Alva and Irva [Paperback]

by Edward Carey

Alva and Irva are indentical twin sisters who live in the city of Entralla. Along with Gondal, Brobdingnag and the Emerald City, Entralla is not a place you are likely to have visited; only one guidebook to the place exists, despite its historic landmarks and the considerable civic pride of its inhabitants. Alva, by nature an explorer, longs to travel the world. Irva is a recluse, for whom a step outside the house is an ordeal. But the twins belong together; they cannot survive without each other. Since childhood, they have built fantastical cities of plasticine in an attempt to find a place for themselves in the world -- real or imaginary. But it is only when Irva finally refuses to leave the house at all that the major work of their lives begins. Alva, in an attempt to return Irva to life, brings the city of Entralla into their shared home; she wanders its streets, observing, taking notes, measuring, and reporting her findings to Irva, who painstakingly constructs a miniature Entralla.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Art, Speculative Fiction, Contemporary

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Edward Carey is a writer and illustrator who was born in North Walsham, Norfolk, England, during an April snowstorm. Like his father and his grandfather, both officers in the Royal Navy, he attended Pangbourne Nautical College, where the closest he came to following his family calling was playing Captain Andy in the school’s production of Showboat. Afterwards he joined the National Youth Theatre and studied drama at Hull University.

He has written plays for the National Theatre of Romania and the Vilnius Small State Theatre, Lithuania. In England his plays and adaptations have been performed at the Young Vic Studio, the Battersea Arts Centre, and the Royal Opera House Studio. He has collaborated on a shadow puppet production of Macbeth in Malaysia, and with the Faulty Optic Theatre of Puppets.

He is also the author of the novels Observatory Mansions and Alva and Irva: the Twins Who Saved a City, which have been translated into thirteen different languages, and both of which he illustrated. He always draws the characters he writes about, but often the illustrations contradict the writing and vice versa and getting both to agree with each other takes him far too long. He has taught creative writing and fairy tales on numerous occasions at the Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa, and at the Michener Center and the English Department at the University of Texas at Austin.

He has lived in England, France, Romania, Lithuania, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, and the United States. He currently lives in Austin, Texas, which is not near the sea.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A splendid piece of gothic, magic irrealism. It's occasionally a bit silly but the images it creates (and not just the Plasticine ones) stay with the reader. I eagerly awaited his third novel, but Carey veered off into "young adult" (US corporate marketing classifications - groan...) after this. Still, what else could one expect from the Archbishop of Canterbury? He was archbish, wasn't he?

[Guy Portman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alva and Irva are inseparable, identical twins with different personalities. Irva is introverted, Alva more outgoing. The twins, who come from a family of post office employees, reside in Entralla, a historic and picturesque though largely ignored city, which only has one guidebook.

Our narrator Alva outlines her and her twin’s childhood, including their time at school and life at home with their somewhat neurotic mother. We learn of their various escapades, details of their bizarre relationship, and their remarkable rate of growth. Both Irva and Alva stand six feet two inches tall when fully grown.

As they mature, Alva longs for a sense of identity, and Irva becomes so introverted that she refuses to leave the house. It is during this period that Alva goes out into the city and observes and takes measurements of what she sees. She reports these findings to Irva, who then meticulously constructs their city out of Plasticine. Later a momentous event brings their creation to the public’s attention.

The book contains a map of Entralla, detailed footnotes and photographs of the twins’ Plasticine monuments at the beginning of each chapter.

Alva & Irva is a quaint and quirky novel whose themes include twinship and loneliness. Although many will no doubt consider it enchanting and endearing, this reader found it to be a tepid, distinctly average and one-sided book that largely ignores Irva.

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going to try to do a bang-up job on this review, because Edward Carey is a completely unique and, I think, brilliant author and more people should read him. I even got myself signed up as a gr librarian just so I could enter his author profile and then 'fan' him. But there's not very much to be found on him out there, and although his agent's website claims he's written a third novel (called Little), I'm not sure it's ever been published. It would seem this guy is out of print. So even if you were inspired to read him, you probably couldn't get a copy of this, his second book, anyway. My own copy was purchased second-hand and comes from the Osceola County Library System, Central Branch. Which is weirdly fitting in some random and surreal way.

According to my gr friend list, only three of you out there have read any Edward Carey - and that, Observatory Mansions - his first.

Of the three, one of you read it only because I foisted it into your hands and begged you to give it a try. The other two are karen and greg, and they both rated it a 5. So this review is for them, and them alone. The rest of you - move along, there's nothing to see here.

So, karen and greg: imho, Alva and Irva is even better than Observatory Mansions. It has all the same gothic fairy-tale/allegorical/symbolic/surreal stuff going on and even some of the same themes (loneliness and isolation; marginalized and socially-stunted characters; obsessions and compulsions galore), but it seems to hold together as a story better. The lead characters, twin sisters (one of whom - Alva - narrates), are the Romulus and Remus of a fictional, Germanic city called Entralla. They are sweetly rendered, and if you are like me, you will identify with both of them - although they are opposites - and find them sad and lovely at the same time.

The book is nested within a conceit that it - the novel - is a guidebook to Entralla for the reader who might visit one day. It comes complete with restaurant recommendations and sight-seeing suggestions, and helpful reminders to the reader/tourist to display prominently a copy of the novel to obtain a ten per cent discount from participating establishments. There are just enough of these fourth-wall-busting interludes to keep things interesting and a little off-centre; not too many to bog down the main narrative flow in gimmickry. And because Carey is toying with the construction of reality as an over-arching theme, it works really well.

On the surface of it, this is a novel about "place" - home, I suppose you could say - how it shapes character and how characters - here, literally (in plasticene), shape it. Place is also psychology: the approach/avoidance conflict with Entralla embodied in the twins is also a separation/individuation conflict. The story is as much a coming-of-age one as anything else - but a twisted, dark and symbolic one.

Alva, the extroverted twin with wanderlust and a strong desire for friendship and adventure, wants nothing more than to leave Entralla to experience the world; and Irva, the introverted, agoraphobic one, is content with her sister as her only company and her painstakingly-rendered miniaturized version of Entralla as her world.

These two might as well be conjoined, they are so enmeshed: physically indistinguishable until Alva's frustration and pent-up desire lead her to make a permanent distinction (it's a delicious and ironic twist, and I'll not spoil it - caution if you read any of the other reviews here); psychologically, to separate will mean the end of one or both of them.

So that's all - or at least some - of the high-falutin' intellectual plot and thematic stuff going on. But at the same time, there is this voice--this incredible Edward Carey voice that is whimsical, strange, idiosyncratic, creepy, quirky, dark but delicate, strangely "old fashioned" yet also contemporary, really indefinable in terms of time/place. The few reviews and jacket blurbs struggle to describe it as I am. Other reviews here on goodreads seem to have hit the mark a bit better. I especially liked "the love child of Edward Gorey and Franz Kafka."

Observatory Mansions has been referred to as: "Amelie meets We Have Always Lived In a Castle" and "Edward Scissorhands, but without the blame."

But really, the only way to 'get' Edward Carey is to read Edward Carey.

And that, as I started out by saying, is not an easy task.* Such a shame.

ETA: *my Osceola Public Library, Central Branch copy, just slightly more used than it arrived, is available to the next home that would welcome it. First come, first served -- PM me your address, please.

[Paul Dembina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touching story about a pair of odd twin sisters and their relationship to their home city of Entralla. Ignore the lazy cover quote from the Independent claiming some kinship with Kafka (how many times is that comparison overused?) This is uniquely Carey

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just finished (and loved!) his wife’s memoir (Elizabeth McCracken’s stunning “An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination”) I combed used bookstores until I found a copy Edward Carey’s (rather difficult to find) “Alva & Irva.” Carey’s first novel, “Observatory Mansions,” captivated me when I read it almost ten years ago, so I was doubly excited to dive into this book. Luckily, “Alva & Irva” did not disappoint!

“A & I” is a quirky, funny, grotesquerie of a book that also manages to be sweet and emotionally resonant. I adore Carey’s unique brand of storytelling which is kind of like the love child of Edward Gorey and Franz Kafka – fable-like, dreamy, and allegorical yet somehow truthful, honest, and strangely realistic. I will breathlessly wait for any new Carey book, because he transports and engages the reader in a way that is truly unique.

[Sarah left GR · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hybrid travel guide (of the fictional city of Entralla) plus autobiography (of the fictional twin, Alva). As Goodreads reviewer Julia said, "major points for innovation"... but beyond that, these characters didn't move me very much.

Maybe it was the name of the city (sounds too much like "entrails") or the frequent misuse of the word "bare" (as in, "he couldn't bare to..."). Mostly, it was the lopsidedness of the narration. Everything is told from Alva's point of view; Irva is reduced to a hysterical recluse.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned about Edward Carey from his wife's memoir An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination. My curiosity was piqued and I went to look him up after I finished it.
I was interested in reading his book Observatory Mansions but all our library system had was Alva & Irva: The Twins Who Saved a City. I decided to give it a go, even though it looked kind of science-fictionesque. It wasn't though, really. Even though Entralla was a fictional place, it felt real. As if someday, wandering the earth, I could stumble across it and walk along the streets that Alva and Irva so painstakingly reproduced in plasticine. (I would, of course, take a copy of "Alva and Irva...etc." with me [making sure to flaunt it] so I could get discounts at all those restaurants Alva mentioned.) Yet it was not completely realistic, still having an otherworldly element, a trace of something you can't find on pragmatic Earth.

Twins in literature are one of my favourite things since their portrayals are generally very fascinating. Alva and Irva were no exception; they are certainly an excellent addition to the world of literary twins. They were naturally flawed, odd, but sympathetic characters. Being a homebody, I could feel Irva's pain. But yet I still empathized with Alva, who wanted nothing more than the world. (There was a bit in the middle where I felt Alva was too cruel and Irva too complacent, but that passed.)

This is one of the most creative books I have read in a while. It was a little strange but also touching. Edward Carey is a lovely writer.

(P.S. I don't know if its possible to get plasticine in the U.S., but I find myself wanting some really bad right now...! The inclusion of the pictures of the plasticine sculptures was so cool too! That's probably one thing that helped it all seem so real.)

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, quirky, and wonderfully Edward Carey. It's about dichotomies, relativity, the bigness and smallness of everything. Always, with Carey's characteristic wit.

I thought it was maybe a little too similar to his first novel, Observatory Mansions, but I did enjoy it.

[Megan C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this was a disappointing read. I absolutely adored Little, another work from this author, (it was a top 10 book of 2018 for me) however, none of his other novels have even come close to that one. Skip this one.

[Carloesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Che E. Carey fosse uno degli autori che mi hanno maggiormente sorpreso in questi ultimi anni lo avevo già detto. Il suo secondo romanzo (in ordine cronologico viene dopo Observatory Mansions e prima della trilogia “Iremonger” in corso di pubblicazione) conferma quanto già al suo esordio ci aveva fatto intravedere: una grande inventiva nelle storie narrate, capacità di creare microcosmi-laboratorio-specchio della nostra civiltà (là un condominio, qui la Città-stato di Entralla) dove fare muovere personaggi originalissimi, un po’bislacchi, disadattati e loosers di fronte all’occhio comune, eppure in possesso di una qualche forma di genialità, quella che costituisce l’unicità di ogni persona, e che a volte il caso potrà, in condizioni molto particolari, portare a essere anche pubblicamente riconosciuta. E poi, attraverso la loro storia, farci soffermare sulle cose e sul loro significato, sul senso di necessità della memoria, della sofferenza, della speranza o della rassegnazione.

La storia di Alva e Irva, che salvarono la città di Entralla grazie ad un’ossessione, è un po’ tutto questo, e Carey lo racconta come sempre in modo fantasioso e originale eppure fortemente radicato nel solco del romanzo classico, e in quello della letteratura inglese in particolare.
Qualità non da poco.

Quattro o 5 stellette? E'un bel problema!

[mica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really not sure what I thought about this book. Its framing was pretty interesting - and the way it reveals its major plot points well before they occur were quite beautiful. The photographs of the miniature buildings in plasticine were a wonderful addition to the narrative through out.

There were several elements in this book that should have made me absolutely love it - and I'm having a hard time articulating why I wasn't totally sold on this book. Carey's prose, through out, is elegant and beautiful. It had some truly amazing moments, and I liked how timeless the novel felt - like its events could have occurred at almost any time in the latter half of the twentieth century. I was surprised at how much I related to the character of their grandfather (despite his controlling nature) and feeling for their mother (particularly how the twins treat her as they reach adulthood), and how little I related to the protagonists, though.

This is, of course, a very subjective point, but, to me, it is one of the book's major problems. I didn't really care that much for the protagonists. I understood that I was supposed to care for them, and that the city came to view them as heroes (that's not a spoiler), but I didn't. I wanted to know more about their mother, their grandfather (couldn't care less about their father, though) and their neighbours and classmates. Not them.

There was also a passage in the book's conclusion that, to me, really undermined and damaged the rest of the novel.

Near the end, as the "writer" of the notations to Alva's autobiography proves to be none but her teenage crush, August Hirkus, there is a point where, after he has discovered that the twins have both died, he contacted and met Jonas Lutt, the fellow they knew from their street, and who was dating their mother up until her death in the earthquake. The text of the book goes:
"And it was on one of those occasions that he boasted to me that he, Jonas Lutt, an ordinary-looking man from Entralla, a man so ordinary in his features that he would disappear in any crowd ... had an extraordinary secret. For years this man of small conspicuousness had been making love to two women. Not every night, for sure, only on occasions, but nevertheless it had still occurred. ... [S]ince he first lived in his current address on Pult Street [he] had been making love to twins, one at a time. One night Alva. The next Irva. How extraordinary Entralla's version of Casanova is, a tall and tubby lorry driver. ... He made love to Irva, he made love to Alva ... Until they became too ill. For comfort.".

This passage really undermined the entire book for me. The idea of them living with this character made sense, BUT having this somewhat incesty polyamorous relationship with their mother's ex really didn't do anything to change/improve the plot, considering the past relationship between the characters. More than that, particularly due to Irva's states of mental health as presented by the book, it struck me as pretty coercive and problematic, if not outright rapey. Most importantly here, however, is the way the twins are, in the final paragraphs of this novel, which is about them objectified and fetishized. And for what? That one paragraph added nothing to the story. If Carey felt that this relationship was a necessary plot point, (hearkening back to when they decided they needed a man to let into their private city when they were adolescents?), he really should have written about it from Alva's perspective, rather than as a creepy old man brag near the end, with an equally creepy man enthusiastically admiring how such an ordinary looking man could have been having sex with two such extraordinary women.

I guess my overall takeaway from this book is that there are a lot of really beautiful, great elements in this novel, but it didn't really come together for me.

[Dale Philbrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars... This is a book that I read years ago but wanted to re-read after I got a new book by Edward Carey. I also read "Observatory Mansions" by Carey years ago and loved it. After that, I sought out books by Carey and came across "Alva and Irva". I love Carey's style of prose. He has a way of describing everyday things that just make me smile.
As for "Alva and Irva", it's an interesting, sometimes slow, story of being a twin and the intimate bond you have with your sister yet how you also want to exert your independence as an individual. The book is a travel guide of sorts to the fictional town of Entralla and features nice interludes about local sites and restaurants to visit on a trip to the city. It also tells the story of Alva and Irva, twins growing up in the city. The story is told from Alva's perspective as she embraces her "twin-hood" as a young child but yearns for her own identity as an adolescent. She takes extreme measures to stand out and the more she exerts herself, the more Irva retreats inward and becomes less of a person. It takes a mutual project of love and a devastating event in the city for Alva to truly find herself.

[Lundy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alva are Irva are twins leaving in the imaginary city of Entralla. While Alva dreams of travel (she has a map of the world tattooed on her body), Irva is more reclusive. When Irva stops leaving the house, she and Alva undertake recreating the entire city in plasticine. Irva promises to leave the house once they've made a model of the entire city. Interspersed between Alva's recollections, the novel is narrated by one of Alva's friends. The novel is structured like a tour guide/ memoir, which the main narrator providing information about Entralla and the twins. It also includes images of the plasticine models of Entralla Alva and Irva created. While a tad bleak, I thought it was a quirky read.

[Hannah Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got to hear Edward Carey speak at Tulane when his wife Elizabeth McCracken was there as a Newcomb Scholar. His talk about how his art-making and writing relate was wonderful! He often models characters and cities that go along with his narratives. I soon discovered that his writing is superb, as well!!

I was very blessed to have him come back to the studio and take a glance at my works. I always wish I could bring him back to see what I'm working on these days now that I have gained more confidence. He was very kind.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Observatory Mansions, but still lovely, and, expectedly, riddled with similar themes and oddities. I probably should have waited longer so as to read the style with new eyes. I also skipped most of the footnotes and intercalary/framing device stuff because it was boring (personal bias - I dislike travel books).

Edward Carey I still love you but we're going to go "on a break" for now. That does include your new children's book and your wife's stuff, too, in case it's too similar.

[Ann Bjerregaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it hard to grade this book. It's not the kind of book I would normally read, but it took me in, in a strange way. It was at once weird and magical and tragic, but also somehow a little heart warming in its quaintness - both in the sometimes comical, strangely central European English, but also in its loving descriptions of the fictional Entralla, which becomes hauntingly real.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky, quaint, and endearing. If you've ever had a sister, or really liked playing with modeling clay when you were little, or wanted to get a map of the world tattooed all over your body, you should read this book.

[Fillia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read any book written by Edward Carey, and I was totally amused by his imagination on Alva & Irva. On this book, identical twin sisters help us to see human's curiosity as well as fears which are inseparable.

[nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5 stars

a strange and different, sad and weird and somewhat disgusting and incredibly honest book.
I did enjoy it, but I expected a little something more, although I enjoyed (and feared) the casual cruelty.

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all Carey's books, strange and beautiful. Twin girls - Alva and Irva - isolated in childhood, who want to slip into invisibility yet grow to the height of 6ft. They take solace in the art of plasticine, creating miniature worlds. The sisters become very different people. Alva yearns to travel and connect. Irva withdraws further and further into herself, only travelling via her miniatures. Alva fights hard to stretch their bond, sometimes with cruelty, but like elastic, it always snaps back.

The book takes the form of a charming travel guide to their home town of Entralla, a place prone to occasional seismic activity. It includes photos of the twins' miniature versions of renowned Entralla buildings and alongside, the relevant stories of the girls. In this way, we get the history of the twins and how they came to be both shunned and celebrated. Unlike Carey's other books, like Little or The Swallowed Man, the twins are not the easiest characters to like but their bond and the efforts other characters make to accommodate them is rather lovely.

NB. The actual cover of this edition is by a different artist and not the one shown on Goodreads, which I found a bit annoying.

[Tyler Larade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the beginning was a bit slow and I found it kind of difficult to really get into it at first, like 1/3rd of the way through or just when it started to focus more on the twins I found it more and more interesting. I really like that it’s written as if Entralla is a real place that you can go visit and I also really liked the twins characters. There was some classic Edward Carey weirdness with the twins stalking their classmate and Alva carving the “North” symbol on her forehead to distinguish herself from Irva, only to carve it into Irva’s forehead later on in the book. And her feeding little pieces of maps/atlas pages to Irva.

Favourite passage-
Irva's skin seemed to me in those days thick with dust, and perhaps not just her skin, but all of her. A sister made of dust, dust face and skull, dust arms and legs, dust heart and lungs. If you blew on her then she would scatter into a thousand fragments.
And she wanted to spread that dust onto me. And I wouldn’t let her.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edward Carey is a master of description and story telling. He crafts an entire city and its history within the books pages. Thanks to Carey's descriptions I truly felt I could easily navigate around and recognize landmarks because the details he gave the reader was exacting. Additionally, I wanted to visit the city and enjoy it firsthand. In the back of my head, I knew it was fiction but the author made the place real for me.
Another great aspect of the book was watching as twin sisters, Alva & Irva craft an entire city out of plasticine and that mini city ends up making them stars and saviors. They became a side show spectacle that you just can't take your eyes off of.
Overall the book was quirky, but a good read.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alva and Irva are identical twins with major, unaddressed issues; but that's not what this story is about. This story is supposed to be "an enchanted journey through a city of the imagination" and the twins are supposed to be "mesmerizing heroines," it says on the back of the book. But as a mom of twins, their mutually torturous relationship was super challenging to get through. So was the elder abuse (against their grandfather), and the tattoo artist completely covering a child's body without parental consent, and a lot more that would probably be considered spoilers so I won't say anything except, yuck.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told in a way that seems semi experimental, yet believable and clear. The prose style is interesting and Alva as a character was great. At times though I found myself drifting as I read. Whether it was the books slow pace or all my daily life crap distracting me I'm not certain. Still at times this was a good book.

[Kristina Dūdaitė · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pasakojimas vyksta išgalvotame mieste - Entraloje, tačiau, kaip pats autorius sako, kad jį inspiravo Vilnius. Ir iš tiesų čia Vilniaus daug, nors jis pateikiamas ir kitais vardais. Istorija keista, gali kilti daug apmąstymų. Pati knygos struktūra įdomi, tik knygos pabaigoje supranti, kas yra tas antrasis pasakotojas. Persiskaitė lengvai, paslaptingai ši knyga įtraukė.

[Salty Swift · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic story of twin sisters who inhabit an imaginary city, whose relationship metamorphisez, whose life passion is re-creating their city out of plasticine.... told with mesmerizing passion for the lead characters. Incredibly convincing writing.

[Selene · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange book this is! I loved it, but not sure why. Edward Carey is a wonderful writer... more please!

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another outstanding and absorbing tale from Edward Carey.

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

i belong to her, she belongs to me. that’s just how it is, that’s just how it is and there’s nothing to be done about it.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went to the travel agency today and they are looking to book me on a tour. I will have my book tucked under my arm and look forward to the 10% reduction.