Book Review of Thieving Sun by Monica Datta

 

Name of Book: Thieving Sun

Author: Monica Datta

ISBN: 978-1-6626-0257-3

Publisher: Astra House 

Type of book:1979-2016, choices, families, history, love, suicide, counseling, long term relationships, Europe, Middle East, Germany,  mixed backgrounds, outsider status, creativity 

Year it was published: 2024

Summary:

In this searing debut novel, for readers of Katie Kitamura and Rachel Cusk, the tragic aftermath of a youthful relationship years after its end brings the life of a mourning woman in New York--and the pursuit of art--into stark relief.

Told in short passages through a musical device, this international story follows Julienne and Gaspar to Syria, China, Germany and elsewhere.

Julienne, a student of sculpture, and Gaspar, a young composer, fall in love at a small college and share a home for more than a decade before encountering the fundamental rift that will change their lives. The reverberations of grief force Julienne to confront her painful past including the mystery of her own birth and the fantastical story ascribed to it by her flight attendant mother, so that she can envision, for the first time, a real future.

Ultimately, Thieving Sun is a profound and contemporary meditation on art, grief, debt, suicide loss and the danger of being alive.

Characters:

The two main characters are Julienne and Gaspar. Julienne is a beautiful yet aloof young woman who has come from a family of single mothers.  Her mother is a flight attendant who may or may not have created this grandiose fantasy about Julienne's conception. Julienne is very conscious of appearance and is very proud of herself and is very status conscious. She is a sculptor who loves man-made materials rather than natural ones. Gaspar is a student of music whose family is from Syria and who seems to be haunted by his background and history, yet who also contradicts himself a lot. 

Theme:

Living and succeeding is hard work

Plot:

Mostly the story is told in third person narrative in Julienne's point of view, although there is one note that presents it in first person narrative. The story is non-linear, and doesn't have quotation marks nor paragraph breaks. I also think that the note at the end should have been at the start of the story because I can imagine many people getting lost or not giving the story a chance because of the confusion. Basically, note A is focused on an event between 1979 up until 2000, and primarily focuses on Julienne during her high school years. Note B takes place from 2000-2010, from the time Julienne and Gaspar meet and begin to have a relationship with one another as well as live together. Note C is from 2010-2011, possibly what led to breakup. Note D is 2012-2015, possibly Julienne attempting to move on from Gaspar. Note E is first person narrative where Julienne reflects on grief she feels while Note F is 2016, what Julienne is trying to do to move on. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

N/A
Opinion:

How does a life unfold? How do series of events from childhood to the future influence the shaping of a person's humanity? Through THIEVING SUN, the author, Monica Datta examines that question. The story is told in non-linear time line, from childhood to the present, focusing on Julienne, a beautiful and aloof woman who has recently learned of her former boyfriend's suicide. The stories are set to different notes, from A to G,  taking place from 1979 up until 2016. More than anything, I think it asks the question of what happens after grief and loss? What can one do to heal? And Julienne is trying to discover an answer to that question. I am definitely curious if perhaps there is a melody or something similar on YouTube to see if I can crack a code of sorts to the novel. 

This was given for review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)