The Most Picaresque Novel Of The Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       When this novel first appeared on the scene, The Times went wild for it.  I have to admit I was instantly intrigued by having it start out as a balloon adventure.

                                           Actually, it starts out as a tortured family saga on a plantation in Barbados, 1830, leading to a balloon adventure, ending up in the arctic, with the young assistant being abandoned, and forced to experience life on his own.

                                             Many whose opinions I hold dear were kind of luke warm about this book.  I had never heard of Esi Edugyan, or what else she had written, so I felt trepidation about reading this book.  But once it made "he 100 Most Notable Books Of The New York Times List--" and we are going to talk about THAT, darlings---I knew I was duty bound to read it.

                                               Well, it was simply captivated.  Civil rights, the Abolitionist movement, and the fabric of science is woven into a sweeping narrative that does not stop until the last page, and is a brilliant literary amalgamation of Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, Joseph Conrad, Herman Melville, and Colson Whitehead, at his best.  This book is definitely going to be somewhere on MY list, and I am glad I read it, because I would have missed out on one of the year's treats.

                                                  "Pay no attention to that man, behind the curtain!"  The Raving Queen has spoken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!