Started out interesting, grew tiresome the more i read. ( )

http://moloch981.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/la-lingua-di-canaan/ ( )

The book's premise is the best part of this greatly-flawed novel: a band of rogues simultaneously free and resell slaves during the outbreak of the Civil War, playing against both forces of North and South. And while the prose reaches momentary bursts of colorful poetry and passion, the story's hyper post-modern format becomes a massive distraction, as the writer has thrown every known trick into needlessly convoluting the story: Non-linear chronology shifts, changing perspectives and narrators, drawings, dry "interview/script" passages, drawings... On top of the abusive swings in the format and style, there is a strange and poorly-developed use of the supernatural throughout the book, while either real or imagined, is ultimately used to rescue gaping plot holes. Still, the ambition and journey are commendable, and when the book is written well, it's written very well. ( )

The first few pages of this novel are not so compelling, but once the story begins, it takes off. I found most fascinating the character of the Redeemer, a dwarf pseudo-preacher who is perhaps the mastermind of a slave-stealing and reselling scam, or perhaps the creation of a voodoo priestess. He exists or does not exist.

Wray tells his story in the first person, but the narrator changes by chapter. This gives us different insight into the same events. Yet the events are hard to pin down.

The basics, on the surface, is a story about a group which steals and resells slaves. But dig down a bit and strange things are happening. The main character, blind in one eye, a rationalist who goes over the other side, is the main lense through which we see the story unfold.

I found the story to be compelling as long as the Redeemer was the focus. I found him fascinating. Once he left the scene (although it's not clear whether he actually ever does), the story seemed to bog down somewhat and I found it less compelling.

Overall, however, Canaan's Tongue is a good read, and may even tell us something about the contemporary US. ( )