Fictionophile 's Reviews > Looking Glass Sound

"No one told me that grief would feel so much like fear."

Wow, what a roller coaster ride of a novel!  The first section of the book I absolutely loved. It read like a suspenseful coming-of age novel. Wilder Harlow was a teenager. An only child to a couple who had a rocky marriage. He was bullied in school and has no friends until that pivotal summer in Maine where he meets Nat and Harper. A summer when a cave on the beach gave up it's gruesome secrets.

"I don't think people should live by the ocean. It's too big to understand."

Then things turned quite dark and disturbing (in a delicious way) when Wilder attended college. He suffers panic attacks as a result of his experiences that Maine summer. He becomes friend with a wealthy student named Sky who comforts and sustains him when he most needs it. Sky is writing a book.

"Friends can break your heart, it seems, just like love."

Skip ahead three decades and Wilder is riddled with self-doubt and he is losing his eyesight. He suffers hallucinations and fears that even his most precious memories might be unreliable... Wilder is writing a book.

"The thing about anger is, your mustn't let it drop or you might find out how you really feel."

This book has vivid imagery, of scenes both real and imagined. The characters personas seem to blur and blend. It is dangerous, like the deepest unfathomable parts of the ocean. There are themes of friendship, grief, betrayal, traumatic memory, and damaged psyches.

"The human heart is deep and dark with many chambers. Things hide down there."

We briefly are introduced to Pearl. She was only five years old when her mother went for a swim and never returned... Jump ahead a decade and Pearl meets Harper at school. Then even later when Pearl is writing a book.

"The truth is precious, not everyone deserves it."

Then, we come to meet Gracie.

This novel is an amalgam - of timelines, of narrators, of genres, of perspectives. It is complex, extraordinary, and compelling. All of these traits seem to be a trademark of this author. Some call this metafiction. I just call it beautifully written, literary, psychological horror.

The author's writing exposes her love of the written word, and it was penned with panache and skill - though I found the latter part of the book confusing at times. It showed damaged people who try to cope with deep trauma via writing. There are word games and witchcraft. The reader is left to wonder 'What is real?', 'What is fiction?'.

In three words: bizarre, dark, compelling.