NPR

Too Many 'Peaces' Overload An Otherwise Entertaining Story

Helen Oyeyemi's new novel is a no-holds-barred mashup of Agatha Christie-style mystery oddities like mongoose genealogy, kidnapped gaming champions and a woman who chokes on emeralds in her sleep.
Source: Riverhead Books

Reading Helen Oyeyemi's Peaces is like walking into a bizarre interstitial space between a surrealist narrative populated by mongooses and strange characters and the realm of classic Agatha Christie-esque mysteries that take place on trains to undisclosed locations. If that doesn't make much sense, you're beginning to get an idea of what this novel is like.

When Otto Shin takes on his boyfriend Xavier's last name, Xavier's aging aunt gifts them train tickets to an unknown destination so they can celebrate their

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