" ‘A passport ties you down, determines what is possible for you and what’s not.’"

"Good girls go to Heaven. Bad girls go wandering."

 

Ten minutes in to this book I was not terribly impressed. Then, at two am, I had to turn the night light on. The following morning I was half an hour late to work following "just one more" pathway. Then, that afternoon, I was wet eyed in the hairdresser.  This is book is something.

I've avoided plot spoilers below, but in many ways I would recommend going cold into this experience, without more expectation than that the book is trippy, often confronting, unevenly written (sometimes the language soars, sometimes it is more utilitarian) , expects you to do some work,  and being thrown off-balance is part of the experience.  And I found it hard to put down.

At one level you could say it is a sequence of short stories tied together by a clever framing device, but that would be a significant undersell. The "clever framing device" - a choose your own adventure for adults - brings us straight into second person territory, dissolving the barrier between audience and protagonist in often uncomfortable ways. As you choose paths, this effect exacerbates - are you a risk taker, a knowledge seeker or chasing love? Will you follow the rules - including the rules of the book - or find your own way? In the most emotionally impactful corners of the book, you hit the first person in ways that creates an immediate, intimate frission.

This enables the book to raise sharp questions of identity. For starters, the idea that you would trade everything you have for a visa or two is confronting for those to whom borders are inherently permeable, but very relatable to those for whom it is not. The second person challenges the reader's own sense of self, and identity. Colonialism is not so much a deliberate "theme" in the book as the part of the fabric that the characters' lives are made of.

And global nomadism is a theme. The book is peppered with refugees, travellers, and expats. People who choose to forgo home for something else. Gender, race, sexuality, are all part of the fabric of these choices. One of the enduring questions in the novel remains whether those who wander are choosing or fleeing , liberated or imprisoned.

There is, of course, no right or wrong way to navigate the book. But as you explore the multiplicity of pathways that change with  your choices, you also unveil more about the two central antagonists governing your situation. This adds another story, one about the nature of freedom and desire, manipulation and control. Recurring motifs occur in different contexts.  Dancing to others tunes rarely ends well, safety can lead to happiness but not growth, and in the end, wandering can lead you to confront what you have buried deep.

The writing in the 14 story components is evocative and sharp. A woke young man is described as "more like a walking Wikipedia of culture than a philosopher.", the Holocaust Museum is "

straight lines and right angles, because memories are tangled strands vying to be drawn out.". In the bridging sections is often gratingly utilitarian, modelled more on the children's forms that the book pays homage to in parts.  Not all the stories work, and some fit better than others into the structure. I certainly couldn't describe it as a perfect reading experience, but as you can probably tell if you've read this far, it has been by far the most exhilarating reads for me in many, many months.