24 Books to Pick Up This September
19 of 24
The Woman Who Lost Her Soul
By Bob Shacochis
640 pages;
Atlantic Monthly Press
What is the legacy of war—and
how long does it last—are the questions
behind this brilliant, utterly gripping novel. Humanitarian lawyer Tom
Harrington heads to devastated Haiti to investigate the murder of one Jackie
Scott, a photographer who so obsessed him, that "even in her death he
was without a cure for her." Jackie, he discovers, has left behind a plethora of unanswered questions: a
string of former names, a lethal ex-husband plus a half-dozen government
officials, mercenaries and operatives who want to impede the solving of the crime.
The novel may sound like a thriller, but it's not; it's an agonizing
portrait of two wrecked human beings who tried to figure out how they got so
wrecked. When the plot hurtles back in time to World War II, and then around the
globe to Istanbul in the more recent 1980s, the themes become ever more complex
and universal, raising questions about what happens to people (and there are so
many more than we realize) who are raised and shaped by violence. A dark, gasp-worthy
masterpiece...but not for the
fainthearted.
— Leigh Newman
Published 09/15/2013