VACLAV AND LENA: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED 
VACLAV & LENA

BY HALEY TANNER

  

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Vaclav and Lena seem destined for each other. They meet as children in an ESL class in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Vaclav is precocious and verbal. Lena, struggling with English, takes comfort in the safety of his adoration, his noisy, loving home, and the care of Rasia, his big-hearted mother. Vaclav imagines their story unfolding like a fairy tale, or the perfect illusion from his treasured Magician’s Almanac, but among the many truths to be discovered in Haley Tanner’s wondrous debut is that happily ever after is never a foregone conclusion.

One day, Lena does not show up for school. She has disappeared from Vaclav and his family’s lives as if by a cruel magic trick. For the next seven years, Vaclav says goodnight to Lena without fail, wondering if she is doing the same somewhere. On the eve of Lena’s seventeenth birthday he finds out.

Haley Tanner has the originality and verve of a born storyteller, and the boldness to imagine a world in which love can overcome the most difficult circumstances. In Vaclav & Lena she has created two unforgettable young protagonists who evoke the joy, the confusion, and the passion of having a profound, everlasting connection with someone else.

PRAISE FOR VACLAV AND LENA:

“In this charming and wonderfully engaging tale, the reader is swept into the beautifully rendered landscape of the immigrant childhood experience. Haley Tanner has created a world peopled with characters of great poignancy, and they will linger in the mind—and heart—long after the book is put down.”

—Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kitteridge
 
“There are books you enjoy, and then there are books you live in. Haley Tanner plunges you into the Russian émigré community in Brooklyn, where two souls connect under a maternal watchful eye. Tanner’s assured narrative voice finds new ways to describe emotion and character, bringing the reader up short again and again with small shocks of awareness. This book is sad, funny, true, and shot through with grace.” 

—Judy Blundell, National Book Award–winning author of What I Saw and How I Lied
 
“Vaclav & Lena is a wonderful achievement, generous, playful, moving, and refreshing. It was the voice that first captivated me here, a voice that allows Haley Tanner to say anything at all, and to say it truly. Give this novel a few short pages, and I guarantee you’ll want to read it to the end.” 

—Kevin Brockmeier, author of The View from the Seventh Layer and The Brief History of the Dead
 
“A terrific,  enlightened debut.”

—Kirkus Reviews 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Haley Tanner was born in 1982 in New York. She holds an MFA from The New School and a BA from Clark University. She lives in Brooklyn. This is her first novel. From Haley Tanner's website HERE, I found out the following additional biographical information on this author: 

Haley Tanner was born in New York City (in the Bronx!) and raised on a lovely street in a house her father (most famous as the superhero Astroman, the man who can do anything) built with his own two hands. Haley's mother was named one of Forbes 100 Mothers to Emulate in recognition for her love, support, and understanding during the years that Haley was a Police Dispatcher / Parliamentary Assistant / Waitress / Bank Teller / Tutor who was also hard at work on a novel. In her spare time Haley enjoys being terrible at yoga, running slowly, and cuddling whatever dog she can get her hands on. Haley currently lives in Brooklyn, under the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge, with her rescued pug Mojini Jane and the most beautiful Tennessee mutt this side of the Mason Dixon line, Ruthie Catfish. Haley's husband Gavin recently ditched a six year battle against cancer to rejoin the star stuff we are all made of, and she lives surrounded by the sense of wonder and joy and possibility he left behind, as well as a ton of gorgeous furniture he made out of reclaimed wood.

GUEST REVIEW:

Vaclav is a five year old boy who has aspirations to become the next Harry Houdini. Vaclav’s mother, Rasia, plans a play day for Vaclav with a five year old girl named Lena. Rasia takes the two of them to Coney Island; however, Vaclav and Lena soon find out that the two of them are not nearly tall enough to ride any of the rides. Vaclav wants Lena to experience something magical to remember this special trip so he secretly purchases tickets to a sideshow. This secret viewing of the verboten sideshow permanently seals a bond between Vaclav and Lena. From that day forward they plan a special day for Vaclav’s debut as the magnificent magician and Lena as the beautiful assistant.

Just before the big debut show, Lena disappears from Vaclav’s life under never discussed circumstances. Vaclav is inconsolably heartbroken. Every night Vaclav says good night to Lena and wonders where his companion might be. Vaclav will not learn the truth of her disappearance until Lena’s 17th birthday. 

This book is absolutely loaded with “favorite passages.” I found Vaclav analyzing the rationale for saying good night to Lena as one of my most admired passages:

“The power of saying good night each night to Lena is great. On the first night that Lena was gone, Vaclav said good night to her, put the good night out into the scary, lonely darkness, and meant each word in a very specific way. Good night. Good night. He wanted her to have a good night. Not a scary night. Not a dangerous night. Not a cold or lonely or nightmare-filled night. He filled the words with all his love and care and worry for Lena and launched them out to her, and like homing pigeons, he trusted them to find her, and he felt, that night, that his words would keep Lena safe, that if he thought about her and cared about her and showed this to the universe, then bad things would not happen to her. Vaclav was not asking an omnipotent god to grant him a wish. He was stirring in himself his own very true emotions, his pure feelings, and pushing them, birthing them into the universe, giving flight to a powerful energy that he trusted would do what as a child he was powerless to do.” Page 142

This book is magnificently constructed and constructed magnificently. The third person narration brought to life the two protagonists, Vaclav and Lena. I found their Russian accents drawing me deeper and deeper into breathtakingly richly developed characters of the two Russian immigrant children.  Haley Tanner in her debut novel gives us a window into the poignancy of two incomplete lives and the transcendence that lies beyond our human perception. This book will find your heartstrings -- grab them and not let go.

This book goes one step beyond the category of being a good book – this book is truly magnificent. Books that fall into magnificent category deepen my enthusiasm for reading literature – trust me Haley Tanner’s debut novel will undoubtedly be awarded some literary award this year.
---Reviewed by Steve Capell

Thank you for an AMAZING review, Steve! Steve retired after thirty-two years in the telecommunication industry first as a telecommunication microwave engineer and then as a regional project manager. Steve is married to his lovely wife for 36 years now and their children have grown up and moved out and been "replaced" by their two Chihuahuas, Miley and Pepper. If you are familiar with book blogs, then you know Steve for his always interesting comments. Steve's first Guest Review for me was A TIME FOR PATRIOTS and you can go HERE to read more about this good friend and wonderful reviewer!

GIVEAWAY

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