Unexpected gems are one of the best things about life. Finding a craft beer bar in a strip mall surrounded by chains is exciting. The five dollar game bought impulsively on Steam that you’re still playing one hundred hours later is amazing. A book that surpasses and then reworks your expectations mid-read is beautiful. I recently read that book. It’s The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar. Reviewing books takes a toll on me, and burnout is a constant danger looming on the edge of my reading. When I picked up The Circumference of the World, I was expecting a science-fiction mystery about a book that may or may not exist. What I got was so much more.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar is a fantastic mix of style and character. It collects interesting people and writes about them in interesting ways. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
Caught between realities, a mathematician, a book dealer, and a mobster desperately seek a notorious book that disappears upon being read. Only the author, a rakish sci-fi writer, knows whether his popular novel is truthful or a hoax. In a story that is cosmic, inventive, and sly, multi-award-winning author Lavie Tidhar (Central Station) travels from the emergence of life to the very ends of the universe.
Delia Welegtabit discovered two things during her childhood on a South Pacific island: her love for mathematics and a novel that isn’t supposed to exist. But the elusive book proves unexpectedly dangerous. Oskar Lens, a science fiction-obsessed mobster in the midst of an existential crisis, will stop at nothing to find the novel. After Delia’s husband Levi goes missing, she seeks help from Daniel Chase, a young, face-blind book dealer.
The infamous novel Lode Stars was written by the infamous Eugene Charles Hartley: legendary pulp science-fiction writer and founder of the Church of the All-Seeing Eyes. In Hartley’s novel, a doppelganger of Delia searches for her missing father in a strange star system. But is any of Lode Stars real? Was Hartley a cynical conman on a quest for wealth and immortality, creating a religion he did not believe in? Or was he a visionary who truly discovered the secrets of the universe?
Review: The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar
The life of Delia Welegtabit is where Tidhar starts this book. Delia is a native of Vanuatu. She loves her home; she loves math; and she eventually leaves for London where she falls in love with a man obsessed with big questions. So big in fact that they lead to his disappearance. Tidhar takes from Delia’s birth to the moment her husband exits her life. From there, the story enters Daniel Chase’s point of view. Daniel is a book dealer in London, and since Delia’s husband is obsessed a book that may or may not exist, she asks Daniel to find him. Daniel, though, is face-blind, and his search for Delia’s husband puts him into a game much bigger than himself, one that may even take him into the past. Oskar Lens is one player of that game. Lens is a Russian mobster, an ex-inmate in the gulags of Siberia, and a beneficiary of the corruption that followed the fall of the Soviet Union. His encounter with this book in prison occupies him into the present. He must find the book again to learn its secrets. But the Church of the All-Seeing Eyes attempts to stop him. The book is meant only for members of the church who reach the top levels since it was written by the church’s founder, Eugene Charles Hartley. Hartley is a pulp science fiction writer who founded a religion for either profit or because he discovered a terrifying secret about existence. Hartley’s journals take readers through the so-called “Golden Age” of science fiction with many names from science fiction’s pantheon of writers appearing.
Tidhar has given readers an interesting mix of character studies and stylization. The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar is a book that presents four point of view characters in five different ways of a telling a story, which, by the way, all work very well. It’s a book in which the craft and the art dominate the experience. Readers can luxuriate in the writing. The plot is minimal, but it really doesn’t drive the novel. Getting to know the characters, exploring their lives, and caring for them is what kept me glued to the page.
Beautiful Characters
All four point of view characters are great. Tidhar excels at getting me interested in his characters. Each perspective is unique and could carry the book wholly on their own, but lucky for us readers, we get the eclectic mix of characters. Delia is the islander transplanted to London. Daniel is the London native in over his head. Oskar is a gangster with a mission, and Hartley is man who fell into writing because it was easy for him. All are reducible; yet, all are so much more. When point of views were switched, I was sad to leave the other character but quickly got hooked by the new the character.
If I had to have a favorite of the book, I’d say it was Hartley. I didn’t like him, but damn if he wasn’t compelling. Tidhar used his portion of the book to walk readers through the writers of post-World War 2 United States in a way that gave commentary on Hartley and the science fiction scene of that era. Even at the end of the book, I couldn’t tell if Hartley was insane or really did happen upon one of the deep secrets of the universe. If he is commentary on another pulp era writer who started their own religion, I’m sure that’s just coincidence.
Wonderfully Stylized
This book contains memoir, a hard-boiled detective section, a prison journal, portions of a non-existent book from the pulp era of sci-fi, and the letters of writers. It’s brilliant. Switching between the styles was exciting for me as a reader, and each style felt tailored to each character. They were yet another way to provide characterization. Characters are the aspect of reading fiction that I love the most, and this book is no different. Yet the stylization comes close to being my favorite part of the book. There’s enough of a through line that it doesn’t feel like a collection of short stories, and yet each section almost feels like it’s its own thing.
All fiction is art. I have to put that disclaimer because it’s the internet and someone will email me if I don’t. But The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar is pushing the art of fiction in a way that I needed. It’s more artful than a lot of books I’ve been reading lately. That doesn’t mean it’s better or worse than the other books. It means that it’s refreshing. The Circumference of the World was the read that I didn’t know I needed. Books that push what stories can do or how stories are presented scratch a different itch than other books. Genre books too often get dismissed because the stereotype of the Tolkien clones persists. But books like this help shatter that stereotype and show just how dynamic genre can be.
Minimal to Non-Existent Plot
I loved The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar, but I don’t know what happened in it. Other than people looking for a book that may not exist, I don’t know what the plot is, and I don’t really care that much. The characters and the craft are why I love this book. But if plot is important to you, this might not be the book for you. Or I could be wrong and completely missed the point of the book. I might have been blinded by writing.
Conclusion
Lavie Tidhar’s The Circumference of the World is the book I needed at the exact moment I read it. It’s a refreshing reminder of what genre is capable without sacrificing entertainment. It’s artistic, readable, character-driven, and enjoyable. It’s a wonderful melange of style and character, character and style. If you’re looking for something different than your usual science fiction novel, try this. You won’t be disappointed.
The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar is available from Tachyon Publications now.
© PrimmLife.com 2023