It’s a book about light.
I’m going to need time to sit and think about this one. This was technically my third read-through, although I believe it’s my first time making it all the way through. I waited years so it would feel fresh again and I’m very, very glad that I did.
This isn’t the kind of book you consume, feel your feels in the moment and move on from. It’s the kind of book that you need to live in and allow time to digest. It’s a big, giant book about a ton of different things, but the through line is always light, be it bifurcated or not. If anything, this book is directly engaging with us, the readers, as well as our expectations, and the power of perception.
The Chums of Chance are what we get when we, the reader, gets our way and won’t let go of a children’s book, forcing them to undergo political consciousness and evolution, which leaves them, well… in a very strange, alien-like state by the end of the book, heading towards grace.
I might leave an actual review of this some day, but today is not that day. Or perhaps it is, and I’m just not allowing myself that specific grace. This book is something special. An evolution of a form, containing within it recognizable forms of “lesser” work, elevated through raw prose, imagination, and a form unto itself.
… Plus it’s really funny.
I can’t recommend this one enough. You should pick it up.