5 out of 5

Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m just too dense to grasp something, or if I can blame it on the writer, or if it’s purposefully left vague.  Imagery escapes me; I can sense that the author had a visual when they scripted a particular scene, relying on cues familiar to them, but in my lack of exposure to the world those same cues seem to have no reference, and I’m at a loss.  Worst case – I keep reading, completely uncaring because I’m not invested.  Less worse case – I reread, but feel frustrated as I scrabble over the words, eventually giving up with a curse.  (This might be when I blame the author.)  Best case – the words hit home and I reread in a mystified state, still hazy from the effect of what I’ve read and simply wanting more to underline the experience.

This last bit applies to the last page of ‘Savior,’ which concerns a particular man – Heinrich – and the blessings he brings to the town in which he resides.  Did X happen or did Y happen?  And I’m still not sure, and what’s interesting – I do think Glubka knows (I don’t think it was intended to be vague), but the words are powerful either way you take it so I’m still happy to allot that rating.  Because Glubka earns his ending through characters, through development of his tale, nursing our understanding of Heinrich’s frame of mind; when we arrive at the final page, it almost doesn’t matter what’s being said, because the swirl of emotions that begins to occur a few pages out is swishing you forward all the same.

The first few pages of ‘Savior’ had me on guard, as some fractured sentences made me feel like J.F. was reaching a bit stylistically, but it’s a staccato to delay the punch of a reveal within those first few pages, and the device worked: once I saw the type of world we were in – dusty, lonely, but somewhat sardonic and contemplative, shifted just to the left of center – I was all in on Heinrich, and his companion Kursk, and Francis, and the residents of Gladstone.  There is a specific type of event that repeats in different ways in ‘Savior,’ and tying into the themes, though Glubka may use the same words to describe the event, the context changes the feelings each time.  We wake up every day and potentially walk the same steps; doesn’t mean we see and think the same things each time.

Glubka is working on a nonfiction book and a novel, apparently.  I hope to be able to check out both when the time comes.