Quill and Quire

REVIEWS

« Back to
Book Reviews

Rewrite

by Temenuga Trifonova

York University professor Temenuga Trifonova’s debut novel is a provocative intellectual mystery, delving into the curious world of academia and the perplexities of personal identity.

rewriteThe story follows Bruno Leblon, a university lecturer in Paris who spends a six-week winter vacation in a library researching his own aristocratic roots. Focusing on a 19th-century photograph album, Bruno finds that a mysterious library patron, a man known simply as “X,” has been doctoring the images, adding captions and information about Bruno’s ancestor, Gaspard Leblon. Bruno discovers that X has assumed Gaspard’s persona while working in one of Paris’ museums; as a result, Bruno begins to ferret out X’s own peculiar motives.

Bruno is not an inherently likeable character, but Trifonova captures his multiple existential crises with sensitivity; he is a man halfway down the road to madness, and his own mental deterioration nicely parallels the rise of the aristocrat Gaspard. Fused with the central plot are intellectual discussions about philosophy and philosophers, as well as ruminations about a photograph’s ability to capture a person’s essence. The most haunting moments in the book come when Bruno understands that cameras can’t capture physical form – a realization that leads him to question his own existence.

The fragility of memory and the nature of reality are two powerful themes in Rewrite. Bruno’s struggles with his identity are paramount to our understanding of the mystery that surrounds X. At times, however, the introspection runs too deep, sometimes hindering the progression of the plot. While highly detailed, the narrative wanders, and I questioned the relevance of certain elements (for example, the transcript of a play Bruno has written about his relationship with his ex-wife).

Nonetheless, the central mystery combined with a probing examination of the human psyche ensure that Rewrite is, on the whole, an impressive debut.

 

Reviewer: Alice McClintock

Publisher: Now or Never Publishing

DETAILS

Price: $19.95

Page Count: 222 pp

Format: Paper

ISBN: 978-1-92694-274-2

Released: Oct.

Issue Date: January 2015

Categories: Fiction: Novels