Tropic of Night: A Novel
by Michael Gruber
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael GruberEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-12-30
ISBN: 0061650730
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Tropic of Night: A Novel
Book Review: If only the last part (roughly, the mostly Miami events) had kept pace with the first ...
Summary: 3 Stars
then we would have been rewarded with an extraordinary achievement.
(In what follows, I assume everybody planning to buy this novel has read the Amazon's editorial reviews, which summarize the book's contents well enough so I don't have to retell them).
Unfortunately the book has two major flaws:
(1) It starts at an irresistible and utterly enthralling pace (the Siberian interlude, and, more in general, anything related to Vierchau is extremely well done), which is maintained in Africa, until Jane departs from the Olo's village. Then the tempo slackens, and frankly, becomes in places almost a boring formulaic police procedural. Perhaps in a story of this type this is unavoidable (I mean, after conjecture and speculation, you have to come back to everyday "reality" as we know it, and it disappoints).
(2) It goes too far in the powers it attributes to DeWitt, and perhaps also Jane. Their "physical" explanation isn't convincing enough, and neither is the time it took both to master them (it isn't clearly stated in Jane's diary, but it can't have been more than a month and a half, maximum). Even if Jane writes that she's performing "by rote", it isn't believable (and even less so in DeWitt's case) that what requires a life's training can be acquired, almost casually, in less that two months.
(3) There are also some minor inconsistencies, as for example Jane's assertion that, had DeWitt completed his okunikua ritual, he "might have been able to whip Ifa". C'mon, lady: if what you wrote in your diary is true, DeWitt whipping Ifa would be an impossibility, like, say, Jimmy Paz whipping the Christian God!
But perhaps all books of this type face a fork: there arrives a point after which they have to choose either to go magical or supernatural all the way (in which case we have, God help us, the likes of Aleister Crowley or the countless worthless sorcery or "occult" books that flood the market), or they must attempt at the end to provide a semirational explanation, and the transition, as I wrote above, can't be managed without a letdown.
This could be avoided by following a more "moderate" storyline, as for example in Nick Stone's "Mr. Clarinet", but then I would regret that there's not enough vodoo, sorcery, or whatever you call it. Perhaps it's a no-win situation, and Gruber is to be commended for having given it a very respectable try.
My advice: buy it and read it to the -open- end (does this mean there'll be a sequel?). It's an important effort in its genre.
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