The Gloaming

The title of Melanie Finn’s novel—THE GLOAMING—evokes a mood of impending darkness filled with beautiful light. “The late evening light, soft and translucent, has made the world benign.” The book delivers on this promise in a tale filled with tragedy, but offering paths to redemption. The protagonist’s name—Pilgrim—also is evocative because she is on a pilgrimage of sorts from betrayal, death and ostracism to self-realization. In a way, THE GLOAMING reminds one of Bunyan’s allegory (“Pilgrim’s Progress”), which told of a man’s journey from a deeply flawed world to one that was more benign and fulfilling. Not unlike, Christian in “Pilgrim’s Progress,” our Pilgrim encounters multiple fellow travelers on her show more journey with their own tragic stories.

Finn explores themes of guilt and the search for salvation with her intricate plot. Pilgrim is betrayed by her husband, who leaves her for another woman. While grieving the loss of her marriage, she has an unfortunate automobile accident resulting in the death of three children. Because the locals in her close-knit Swiss community see her as a kindermörderin (“child murderer”), Pilgrim flees to Africa with vague ideas of hiding or possibly starting anew. Finn relates this portion of her story using a first person narrative, but she abruptly switches to third person in the latter half of the novel. At first this is disorienting but quickly works to ramp up tension and suspense because she introduces a cast of characters who interact with Pilgrim in ways that reveal them as fellow travellers in the search for redemption from various tragic events in their own lives.

Having lived in Africa, Finn adeptly demonstrates considerable insight into its geography and culture, especially the expats living there. Pilgrim settles in the remote Tanzanian village of Mugulu. There she meets several tragic figures. Dorothea is the local medic whose children were abducted by her estranged husband; Kessy is a policeman without any resources to do his job; Gloria is an American who is attempting to come to terms with her son’s untimely death by establishing an orphanage for children with AIDS; Martin Martins is a sociopathic Ukrainian soldier of fortune looking for his next score; and Harry is a drunken bush pilot who is trying to forget an unfortunate flying accident where he caused the death of several children. Two Swiss nationals with their own tragic stories also appear: Detective Inspector Paul Strebel, burned out from his job and failing marriage, is taken with Pilgrim and journeys to Africa out of concern for her welfare; and Ernst Koppler, the father of one of the children killed in Pilgrim’s accident, believes he has nothing to live for after also losing his wife to cancer.

Finn’s use of ghosts appearing at odd times in the story and a strange curse involving a butchered albino child as plot devices to increase suspense, mystery and tension in the narrative are not well developed and minimally effective. Those minor failings notwithstanding, the narrative is endowed with enough shadowy and threatening content to satisfy any reader looking for a dark literary thriller. The plotting is well paced, clever and intricate. The ending is totally satisfying because it neatly ties up the various plot lines while offering few pat answers. show less

This novel gripped me, as in, by the throat. I'm not sure that it works entirely as a coherent story--the author seems to want happy endings all around but a few of the characters definitely get the short end--but I'm just going to let it go, dears, because the writing is brilliant. Finn's eye for scenic detail reminded me of the great travel journalists Ryszard Kapuściński and Paul Theroux. Her fiction is full of grit and threat. I could see what was going on in every scene, in a visceral and smelly and vivid way. Really great.

At the end of the first part of the novel I paused before I read on, because the story had come to a logical stopping point and I wanted to think about how it felt for the story to end right there. It could show more have ended there and I would have been quite satisfied. But then, Finn takes this story several levels beyond an already-great stopping point, and in a series of codas she adds ever more humanity and meaning to her characters, and to her story. It was magical.

This is my third novel published by Two Dollar Radio--the others were [b:The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish|40663721|The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish|Katya Apekina|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1530210264s/40663721.jpg|63209597] by Katya Apekina and [b:The Only Ones|21535525|The Only Ones|Carola Dibbell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398195435s/21535525.jpg|40864481] by Carola Dibbell. All three of these novels have a similar resonance, a really unique quality of storytelling that makes me want to continue looking for novels by this publisher. If you liked one of these I think you will also enjoy the other two. show less

I was loving Finn's prose for about the first 100 pages, then got bored with it. About the first 200 pages (out of 300) focused on Pilgrim Jones, whose international lawyer leaves her because he gets some woman pregnant, and Pilgrim kills three kids with her car in Switzerland when swerving to avoid hitting a dog. Pilgrim then flees to Africa. The rest of the chapters are from points of views (POV's) of different characters. I thought at least 50 pages of Pilgrim's POV could have been edited out, maybe even 100 pages. Bright spots of this "literary thriller" include the well-fleshed-out character of Gloria, who runs an AIDS orphanage; and a line about mercenary Martin Martins: violence is tied up in his identity — that truism will show more stay with me for a long time. show less

I feel several ways about The Gloaming. Its very well crafted and the second half of the novel told from varied povs made it much more much more interesting. I loved how the perspective changed and added depth to the novel. The writing is beautiful. But I was a smidge uncomfortable with the idea of Africa as a place where white people go to disappear or atone. And there is a magical Negro who may be a ghost.

I''m making it sound bad and it isn't at all - I think I am just really sensitive right now about race and how it's portrayed. Do our ideas about Africa influence the way we treat people of color? I think so. That said, I see how Finn is playing around with familiar tropes - I'm just not totally sure she transcends them.

Pilgrim Jones, finds herself abandoned in a Swiss town, her supposedly loving husband having left her for another woman, a woman already expecting their first child. Heartbroken and unmoored, she is involved in an accident that kills three young children. Although cleared of responsibility for the accident, Pilgrim cannot forgive herself and makes her way to Tanzania, trying to escape her past. There she will meet people also running from their pasts in various says. She will, also be followed by one who means her harm and one who loves her, or believes he does.

The atmosphere of this novel is haunting as are the characters she encounters. Each will play a significant part in the ensuing drama that unfolds. Beautifully written ,the first show more half narrated by Pilgrim herself, the second part, after a near tragedy will have Pilgrim disappearing from the story which is than taken up by the five people she encounters. A modern day Canterbury tale perhaps but without the humor. I was surprised by how taken I was with this very different story, don't think I have ever read anything quite like it before. The prose is beautiful in places, exceptional actually, but the overall tome is dark in contrast. Pilgrim as her name implies is a searcher, a search for the way to come to terms with her past, her guilt and a search for a new place to belong.
The ending a total revelation but so extremely fitting. show less

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14709055

An odd story, oddly told.

Pilgrim Jones, daughter of commune dwellers, is recently separated from her husband when she is involved in a tragic accident. She wakes up in the hospital not remembering anything. And when she learns what she did, she is strangely unattached to it. Others, however, accuse her with their eyes and their words, and ultimately she leaves the Swiss town where it happened and goes to Africa.

Where she works with a woman who is passionate about saving children in a type of orphanage.

However, her accident follows her, in the shape of the father of one of the victims.

However again, when she was in Switzerland she was interviewed by show more a police detective who appears to find her interesting not only because of how the accident occurred, and he can't get her out of his mind.

The writer assumes different points of view throughout the book, in fact devotes whole sections to different persons. Through a lot of back-and-forth we see the story come together. But how does it end? show less

Fans of Gone Girl would love this book. I thought it was a better mystery and had characters with more depth. Melanie Finn does a wonderful job unfolding this story of tragedy and grief that winds around the world and rollercoasters through emotions. Her characters feel real and I kept changing my mind about each one, seeing each in a new light as the story progressed. This is a heavy one, but a good one. Read it.