Official Review: Unavoidable Collisions
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saouad
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Official Review: Unavoidable Collisions
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Unavoidable Collisions" by Francesca Carrillo.]
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Francesca Carrillo’s Unavoidable Collisions is a work of fiction focused on the intersection, or as its title indicates, collision of eight characters’ modern-day lives and the events leading up to the moment of contact.
In the form of a novella, the plot begins in a fast food restaurant which couple Tommy and Tiny discuss robbing in an explicit reference to Pulp Fiction’s first scene. The ensuing hold up is derailed as an obese recluse, a vengeful wife and a young pyromaniac's personal agendas effectively collide with the robbers’.
The narration relies on the multiple points of view of its eight characters to build a multifaceted account of its climax event, in which the characters’ lives collide. Resulting in an ultimately incomplete and mostly chronological narration, the transition between these points of view allows the action to unfold in a both voyeuristic and suspenseful manner.
Carillo’s style is postmodern, reminiscent of Thomas Pynchon's in The Crying of Lot 49 or Gravity’s Rainbow, and otherwise –perhaps very aptly– jarring. However, the clumsy and over frequent use of commas is an unfortunate distraction to the author’s otherwise very definite and promising style.
The highly cynical tone of the narration frequently draws on coarse language and morbid images in the portrayal of its characters, rendering them all but sympathetic. In fact, only two of Carilllo’s eight principal characters come across as compelling, though not fully coherent characterizations: Mr. Howard, a possessive, adulterous husband and sociopath, and The Collector, an overweight recluse drawn out of his apartment by the hopes of obtaining a limited edition collector’s item.
Other characters such as Tiny, an impressionable, love-struck punk girl, and Mr. B, Mrs. Howard’s business partner and secret admirer, provide promising character outlines which are not given an opportunity to fully materialize in the short span of the narrative.
Character development aside, however, Carillo’s plot is successfully original in tying together the lives of an unusual palette of contrasting characters. The offhand but well-placed references to Facebook, GPS and the characters’ smartphones are unapologetically modern and lend surprising realism to an otherwise grotesque, even absurd human portrait.
In short, I’d like to give Carillo’s Unavoidable Collisions a two out of four star rating based on the shortcomings of the characterization and sometimes gratuitously morbid plot. The novella does have a strong style which I’d love to read more of, however, and an original cast of characters that come together in an absurd yet successfully compelling climax event.
***
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In the form of a novella, the plot begins in a fast food restaurant which couple Tommy and Tiny discuss robbing in an explicit reference to Pulp Fiction’s first scene. The ensuing hold up is derailed as an obese recluse, a vengeful wife and a young pyromaniac's personal agendas effectively collide with the robbers’.
The narration relies on the multiple points of view of its eight characters to build a multifaceted account of its climax event, in which the characters’ lives collide. Resulting in an ultimately incomplete and mostly chronological narration, the transition between these points of view allows the action to unfold in a both voyeuristic and suspenseful manner.
Carillo’s style is postmodern, reminiscent of Thomas Pynchon's in The Crying of Lot 49 or Gravity’s Rainbow, and otherwise –perhaps very aptly– jarring. However, the clumsy and over frequent use of commas is an unfortunate distraction to the author’s otherwise very definite and promising style.
The highly cynical tone of the narration frequently draws on coarse language and morbid images in the portrayal of its characters, rendering them all but sympathetic. In fact, only two of Carilllo’s eight principal characters come across as compelling, though not fully coherent characterizations: Mr. Howard, a possessive, adulterous husband and sociopath, and The Collector, an overweight recluse drawn out of his apartment by the hopes of obtaining a limited edition collector’s item.
Other characters such as Tiny, an impressionable, love-struck punk girl, and Mr. B, Mrs. Howard’s business partner and secret admirer, provide promising character outlines which are not given an opportunity to fully materialize in the short span of the narrative.
Character development aside, however, Carillo’s plot is successfully original in tying together the lives of an unusual palette of contrasting characters. The offhand but well-placed references to Facebook, GPS and the characters’ smartphones are unapologetically modern and lend surprising realism to an otherwise grotesque, even absurd human portrait.
In short, I’d like to give Carillo’s Unavoidable Collisions a two out of four star rating based on the shortcomings of the characterization and sometimes gratuitously morbid plot. The novella does have a strong style which I’d love to read more of, however, and an original cast of characters that come together in an absurd yet successfully compelling climax event.
***
Buy "Unavoidable Collisions" on Amazon
Latest Review: "Holly(Woods)" by Naomi Laeuchli
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Grand Turc
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Great review! Thank you for your view on the novel. What do you mean by "novella"? How long is the book?
