Siege of Comedians

by Susan Daitch

“Ebullient ... Daitch finds stimulating connections and writes with sharp irony and joy. This offers delights on every page.” ― Publishers Weekly
Award-winning author Susan Daitch returns with Siege of Comedians , a novel in triptych told through interconnected narrative threads pulled taut by linked crimes. In the first piece, an American forensic sculptor, reconstructing the faces of three victims receives a midnight, visit from a man who threatens her life unless she alters the faces she’s almost completed. The twists and turns of the mystery lead her to a new life, working with forensic archeologists at a site near the Prater amusement park in Vienna. In the second section, an accent coach discovers that the man implicated in the death of his girlfriend in 1970s Buenos Aires was once a censor and Assistant Minister of Propaganda in Vienna during World War II. When bodies start turning up under the former Propaganda offices, some date from the war period―but others are much older, their origins going back to the Ottoman siege of Vienna. In the final arc, in the aftermath of the last battle between the Austrians and the Turks, a local businesswoman finds three displaced women from Istanbul―former wives of the sultan―wandering in Vienna and gives them shelter in her brothel, located on the site of the future Ministry of Propaganda. Connected across time by intersecting crimes and themes of language, cultural assimilation, and nationalist conflicts, Siege of Comedians , part political thriller, part comic noir, reflects on aspects of the current refugee crisis, human trafficking, and identity.

328 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2021

About the author

Susan Daitch is the author of four novels, L.C. (Lannan Foundation Selection and NEA Heritage Award), THE COLORIST, PAPER CONSPIRACIES, THE LOST CIVILIZATION OF SUOLUCIDIR and a collection of short stories, STORYTOWN. A novella, FALL OUT, published by Madras Press donates all proceeds to Women for Afghan Women. Her work has appeared in Tinhouse, Lit Hub, Slice, Black Clock, Conjunctions, Guernica, Bomb, Ploughshares, The Barcelona Review, Redivider, Zeek, failbetter.com, McSweeney's, Salt Hill Journal, Pacific Review, Dewclaw, Dear Navigator,
The Library of Potential Literature, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and The Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Fiction. Her work was featured in The Review of Contemporary Fiction along with William Vollman and David Foster Wallace. She has been the recipient of two Vogelstein awards and a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship. She has taught at Barnard College, Columbia University, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop and currently teaches at Hunter College.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a book in 3 parts. I made it through part 1 and gave up. There are authors who can write quirky characters (think John Irving, Randy Boyagoda, or Tom Robbins) and then there are authors who try and just don't make it. That's how I feel about this book.

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most audaciously, simultaneously darkly hilarious novels I've read in a while that is in the vein of demented Bolano. Ms. Daitch writes a crime novel for the ages which begins in furious suspense that goes backwards- from today, and ends in the 16th century Ottoman Empire. How does a novel go from an forensic sculptor who's threatened, and then harks back to a time of conquer and dread? And in the darkness of it all, remains savagely humorous in its commentary about nationality, ethnicity, and human degradation? Ribald and filled with some poisonous language filled with wonderous commentary, this is one hell of a read.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Add some century jumpin’ to the globetrottin’ (and jokes that don’t crashland) to the film Until the End of the World and the mood is set for Siege. Anthropology Noir at it’s finest, as I adore a book that takes me for a good genre hop and nature walk towards a foggy destination. Daitch really puts Two and Two on the table, only to sleight-of-hand you the hypnotic history of said table. Some smoke, a few mirrors, then, spoiler alert, you’re sharing a table for two with Four. Where’d you come from, Four? Cocktails (whoosh), appetizers (poof) and I’ve turned this review into dinner and a movie at the Magic Castle. Synopsis: I loved Siege of Comedians and want more Siege of Comedians.

[Brian Grover · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel in three parts, set in different eras but with a connective tissue that Daitch uses to tie all three together even though there's virtually no overlap or overt payoff. The first section is set in modern day Brooklyn, and it follows a "forensic sculptor" who recreates the facial profiles of long dead or mutilated corpses for the government. She runs afoul of some Eastern European gangsters whose ability to find and intimidate her are comically overwritten, but force her to flee for her life to Vienna.

The second section follows an accent coach who is forced to flee Buenos Aires during the Dirty War of the 1970s and ends up traveling to Vienna to hunt for traces of a Nazi filmmaker who had been based in that city before fleeing to South America after WWII. The third and most interesting section is the story of a madam who runs a brothel in 16th century Vienna and has to endure the Ottoman siege of 1529.

Each section is better than the previous one, and Daitch's writing is strong - I was never bored (just incredulous at how the small time gangsters in the first part are written like the smartest and most terrifying criminals in the history of planet Earth). I think I'm going to try another of her books - I liked the prose itself more than the end result here.

[Fletcher Monson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me by surprise when I first picked it up. The story was interesting and confusing, and most importantly compelling. Though, as the book progressed, I lost this feeling after about the third or fourth story. I was still enjoying the book but It felt more laborious reading it than it was entertaining.

Susan Deitch is an incredible writer, don’t get me wrong here, her work is worded greatly and with incredible strength. Which is probably another reason why I found it a difficult read, as it is a harder reading level.

[Riley Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan Daitch first came to my attention by way of an old issue of the Review of Contemporary Fiction, which she headlined alongside David Foster Wallace and William T. Vollmann. I think 3.5 would be a more accurate reflection of my experience reading this, but since half stars aren't an option, I'm gonna round up to 4. I quite liked structure, wasn't quite as fond of the prose on a sentence to sentence basis, the variety of cultural references could feel a touch forced at times. I plan to give her new novel, The Adjudicator, a shot sometime in the near future.

[John Bunyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is in 3 parts. I read part 1 and liked it well enough. The 2nd part was interesting until 1/2 way through when it went into a long sidetrack having to do with language and Planet of the Apes. Skimming ahead it didn’t seem like it got better. I found places where the 3 sections connected up but it was not enough to make me slog through the whole thing.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://chireviewofbooks.com/2021/10/...

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

In her crime noir Siege of Comedians, Susan Daitch weaves a complex web of crime spanning cultures and centuries. Told in the form of triptych, Siege of Comedians details the life and work of two forensic specialists - a sculptor and a linguist - and how their lives and work thread all the way back in time to World War II and the Ottoman siege of Vienna. Daitch's novel provides a window into how history is destined to repeat itself, exploring themes such as human trafficking, the refugee crisis, the question of identify, and how we can never truly escape the past.