3 out of 4 stars
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I must begin by saying that the second half of this story is as abstract as a Jackson Pollock painting, and that starkly juxtaposes with the straightforwardness of the first half of the book. Reading Pharafaneelya by Jaws is like reading two almost completely separate stories, but the author manages to just barely weave them together seamlessly. It is actually quite brilliant and completely new.
In the first half of the book, readers are introduced to Maia Opular, a young girl who lives with her mother in a house on a hill. Her father was killed in a war, and her brother has been missing for an undeclared amount of time. Maia is obsessed with the color purple — purple gum, purple toilet paper, purple grass — if it is purple, Maia loves it. She is currently hoping that a predicted storm will bring purple snow with it. Ms. Bentz, Maia’s nosy, old neighbor, shows up at the Opulars’ doorstep late at night claiming that her house has lost power and asking permission to stay for a bit. Maia’s mother, Mrs. Opular, graciously welcomes their unexpected guest even though she does not particularly favor the older woman. From Ms. Bentz, Maia receives a mysterious gift. The next morning we are introduced to two more characters - Maia’s best friend and rival, Sophia, and Sophia’s brother, Ant. Readers are given a glimpse into Maia’s relationship with the aforementioned individuals. However, Maia is horribly wounded when a snow-covered rock hits her head. Cue the second half of the book.
Here we enter the Pharafaneeyla Asylum and leave Maia and her friends behind. We are introduced to Gretchen who has recently arrived at the asylum due to her “heinous acts on humanity.” The asylum is described as being a kind of hell in which residents lose the little bit of their souls that remain. This is the home of the mentally unfixable insane, and Madam Dean and Doctor Lyma overlook it while nurses and watchmen (soulless and seemingly robotic life forms) are responsible for caring for and transporting the patients throughout the building. Little do the nurses know that they are actually permanent residents of Pharafaneeyla. The patients in the asylum go through a process in which they are forced to confront their sins and see the truth of their situations before essentially being drained of their humanity. So how do Maia and the group of individuals in her life tie in with the horrid asylum? You can only discover this by reading the book yourself.
Now, the story itself is startling in its genius. What unfolds is completely unexpected and unlike anything that I have read before. It contains characters with complex histories and mysterious lives, and I wanted to know more about them. There is a lot of dialogue without making the story boring, and everything about this book is fresh. The beginning of the story brought forth two major questions — what happened to Maia’s brother, and why on earth is she so obsessed with the color purple? The second half of the story answers those questions in a way that will leave your head spinning and your jaw on the floor.
This is the part of the review that saddens my soul to have to do, but readers deserve the truth. This book is packed with typos and errors in punctuation. In no way did it appear to have been professionally edited, which is a shame because the story is superb. Some of the paragraphs are rather choppy with sentences that do not flow as easily as I prefer and lines that should be phrased differently. Here is an example of one of the errors: “Before your journey begins take a quick look out you window…” Clearly the word you was meant to be your. Given the frequent errors, I can only rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.
There are going to be lovers of supernatural books and mystery as well as fans of abstract writing that flock to this story. However, this book may be too abstract for many, especially the second half of the book that takes place in the asylum. There is a lot going on as far as the process of removing the soul and what happens to the individual after this is achieved as well as explanations of how individuals ended up there in the first place, and this does involve careful reading that might not be entirely pleasurable for some. Pharafaneelya is not appropriate for children as there are a lot of descriptions of violence and gore that are stomach turning even for me. I do recommend trying to look past the technical errors and giving the book a chance because it is one of a kind.
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Pharafaneelya
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