A review by bract4813mypacksnet
Freefall: A Divine Comedy by Lily Iona MacKenzie
4.0
Freefall: A Divine Comedy was patterned after Dante’s work in which a man traverses Hell to reach Heaven. The book brings together installation artist Tillie Bloom and her three friends, Sybil, Daddy, and Moll, all nearing the big 6-0. After many years apart, they reunite on Sybil’s place, a posh vacation home in Whistler, British Columbia. Here, they each reflect on their lives. Flashbacks provide backstory for each character and as the readers moves into the present, we see how satisfied or dissatisfied each woman is with her life.
The urgency they feel as they reach the end of their lives is heightened when, while hiking, they come face-to-face with a grizzly. As their get-together winds down, Tillie convinces her friends to travel r to Venice, Italy for the Biennale, when she hopes to finally hit it big with her art installations.
I am a woman of an age this book should appeal to and found parts of it enjoyable, in particular the use of the Black Madonna and second wave feminism during the 1960s. The women are openly sexual, not sexualized, which is nice—maybe because they are products of the Age of Aquarius. At the same time, the writing felt a bit strained, particularly towards the end when snakes, termites, and pigeons assume metaphoric aspects, and the magical-realism bits seem over-the-top. Other times, particularly during parts about religion, seemed repetitive.
The urgency they feel as they reach the end of their lives is heightened when, while hiking, they come face-to-face with a grizzly. As their get-together winds down, Tillie convinces her friends to travel r to Venice, Italy for the Biennale, when she hopes to finally hit it big with her art installations.
I am a woman of an age this book should appeal to and found parts of it enjoyable, in particular the use of the Black Madonna and second wave feminism during the 1960s. The women are openly sexual, not sexualized, which is nice—maybe because they are products of the Age of Aquarius. At the same time, the writing felt a bit strained, particularly towards the end when snakes, termites, and pigeons assume metaphoric aspects, and the magical-realism bits seem over-the-top. Other times, particularly during parts about religion, seemed repetitive.