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Rating: Enigmatic novel.
Based on enigmas.
That raises questions.
Not answers.
Erodes certainties.
Great title, beautiful cover.
Therefore certainly very interesting.
At the very least.
Difficult task, the conception and control over a narrative matter, over a plot, so complex, tortuous, layered and vast. And then, the parade of characters, historical and otherwise (Leonardo da Vinci, Carl Gustaf Jung, Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Mona Lisa, Teresa d'Avila), put into play by this Canadian writer, themselves vast and full of charm. Foremost among them is the protagonist, Pilgrim, an enigma among enigmas, unknown to himself and the world, a tangle of lives that is the true unmoved mover of the work.
Surely, one is in the territories of mainstream narrative, entertainment novel, if you will. But nothing to take away or object to for Timothy Findley, an author who manages to keep the reader captivated with a series of often disconnected events, distant, in time and space.
A good dose of empathy is needed to keep up with this story, to make the spirit of this work one's own, very Hegelian, and logically Jungian.
Many merits, many flaws. It depends on the angle from which you choose to observe the work. Certainly many interesting suggestions and thoughts on which to let the mind roam free.
"It was impossible, yet tolerable that for some people life should go so badly. That triumph -if and when it was achieved- could only be gained at the cost of lost dreams, disappointed hopes, and broken human relationships"
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