Etta And Otto and Russell And James by Emma Hooper – 320 pages
Book Blurb:
Eighty-two-year-old Etta has never seen the ocean. So early one morning she takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots, and begins walking the 3,232 kilometers from rural Canada eastward to the coast.
Her husband Otto wakes to a note left on the kitchen table. I will try to remember to come back, Etta writes to him. Otto has seen the ocean, having crossed the Atlantic years ago to fight in a far-away war. He understands. But with Etta gone, the memories come crowding in and Otto struggles to keep them at bay.
Russell has spent his whole life trying to keep up with Otto and loving Etta from afar. Russell insists on finding Etta, wherever she’s gone. Leaving his own farm will be the first act of defiance in his life.
As Etta walks further toward the ocean, accompanied by a coyote named James, the lines among memory, illusion, and reality blur. Rocking back and forth with the pull of the waves, Etta and Otto and Russell and James moves from the hot and dry present of a quiet Canadian farm to a dusty burnt past of hunger, war, passion, and hope; from trying to remember to trying to forget; and inspires each of its characters to visit the sites they’ve longed to see and say the things they’ve longed to say. This is dazzling literary fiction about the rediscovery and care of the soul, and the idea it’s never too late for a great adventure.
My Review: 3.5 stars
This was a beautiful, poetic, sadly romantic literary debut. The authors writing style immediately struck me; she uses no apostrophes, leaves pages half written on, mixes the past with the present and adds epistolary passages throughout the book. So yes, it was often confusing and required rereading and I often had to figure out if I was in the past, the present or in a character’s imagination. The use of magical realism, for example James, the talking coyote who walked with Etta, was written with care and allowed the reader to fall right in step on their journey.
I did some research on the author and learned she is an extremely well regarded musician, which helps me understand her unique writing style. In an interview with the author, Emma Hooper tells The Bookseller, “I’ve got an obsessive nature when it comes to the rhythm of the words and I’ll have sentences that are perfectly grammatically correct, but it has to have just the right amount of syllables.”
I would consider the plot to be a redemptive story of friendship, war, love, age, memory and making dreams come true.
Quotes I liked:
People could say things about Owen. They could. But they don’t. We don’t. Words are strong. The strongest. Worse than bruises on gravel.”
-“And, Russell, she said, thank you. For now and for then and for always. You’re so quiet, so gentle, so patient. So, so, so. The sibilance of her words barely there, o, o, o.
-“We’re all scared, most of the time. Life would be lifeless if we weren’t. Be scared, and then jump into that fear. Again and again. Just remember to hold on to yourself while you do it.”
-“It makes me want to do things and do things and never stop doing. If we’re doing we’re living and if we’re living we’re winning, right?”
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