November 15, 2021
The contemplative latest from Lazar (Vengeance) follows a grief- and guilt-stricken artist through a series of changes in the early days of the Trump administration. After Christopher Bell’s girlfriend, Malika, dies in a car accident, he steps away from painting, buys a house on Long Island, maintains his sobriety, and begins teaching at a local college. He also falls for Ana Ramirez, a journalist who escaped the violence in her home country of Venezuela, and their relationship brings back memories of Malika, whom he imagines to be judging him. Christopher, who was born in Israel, shares with Ana a sense of displacement. He keeps in contact with Malika’s incarcerated brother, Jesse, and tells him about Ana, but when Ana moves from Long Island to Mexico, where her family resettled after fleeing Venezuela, the couple’s romance sputters. Christopher’s narrative tics, such as an aversion to certain specific details like the names of song titles (“the song about being halfway there, living on a prayer”), can feel cloying, but the account of his and Ana’s struggles to maintain their relationship through adversity and upheaval are fascinating. In the end, Lazar perfectly orchestrates a symphony of frustration, empathy, fear, and hope into a thoughtful and timely tale.
September 1, 2022
Lazar's (Vengeance) latest recounts the disconnected feelings of Christopher Bell, an American who emigrated from Israel as a child, and Ana Ramirez, a journalist exiled from her homeland of Venezuela. Unsettled and unmoored in New York City after the loss of his former girlfriend, Christopher retreats to the woods of upstate New York. There, he meets Ana, an exiled Venezuelan journalist, who carries her own burdens and eventually moves to Mexico City to be with her family. A complicated romance arises between the two, revealing histories that they have long tried to suppress. At the heart of this tale is the question, How do you make a new life when your previous notions of home and self have been lost? Narrator Peter Ganam ably handles the complex and lyrical text, carrying the story forward. This audio may be challenging for some listeners, however, as the many characters introduced at the beginning can be difficult to track. VERDICT A solid audio that will find traction in large public libraries.--Gretchen Pruett
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.