How the Blessed Live

I enjoyed this for the beautiful language, but sadly found the character development quite lacking. In the end, I did not feel like I knew the characters at all which kept me disengaged from the story.

The novel is divided into five sections and told through three separate narratives. One thread is told through the point of view of Daniel–the grieving father of twins Lucy and Levi. His wife died after giving birth to their children. In the beginning, we follow Lucy after having left home due to some mysterious circumstances. She has newly arrived in Vancouver where she runs into several enigmatic characters and ends up working as an assistant to the owner of The Holy Circus which showcases bizarre acts that couldn't easily be explained by reason or science. In the latter half, we meet her twin Levi as he navigates his new life as an art student in Montreal and as he deals with the sudden disappearance of his sister. All this is interspersed with Daniel's letters to his wife through time as he mourns for her death while single-handedly raising their children. So while Lucy's story is the driving force keeping the narrative forward, in the end I found that I empathized more with Daniel which is probably because his part of the story is told through first person, thus giving us more access to his thoughts and motivations.

While I get that this is a novel based on a well-known myth and some elements of fairy tale—that things don't really have to be explained or even to make sense, I think too much stuff have been left unexplored. I'm not just referring to the (supposedly) supernatural stuff that happens in the novel but also the relationship between Lucy and Levi and to a lesser extent, that between Lucy and Phineas, the mysterious owner of the circus who seems to know more about Lucy and her personal struggles than a typical boss might. We do find some answers in the end but I still I feel like I'm missing a whole lot, just thinking about it. I just wish that the story has been given more room to unfold so we could get to know the characters and their backstories better.

Nonetheless, I'm giving it a solid three stars for the poetic prose and the creative use of mythical/supernatural themes. Recommended for those who enjoy fragmented narratives told through beautifully restrained language.