The Spokes

by Miranda Mellis

In Mellis's singular vision, the land of the dead is neither heaven nor hell, but a "realm whose primary substance is not time—" a world accessible only by intermittent ferry and where dreams are "movies for the dead" and gelatin is the only food. The novella's narrator, Lucia Spoke, finds herself adrift in this strange world and soon reconnects with the specter of her mother, Silver, a tightrope walker whose death has haunted Lucia throughout her life. What follows is less a story than an irresistible accumulation of moments, language, and imagery as Silver and Lucia wait for a message, a clue to tell them where to go or what to do next. Description adapted from Publishers Weekly.

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific piece of writing. Mellis has extraordinary control of language and its relation to how we conceive of reality and time. She employs the philosophical in ways that seem unforced, and her narrative is sharply imagined.

"Sometimes the impossible," she writes, "is the missing ingredient."

[Annie Tate Cockrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short little book about life and death and mothers and daughters.

4.5

[Oriana]

Kick-ass review from Word Books:

Our narrator gets on a ferry, disembarks in the afterlife, and encounters her dead mother and a younger version of herself in this otherworldly, dreamlike novella. If you've lost someone (to death, to time, to inevitable growth), and then dreamt of them and felt elated to see them in that dream -- so happy that it alerts you to the reality that it's a dream, and it awakens you, and you feel the loss all over again, but also the way you carry them with you -- then you should read this book.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how this happened, but I found a review copy of this book leaning against my front door last night. Maybe someone dropped it on their way up the hill from a yard sale somewhere. Maybe the author lives on my street.

Anyway, I brought it in and read it over lunch today (it's short). It's actually pretty good. Lots of allusions to mythology in a contemporary setting.

[Chezzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now one of my favorite books. I bought this at a book sale a couple years ago and I'm disappointed a didn't read it earlier! It's a short little story set in the afterlife, a dream like place, about family, life, consciousness, and humanity. Poetic and beautiful. It asks the questions I wonder about. I love it!

[Marci Blackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite its brevity, or, perhaps because of it, this is a book you will want to read slowly. To savor it, like eating morsels of your favorite desert in an effort to make it last. I loved this book!

[Ellis ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recensione per Leggere Distopico e Fantascienza Oggi! 😊
https://www.leggeredistopico.com/2023...

[la pulce budino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genere? Al di là del genere. Ha l'enigma del thriller, lo sguardo visionario della fantascienza, i mondi della distopia e dell'utopia, la criticità della filosofia, gli abissi dell'intimistica, l'angoscia dell'orrore psicologico, la voce della denuncia, la ricerca linguistica della semantica. Una parola che le sintetizza tutte: l'immaginazione della letteratura. Un viaggio "semantico", appunto, alla scoperta di un mistero che avvolge una famiglia di circensi in un aldilà che perde le caratteristiche canoniche attribuitegli dalla religione per divenire luogo di comunicazione tra vivi e morti grazie al valore simbolico del linguaggio.

[Miria TheBookHunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un viaggio inaspettato in un aldilà fatto di quartieri ricchi di arte e musica, non esiste né tempo né sole in queste terre e la memoria svanisce come nebbia. Lucia si attacca ai ricordi e trova la madre Silver, morta in un incidente al circo, con cui ha dialoghi talvolta bislacchi altre volte con tanti significati sotterranei. Una lettura che mi ha molto intrigato ma lasciandomi come con qualcosa di sospeso, non esaurito, avrei voluto di più invece il racconto era già finito.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questo libro mi ha traghettato attraverso il lutto più profondo della mia vita. Per farmi capire che non si completa mai la traversata, ma siamo tutti insieme nel mezzo, i vivi e i morti, ancorati alle nostre percezioni.

[in8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

talked about it some here: http://www.5cense.com/13/ore-2.htm