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Moscodelphia
" Moscodelphia is extraordinary. Terrifyingly spare in its language and pace, this debut novel by one of our best poets unfolds into a tale that holds dystopic caution and the hunger of love in two steady hands. Readers of Rafferty's poetry will know he is a master of the dramatic monologue and the prose poem, and here he has brought those talents to bear on a narrative that depicts a nightmarish future with irony-laced realism. J.C. Ballard would be proud, and a little scared." -Andrew Krivak, author of The Sojourn and The Bear
" Moscodelphia is a weird and wonderful book, a vivid tightrope walk between surprise and inevitability . While immersed in its pages I felt like I was reading a nineteenth century Russian novel, set in a dystopian future yet written in sparkling contemporary prose. How can that all be true? Reader, do yourself a favor and find out." -Tom Hazuka, editor of Flash Fiction Funny , co-editor of Flash Nonfiction Funny and Flash Nonfiction Food Magda Puzanov knows three things about her the taste of angel meat, the perils of loving an albino, and the smudge of pollution on her horizon, which is all she can see of Moscodelphia — the city that can end her poverty. Magda is a farm girl who falls in love with Anton Petrovich, an albino reputed to have magical powers. When the crops begin failing across the countryside, Anton’s neighbors grow hungry and fall back on their old superstitions. It is Magda’s own brother who cuts off one of Anton’s fingers for a charm, and Magda realizes that Anton must flee to Moscodelphia, alone. Magda bides her time on the family farm until she is captured by a team of “collectors.” These men are in charge of extracting the countryside’s wealth and shipping it back to Moscodelphia. This includes marriageable girls. Ever the optimist, Magda sees her kidnapping as a chance to reunite with Anton. But Magda is bid upon and purchased by Josef Rabinovich, a bureaucrat rising through the ranks of the Ministry of Opulence. At first, Magda is astonished at the luxury Josef provides, but she leads an increasingly brutalized life until she finds Anton again, years later, in an open-air market. They conduct a love affair and plot their escape from a city full of poison and an ongoing plague of falling toads.
" Moscodelphia is a weird and wonderful book, a vivid tightrope walk between surprise and inevitability . While immersed in its pages I felt like I was reading a nineteenth century Russian novel, set in a dystopian future yet written in sparkling contemporary prose. How can that all be true? Reader, do yourself a favor and find out." -Tom Hazuka, editor of Flash Fiction Funny , co-editor of Flash Nonfiction Funny and Flash Nonfiction Food Magda Puzanov knows three things about her the taste of angel meat, the perils of loving an albino, and the smudge of pollution on her horizon, which is all she can see of Moscodelphia — the city that can end her poverty. Magda is a farm girl who falls in love with Anton Petrovich, an albino reputed to have magical powers. When the crops begin failing across the countryside, Anton’s neighbors grow hungry and fall back on their old superstitions. It is Magda’s own brother who cuts off one of Anton’s fingers for a charm, and Magda realizes that Anton must flee to Moscodelphia, alone. Magda bides her time on the family farm until she is captured by a team of “collectors.” These men are in charge of extracting the countryside’s wealth and shipping it back to Moscodelphia. This includes marriageable girls. Ever the optimist, Magda sees her kidnapping as a chance to reunite with Anton. But Magda is bid upon and purchased by Josef Rabinovich, a bureaucrat rising through the ranks of the Ministry of Opulence. At first, Magda is astonished at the luxury Josef provides, but she leads an increasingly brutalized life until she finds Anton again, years later, in an open-air market. They conduct a love affair and plot their escape from a city full of poison and an ongoing plague of falling toads.
286 pages, Paperback
Published September 7, 2021
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About the author
Charles Rafferty
22 books16 followersCharles Rafferty is a poet, editor, and director of the MFA program at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey with a B.A. in Literature and Language, and later received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas. He has published four books of poetry along with several chapbooks, had his work published in The New Yorker and RATTLE, and in 2009 received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.
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March 17, 2022
I’m not quite sure what to make of this. This felt more like extensive notes for a set of short stories rather than a finished novel. Part rural gothic, part heady speculative fiction, part tired dystopian retread… it never bothers to satisfy the questions it raises with its initial world-building, nor does it seem to need the abject weirdness for anything other than shock and mild confusion.
ETA: Ah, it would have helped to know that the author was a poet. That would explain the emphasis on lovely sentences and lack of plot momentum or character depth.
ETA: Ah, it would have helped to know that the author was a poet. That would explain the emphasis on lovely sentences and lack of plot momentum or character depth.
Displaying 1 of 1 review