Reviewer: Kate
I received a copy of The Art of Floating by Kristin Bair O’Keeffein exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
At a time when nothing seems real,
it takes something truly unusual to put your life into focus.
When her beloved husband Jackson disappeared without a trace, popular novelist Sia Dane stopped writing, closed down her house, stuffed her heart into a cage, and started floating. It wasn’t the normal response to heartache, but Sia rarely did things the normal way.
Exactly one year, one month, and six days after Jackson’s disappearance, Sia discovers a mysterious man on the beach. He’s mute, unresponsive, and looks as if he has just walked out of the sea. It’s the sort of situation Jackson would have solved with a simple call to the police. But Jackson is gone.
As unreal as he seems, Sia is determined to help this man. Perhaps she can return him to his place in the world—to whoever lost him and loves him. Perhaps she can answer their questions the way no one could answer hers.
But as her friends and family help her winnow her way to the truth, Sia comes to realize that the unfathomable leap between sorrow and healing begins with a single step.
Review:
I loved this book. I normally try to explain why first, but I couldn’t stop myself from simply blurting that out first. The Art of Floating was right up my literary alley.
Ever since I read Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, I have had a deep fondness for magical realism. O’Keeffein’s Floating jewel fits so snuggly within this genre. So much so that I had to reread pages to be sure that I had read them correctly. The not quite normal elements took me by surprise, because in every way Sia and Jackson seem to be regular every day people; in some ways, more real to me than people I have known all my life. Their joys are normal, universal. Sia’s pain is visceral and human. And yet, there are these amazing moments throughout the story that are real in the emotional landscape they inhabit but totally impossible in the reality in which we live every day. And that made this story even more captivating to me.
I’ve never met anyone who didn’t want to simply float away at one time or another. O’Keeffein takes this basic desire to escape to a different level. O’Keeffein both tantalizes us with the possibility and reminds us that in the end you can never escape yourself—and would you really want to if you could?
I am so happy to have met Sia and had her as a part of my life for the duration of those pages. And I greatly hope that I will meet her again.
I could say more, so much more, but I won’t because the proof is in the pudding and I encourage you to dig in to The Art of Floating.
Rating: 4 ½ Stars
