Zuntig

The Crimson Bears #3

by Tom La Farge

Tom La Farge's novel explores the terrain of his acclaimed The Crimson Bears and A Hundred Doors. He tells the story of a tribe of matriarchal apes that inhabit the Swamp at the mouth of the river Flood. The childless matriarch has a niece Zuntig, who aspires to succeed her but is overreached. About to be drowned with a bag of bones about her neck, Zuntig is transformed, time and again, encountering different selves and worlds, from the Biljub desert, the snow tunnels of Hyver, and the arctic ocean, to the Pig Opera of Bargeton. A wonderful fantasy in the manner of J. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings cycle.

Tom La Farge lives in New York with his wife Wendy Walker.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

Reviews

[Damian Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best fiction exerts its fascination on the reader without revealing exactly how. There's a lot on the surface to like about this book—it's immaculately written in a number of different styles, the characters are admirably brought to life (in one section, "The Season at Hyver", a multitude of personages are very masterfully blended in a continually intermingling society of lemmings), the narrative is at once fairly simply and conceals a depth that exceeds the sum of its parts—yet what I found truly compelling is the voice of the author, which suffuses every sentence. I've seen this book described as fantasy, but it's something entirely different than that. No category can contain it. It's a genuine original.

[George]

Although it can be read as a standalone novel, Zuntig does take place within the same world as La Farge’s first novel, The Crimson Bears. Overall, the ambition of this novel is similar to Cloud Atlas in a way, in the sense that there are some shifts in literary style and a focus on the transmutation of a conscious soul. I most enjoyed my time with the female Swamp Apes and male Fish Apes, a society and culture that La Farge manifests with clear skill.

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exploding adventure novel of transformation, possibility (narrative and personal), and, ultimately, accepting one's fate in spite of / because of all of those possibilities offered against it. At first mythically captivating (a story of troubled succession and taboo), then flush with formal games that integrate effectively into the story -- a theatrical synopsis & interpretation, a Regency parlor drama teetering towards genteel apocalypse, annotated poetry evolving through multiple eras of verse style -- finally elegiac. Always fascinating, and a timeless development from the classics of storytelling invention. I hoped it would never end, but could simply continue its transformations forever; fortunately I can travel back from here to LaFarge's previous fantasies, The Crimson Bears and One Hundred Doors.

[Bill Hsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm two transformations in, and really enjoying the cryptic rituals and intrigues and rebirths. Zuntig's jaunty, matter-of-fact, I-don't-have-to-explain-everything-to-you narration is key, of course; I'm (perversely? mistakenly?) making associations with Tiptree's "Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death", and perhaps Crawford's "Log of the SS the Mrs. Unguentine". At first I wasn't sure about the tangled web of rationalizations and machinations; after a while, Zuntig presses on, and I'm happy to be dragged along.

Update: more transformations, and LaFarge conveys the sheer fascinating alienness (to us apes anyway) of biological and social processes for fish and fowl. And the narrative voices and forms just keep pouring out of the authorial hat: the lemmings' burlesque of promiscuity, the dovekies' operatic plot synopsis, to name just a couple favorites. Why is Cloud Atlas getting almost 20k reviews, and Zuntig like two? Sigh.

[Andrew]

An unknown novel that speaks beautifully on the nature of death, taboo, language, and culture, using some of the most original styles I have recently come across.

Check out my full review at the link below published on The Collidescope!

https://thecollidescope.com/2021/12/1...