Rakesfall

April 1, 2024
Chandrasekera’s beautiful yet murky sophomore outing (after The Saint of Bright Doors) takes a certain amount of work to unlock. Through gorgeously rendered fragments, it tells of two friends, Annelid and Leveret, growing up in the wake of the Sri Lankan civil war—and then reincarnating over multiple lifetimes. There are elements of fantasy, science fiction, and the surreal throughout. The first section, for instance, is told from the perspective of fans watching a television show about Annelid and Leveret years in the future. Demons also make frequent appearances. However, the nonlinear plot, ever-changing narrators, and mix of genre elements means there’s very little for the reader to grasp onto. Though some will give up in the face of these challenges, others will sink into Chandrasekera’s lyrical and evocative style: “I chew the leaf and spit out my red days. They splatter. You chew the leaf and spit out your hours of mad redder.” Readers who put in the effort will be rewarded by this rich and sweeping epic.

Starred review from September 1, 2024

From the mythic past to the heat death of the universe, the various lives of Annelid and Leveret flow through time together in Chandrasekera's (The Saint of Bright Doors) layered slipstream story. Whether they meet as friends, as halves of the same self, as godlike enemies, or as hunter and hunted, their eternal return causes ripples through time and deeply affects the fate of the earth. Chandrasekera weaves the profane, the poetic, and the playful into a masterpiece. Audiences can let the precise yet dizzying prose wash over them until the narratively satisfying conclusion. Deeper attention, however, is infinitely rewarding. Close listening reveals profound thoughts on topics ranging from cycles of violence, selfhood, and historiography to body-hacking, digital afterlives, and uncloseable doors. Familiarity with Hindu cosmology offers even more throughlines, from the deep time scale of the narrative to interrogations of foundational mythology. Narrator Shiromi Arserio handles this complicated work with aplomb, keeping the rhythm and poetry of the text flowing smoothly with distinct yet understated voices. VERDICT Utterly disorienting yet still emotionally and thematically resonant, Chandrasekera delivers a narrative that will satisfy every fan of the weird.--Katherine Sleyko

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