The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma, translated by Nick Caistor

Rating:

*****


The book's description from the publisher:

Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time boasts a triple-play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and thereby save the lives of an aristocrat in love with a murdered prostitute from the past; of a woman bent on fleeing the strictures of Victorian society; and of his very own wife, who may have become a pawn in a 4th-dimensional plot to murder the authors of Dracula, The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, in order to alter their identities and steal their fictional creations.

But, what happens if we change history? Félix J. Palma raises such questions in The Map of Time. Mingling fictional characters with real ones, Palma weaves a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting, a story full of love and adventure that also pays homage to the roots of science fiction while transporting its readers to a fascinating Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.

The Map of Time is my first adventure with steampunk and it also convinced me to allow this genre more of my attention and maybe even to make it one of my favorite novel categories. However, this is a novel that must not be limited to steampunk. If you're a fan of alternate history (otherwise known as alternate universe), if you like literary fiction or like reading books set in Victorian England, I invite you to try The Map of Time. Felix J. Palma really had a great idea and followed up on it with fantastic writing (as opposed to some authors who despite having interesting ideas, can't quite put them on paper to create a successful novel).

I've read in some other reviews that readers didn't appreciate the three different plots which read more like separate novels rather than one, cohesive book but I suppose that's just a matter of personal taste. I like such a style if it's done well (which it is, in The Map of Time) and they all do come together at the finish line, so they're not really separate stories when they all play a role in creating one ending. And it's really written so well that there wasn't a minute of annoying confusion as to who did what or why.

I underlined the 'annoying' because (here comes the best part of Mr. Palma's time-travel, science-fiction work) the author managed to really play with my head. There was a point at which I really couldn't tell what was real and what was imagined, trying to guess in error where the reality ended and fantasy began. This wonderful 'guessing game' that Felix J. Palma served the readers, combined with intelligent, at times very lyrical writing, made it a true pleasure to immerse myself in The Map of Time.

P.S.
Do not let the size of the novel discourage you. It might just be my personal preference since I do like long books but I really didn't think that even one paragraph was unnecessary. I like reading books to enter a different world and to lose myself in it and for that, it has to be a book with some 'meat' on it. Anything shorter and it seems to me that the story ends before it begun true and proper.

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A note on the translator, Nick Caistor. He did a wonderful job of turning Palma's words into English. Nothing is 'lost in translation', I don't think a reader could even tell that The Map of Time was a novel originally written in Spanish. The 'soul' of the book is there and that's what the best translators do.

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FTC: I received an ARC of The Map of Time from Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for a review.

Best news of the day: there's part two of The Victorian Trilogy (which began with The Map of Time), The Map of the Sky, coming out in September, 2012.

Links to visit: 

1) Felix J. Palma's website.

2) The Map of Time website. This one is a must if want to get a feel of the novel before committing yourself to reading it.

Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti, translated by Kylee Doust

Rating:

****

The book's description from the publisher's website:

From internationally best-selling author Niccolò Ammaniti, comes a funny, tragic, gut-punch of a novel, charting how an unlikely alliance between two outsiders blows open one family’s secrets. Lorenzo Cumi is a fourteen-year-old misfit. To quell the anxiety of his concerned, socially conscious parents, he tells them he’s been invited on an exclusive ski vacation with the popular kids. On the morning of the trip, Lorenzo demands that his mother drop him off before they arrive at the train station, insisting that his status will be compromised if he shows up accompanied by his mother. Reluctantly, she agrees, and as soon as she is safely out of the vicinity, he turns around and makes his way back to his neighborhood, to put his real plan in motion: for one blessed week, Lorenzo will retreat to a forgotten cellar in his family’s apartment building, where he will live in perfect isolation, keeping the adult world at bay. But when his estranged half-sister, Olivia, shows up in the cellar unexpectedly, his idyll is shattered, and the two become locked in a battle of wills—forced to confront the very demons they are each struggling to escape.


I seem to be on some kind of a European fiction binge right now and I'm quite enjoying it. Just as I did enjoy Me and You. I have to say I'm perplexed as to why it's getting a low rating in Goodreads. Maybe it's just the kind of fiction that doesn't appeal to everyone but when it does get your attention, it possesses it fully.

The main character, Lorenzo, is an introvert through and through and, being one myself, I identified with many feelings and thoughts of his, and most importantly didn't find it all that strange that he had closed himself off for those couple of days, just to be left alone for once. His motives were so very clear to me that I had no problems accepting the whole premise of this novel as perfectly natural. And the appearance of his half-sister, Olivia, only added more sense to the story and made it all the more believable.

Yes, Me and You is a sorrowful and a slightly dark story but because it doesn't have a 'Happily ever after' ending, it's that much closer to real life. And at least in my real life, things don't always have a happy ending, there are sadness and grief and unfulfilled promises to deal with. And it's okay, c'est la vie. And that 'la vie' as portrayed by Niccolo Ammaniti, is not a Disney World one and a lot more precious despite its fallibility.

It is a short novel but it did manage to give me fully developed characters that I couldn't help but be empathetic with. I can easily say that if it were longer (not that it needed to), I would love this pair of imperfect siblings and wouldn't want to part with them. But Me and You is the right length and as such it reminded me of the lessons life teaches us even if we are momentarily blind to them.

FTC: I received an e-galley from the publisher, Grove/ Atlantic, Inc. via NetGalley.