Face: A Novel of the Anthropocene

by Jaspreet Singh

In his playful yet deeply serious third novel Jaspreet Singh links a fossil fraud in India, an ice core archive in Canada, and a climate change laboratory in Germany. Jaspreet Singh’s much anticipated third novel traces a past crime that suddenly becomes confrontable on another continent. Lila, a brilliant Indian-born science journalist, and Lucia, an aspiring European-born writer, meet at a creative writing workshop in Calgary. Both try to use fiction to work through real-life trauma, but their entangled paths may reach all the way back to Lila’s time as a geology student in the foothills of the Himalayas. How best to tell Lila’s story and follow the links between a fossil fraud in India, an ice core archive in Canada, the Burgess Shale quarry, and a climate change laboratory in Germany? As their detective work unfolds, the two women encounter some of today’s most urgent and fascinating science, as well as the many shapes of internal criticism in the sciences. They also come face to face with ecological grief and human-non-human entanglements. With this playful and deeply serious genre-blurring work, Singh gives a new direction to the novel in the Anthropocene.

248 pages, Paperback

Published May 3, 2022

About the author

Jaspreet Singh (born 1969) is a Canadian writer.
He grew up in India and moved to Canada in 1990.

(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Jessica Foley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stream of consciousness style of this novel is not how I prefer my fiction. I almost shelved this, but the storyline was intriguing. I did get lost here and there, but if you like oddly written almost-mystery pieces with some science themes, you might like this book.

[Jeff Bursey]

No stars. Review to come.

[Lynne Perednia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating reflections on science, fiction, knowing someone, caste and colonialism, and more, as told through the stories of two women who meet at a writing workshop.

[Stephanie Sirois · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review pending

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Edelweiss Downloaded Review copy*

Book comes out on 5/3/22

This book was okay overall. The concept was well done, especially as there are multiple similar instances of cover ups within scientific communities and politics. The story and pacing felt dry. I found myself quite bored and skimming the last 10% of the book. I feel some may enjoy it with others as the style and intellectual quality of the novel is very high. There's an audience for the novel, but may be a smaller group of readers than mass appeal.

Basic star rating: 3/5