling into a center where a figure with pulled up long hair and a dress is silhouetted in oranges, walking along a curved line like a tightrope. The bottom has a large reddish orange circle like a rising sun peaking upward. Across the top in red letters is "world fantasy award winner," then in white letters, "lavie tidhar," then in cream, "the circumference of the world." Across the bottom in small white letters is, "can we just all admit now that Lavie Tidhar's a genius?" and in yellow, "-Daryl Gregory: award-winning author of spoonbenders."

Reading Lavie Tidhar's The Circumference of the World was like walking through a dream, or perhaps a nightmare depending on your view of things. I don't mean reading about a dream. I mean it felt like dreaming feels- where many things are off or confusing or seem not quite right, but also feel quite real and make sense at the same time. It is difficult to describe without spoiling the story and what is revealed as it moves forward. It is one of those books that seems to hop around too much, but closer to the end, the bigger picture is revealed to the reader, making the whole thing seem just right.

Something about this book that is interesting to me is the use of the culture- and actual people, real and fictional- from the golden age of science fiction in the mid 1900s. The whole feel of that pulp era was captured really well, misogyny, conformity to great-man, narratives, and all. Well, I wasn't alive until the 80s, but it captured my impressions from my parents bookshelves and reading the books from and about that time period. There are sections that include (fictionalized) conversations between well known authors whose names and works I recognized. But, upon reading the entire book and skimming some reviews, there were apparently also characters woven in from that era of stories. Being less familiar with them, I did not recognize this. I imagine it could be quite a joyous experience for someone who is more familiar. I still don't know which characters were borrowed (with permission) and which were crafted.

The style of this book hops genres all over the place, but is still tied together by Tidhar's prose. It begins like a vintage sicfi-fantasy novel that turns into a bizarre noirish story of a bookseller turned detective. Further forward we have authoritarian regime survival historical fiction, hard scifi, mystery, autobiography, and more. Each time I thought I was grasping what would be revealed, I was surprised in new ways. I do think it actually could have been longer. Sometimes it transitioned so fast that I would have liked more time spent in certain places.

Now, I will say, I don't know if this book is for everyone because it has so much of... everything. If you aren't one to appreciate bizarre breaks from single narrative structures, this may not be for you. Me? I loved it every step along the way, and especially when it became clear why reading it felt so dreamlike. You will have to discover that for yourself.

This was also posted to my goodreads.