Astra by Cedar Bowers
Occasionally, a writer offers the world a book so glorious that readers find it difficult to articulate just what, exactly, was so profoundly breathtaking about said book. This is my experience of Astra. Okay, so I didn’t love every story included in this linked short story collection (only ten of the eleven episodic chapters were my favourite.) I didn’t even really love the main character whose story is told eleven different ways, only one of which is from her point of view (brilliant!)
Astra is brassy and irresponsible (character traits I admittedly find grating,) who sucks at effective communication and makes terrible decisions. But she’s also courageous and resilient and not like anyone I’ve ever known, living or fictional. She loves her son fiercely, refuses to play by the rules (not for lack of trying) and finally manages to heal her heart after a full life of everything in between. This novel in stories follows Astra through the first two-thirds of her life. We catch glimpses of who she is and of what her experiences have been through the lens of others: her father, her boyfriends, her employer, her son … and the list goes on. Born in a commune to a mother who isn’t long for this world and a father who is too busy envisioning utopia to care for her, Astra must navigate the world alone, relying on her own inner resources (and magic dice.) What’s brilliant about Cedar Bowers’ book is that not only do you get to know the protagonist, but you become intimately familiar with the many characters that come in and out of Astra’s life over the decades. Some characters are more likeable than others (such is life,) while others you grow to love only after reading about Astra from their point of view. Bowers very nearly captures the entirety of the protagonist by showing her various angles, first from the point of view of others, and then from her own voice, creating a deep and unique sense of empathy on the part of the reader. Where most novels are one-dimensional, offering one (maybe two) points of view, Bowers creates a prism effect with her character development, not only of Astra, but of the whole menagerie. Each chapter contributes to and makes Astra’s character richer. Again, I say, brilliant! And maybe my favourite read so far this year.
Astra was longlisted for the 2021 Giller Prize and, I think, overlooked too soon. What’s curious is that this book, like others before it, is marketed as a novel. A conversation for another time, perhaps … but there’s the rub. Call it a novel, call it a short-story collection, call it (as I have above) a novel in stories. Whatever the label, Astra is simply a delight.
Astra By Cedar Bowers McClelland & Stewart, 2021, pp. 286 ISBN: 978 0 7710 1289 1