The nesting doll construction continues throughout the novel in various forms, such as oral stories, letters found in the mail car, and diary entries. The anticipation is much like boarding a train without a set destination and being rewarded for your trust. It unfolds slowly, satisfyingly, and it’s not until the very end that we discover how it ties into the main storyline. As Otto and Xavier settle into their cabin at the onset of the trip, we are dipped into our first story-within-a-story. The sentences themselves are delightful puzzles to solve as they unfold, and I argue it’s worth the patience to see how paragraphs build. The structure of the novel definitely mirrors a meandering train track, but always with purpose and forward momentum. My advice for readers is: like any train ride, let it take you where it wants to go. When I started reading, I found myself quite lost and without solid footing in the plotlines. Are they prisoners or guests on the train? Who is Ava Kapoor, and is there an ulterior motive from Xavier’s aunt in gifting them this ride?
The further the train travels, and the more mysteries uncovered, questions arise and few answers can be found. The train has a reputation for being somewhat of a legend, complete with an inhabitant, Ava Kapoor, rumored to never leave the train. “A non-honeymoon honeymoon,” Otto calls it. Otto and Xavier Shin have been gifted an adventure by an aunt: a ride on a train called The Lucky Day in celebration of their love for one another. Delightfully weird and deliciously eccentric, Peaces is a story about love and companionship, the past and… mongooses? Her following two novels Boy, Snow, Bird and Gingerbread are similar in their fantasticism, but it’s her newest novel Peaces that has fully captured my attention.
My first introduction to Helen Oyeyemi’s work was her story collection What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, and I found it curious and unlike anything else I had read up to that point.
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