Polar Vortex

Priya and her wife, Alex, have moved from Toronto to the countryside. At the same time, Priya shuts down all her social media accounts because she is trying to avoid all contact with her long-time friend, a straight man named Prakash. The blurb on the back cover makes this story sound like a thriller, but it is a psychological examination of friendships and love set in a context of homosexuality and immigrants of colour. The novel also explores memory and forgetting.

After six years, Prakash re-establishes contact with Priya, and she invites him to visit her and Alex. He jumps at the chance. Alex is not happy that she hasn't been consulted about having an overnight guest. There is a good build up of tension between the two of them, and show more within Priya's mind about her upcoming reunion.

I enjoyed the first part of the novel, told from Priya's perspective best. We learn her story and a lot about her relationship with Prakash, which is deep, loving, but fraught with tension. In the second part, Prakash arrives for his much anticipated and dreaded visit. I enjoyed this part less because it was more of the same....wondering and worrying...rather than resolving or escalating things. I guess life's like that.

The writing is very good. I might read more by this author. show less

Wow. This book is tense, insightful, and just a good, if not comfortable, read. I felt as if Mootoo reached inside the hidden parts of the brain to undercover how people think, how people remember (re-member and re-create memory). She doesn't shy away from portraying how trauma can become sexualized (and sexual trauma subverted) in such a way that one's sexual orientation can feel all twisted and confused in one's experiences, dreams, and memory. The novel is real. As a queer white woman married to an Indian woman I found truth not only in the general portrayal of humankind but also in the specifics of how the cultures of immigrants, Indian-Asians, and queerness mingle in the most uncomfortable ways. I will admit that the ending was no show more surprise to me. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be. But the whole novel was compelling in the way that a roadside accident is compelling. The writing is good. The story is too. This is my first exposure to Mootoo, but I will be looking for her other books. show less

Pure queer, literary goodness. A roving, deep dive into memory with characters that all had understandable motivations for why they do what they do. They're realistic, flawed humans who make bad decisions. An ending that crept up on and gutted me--in retrospect, the signs were there, but I only felt certain what was about to happen a few pages before it happened. Overall, it was maybe a bit repetitive in places, but I wasn't bothered or impatient while reading.

Also, considering everything that happens, the story and themes surrounding the story, the title is perfect. The cover design too.

This was a strong introduction to Mootoo's work for me, and I've heard good things about her other books so I'm anticipating they'll be even better.

Priya and Alexandra fled the city to live a simple rural life, and Priya took the opportunity to cut ties with most of her former life. Now her college friend Prakash is coming to visit and she's anxiously lost in the memories of their complicated relationship, which is creating trouble in her relationship with Alex.

I found this incredibly stressful to read. All three characters behave poorly towards each other, deceiving themselves and projecting guilt and blame. It was a little too realistic.

The writing is very good, which is probably the main reason it succeeded in stressing me out so much. Recommended if you want contemporary sadness.

Polar vortex not only describes last winter’s weather event, but also the state of Priya’s closest relationships. Shani Mootoo exquisitely guides us through the thoughts, actions, and motives of Priya, her partner Alex, and Priya’s oldest friend Prakash. While the current events play out in a single day, we travel back forty years to understand beginnings and back stories, and learn not everyone remembers events the same way. This novel has a lot to say about memory and privacy, and what it means to come to terms with who you are. The barren Canadian setting does much to add to the mood and increasing tension building between the characters and what they will reveal.

At first it seemed strange that a complicated relationship was being portrayed from inside just one character's head, especially as it was unclear why the relationship was so fraught. Then Alex comes along to tell us her side, from inside her own head, and then finally Prakash literally arrives, and we learn what Priya has been withholding, and has also forgotten, about their university relationship. At the end, another surprise relationship.

I loved the layering of perspective, the insights that come gradually. At the end the characters came alive for me, and I wanted more! What happened then? I wished I could ask.

Shani Mootoo knows how to write. This has been evident since her debut novel "Cereus Blooms at Night." Now, many years and several novels later, Mootoo gives us "Polar Vortex," a psychological novel examining the minds, fears, emotions, and paranoias of three people: the narrator, her wife, and a male friend from college with whom she'd been quite close. The entire novel is about these three characters. Another woman appears briefly, but most of the book centers around the three. Although it is difficult to acknowledge, the three main characters in Mootoo's latest book have to be the most unlikable in recent fiction. Turning page after page, the reader becomes almost irate at what seems the irrational behavior and thoughts of these two show more women and one man. Of course, Mootoo is showing what actually goes on in intimate relationships when communication breaks down and distrust creeps in. She is showing, also, how memories work in strange ways, sometimes to the point where they can be either curative or punishing. Sometimes they are not even real. A short book (at least in advance uncorrected proof form), "Polar Vortex" seems a bit generic. This could be a portrait of the breakdown of anyone's relationship - straight or gay. The players on the stage could be male, female, or transgendered. Even though there is an attempt to make gender play a part, it really doesn't. By the middle of the book the reader yawns. Relationships breaking down and breaking up occur all the time. This story has been done before. Yes, Mootoo highlights race, immigrants, and refugees. In that respect, the book and its characters are politically correct. But the reader no longer cares as the story is so ploddingly predictable. The first half offers a bit of suspense as one wonders what will happen when the male friend arrives for a visit, but after that, all anticipation of anything interesting happening breaks down. Oh! How the reader longs for the Shani Mootoo who wrote "Cereus Blooms at Night." That was true LGBTQ fiction and in an exotic, tropical setting besides. The reader learned something from "Cereus." Unfortunately, living in Canada may not be the best for feeding Mootoo's creative side. In this book, she has disappointed some of her fans. But, maybe the earlier Mootoo will be back. show less