So, I thought I was into magical realism but it turns out I’m not? Maybe it’s my pregnancy addled brain but I was very confused and waiting for the story to start until like 25% through. The conversational tone of the narrator was intriguing but also it kind of moved too fast without enough context for me to properly digest anything or care much about the characters? I’m sure people who are into surrealist stuff probably get it more than I do, but this was a bit much for me.

This is a weird book, one of those book that you can love or hate. A book which is not easy to follow and sometimes left you wondering what you are reading.
I liked it even if I'm not sure I understood it. The author is a talented storyteller and the prose is exquisite.
There's a lot of magic realism, character development and a story that can be fascinating and very slow at the same time.
I recommend it if you are a fan of magic realism, weird stories and great style of writing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

There are very few books I could not finish reading after picking them up. Unfortunately, 'Peaces' by Helen Oyeyemi was one of them. While Oyeyemi is undoubtedly very skilful with her words, the novel itself was very hard to follow. I cannot say anything about the plot or the characters with certainty. It is a bizarre story wrapped in beautifully written descriptions. I am certain that some people will absolutely love this book, but I regret to say that I was one of them. I managed to read just over half of the book before giving up.
Thank you to Faber & Faber publishing house for offering me a free electronic version of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi is about a mysterious train journey. Otto and Xavier Shin find themselves aboard this former tea smuggling train thanks to a gift from a wealthy aunt. The train and the journey itself throws up many strange happenings that begin to reveal connections to Otto and Xaviers' past. The book does not fit into any specific genre but can be enjoyed by anyone whose imagination matches that of the author. To say it is mysterious is my best attempt at a suitable description. It is challenging to follow the plot but engaging at the same time. I do not doubt that fans of Helen Oyeyemi will enjoy the book as they might get the idea of the book. The author's eloquence makes the book a pleasurable read.

I wish that I had connected with this book better because I do not think it is a bad book; it simply falls into a category of weird fiction that I personally can't get on with. Reading it very much reminded me of reading a less silly Flann O'Brien, all flights of fantastical fantasy and characters accepting absurd occurrences, and strange happenings which feel like they may or may not be allegories. I rather wish I had the capacity to enjoy it properly.

If you’ve read anything by Helen Oyeyemi you will be expecting to enter a half real, half mystical universe where strange things happen. This book is no exception but, at times, it tips over from the intriguing into the absurd.

The central characters are Otto and Xavier Shin who, courtesy of a mysterious aunt, find themselves on a quasi-honeymoon on a train and a journey orchestrated by the mysterious Ava Kapoor or, perhaps, by somebody else!

This somebody else could be an occasionally unseen, or glimpsed character called Premysl Stojaspal and, somewhere along the line (geddit?), his father Karel. It’s a linking thread that everyone appears to have some sense of the presence of Premysl without necessarily knowing that they have seen him.

That’s important because, otherwise, the plot veers all over the place and there’s a point where this becomes rather silly in a Pythonesque kind of way. First off, the train which is called The Lucky Day – a strange name for a train – seems to add carriages willy-nilly and to change shape to fit events. Sometimes, it behaves like a train and at others it steams off to provide some other background for the story.

Second, the story features two mongooses or perhaps a pair of mongeese as characters. Maybe they are meant to provide comic relief but, really, they shouldn’t be on a train or treated as pets and companions since they have very sharp teeth, wipe out the local fauna and are thought to carry rabies. You certainly wouldn’t want one tucked down your jumper!

And, thirdly, the characters behave oddly and inconsistently. I won’t go into more details but at the end of the novel there is a fairly spurious tying up of the loose ends.

So, what is it all about? It could be a strangely developed metaphor about religion starring Karel as the unseen, world creating God and Premysl as Jesus, moving among his people and seen by some but unseen by others. There’s certainly the odd mention of prime movers but I suppose that if this was really the case Premysl would have to be run over by the train!

It reminds me most of the story of the Emperor’s new clothes where everyone assumes as they read that there must be some point to this activity while, in reality, Helen Oyeyemi has been eating mystical mushrooms. However, to add a sense of purpose, she writes extremely well so that the prose bowls along and she does produce some intriguing characters but that wasn’t enough for me in this novel. Maybe I just needed to know where the train was going!

It’s a long time since I’ve read any surrealist fiction. When Otto and Xavier set out on their ‘non-honeymoon honeymoon’ on a train called The Lucky Day, with their pet mongoose, Arpad, in tow, my first instinctive thought was that Arpad wouldn’t actually be a mongoose and it would be some in-joke referring to their dog. But no, he’s a mongoose, and he isn’t even the only one on board this mysterious, sparsely-populated train. To read and enjoy Peaces, you need to quickly develop an acceptance of its strange surroundings and characters, and not overthink these as the novel has bigger fish to fry. Helen Oyeyemi is such a skilled writer that this is surprisingly easy to do.

Peaces seems almost written to have you on your toes as a reader from the outset. Various scenarios invite you to think about things having more than one interpretation. Descriptions seem designed to make you false-start; the fleeting character of a nurse is described and only later referred to as male; The Lucky Day’s owner, Ava Kapoor, is introduced in all her theremin-playing otherworldliness and then described as having a ‘BBC Geordie’ accent. More important plot points have more than one interpretation, too; when Xavier first catches sight of Ava, she is holding a sign which either says ‘Hello’ or ‘Help’; Otto recalls running into a burning building and being asked by a man to either ‘help’ or ‘stop’ his son.

There is a story here and I won’t spoil it, except to say that as with all the best literary fiction, the novel leaves you asking questions and thinking about broader concepts. The small group of characters on board The Lucky Day are all there for a reason, and the narrative does build nicely towards an ending. The bigger meaning to it all is probably open to interpretation, and I found myself thinking of two different things – the idea of identity and validation, and the fallout that can happen when people aren’t seen by others as they would wish to be, and the thing that happens when we break up or lose touch with people and never see them again, so they stop existing in our lives. I don’t have all the answers, but I did enjoy my time on board The Lucky Day.

Otto and Xavier shin are a couple who embark on a mysterious train journey for their honeymoon. There are only a handful of other passengers on board, who are beginning to realise that they have been bought together by a common acquaintance.

I have to say, I really loved this book. It is humorous, dark and unexpected, with lovely prose and a very enigmatic vibe. However, I have no idea what the plot actually was. Nothing is clear, and this appears to be kind of the point of the novel, but it is so abstract that after the first few chapters I completely lost track of where the story was going and never got it back. It feels as though Oyeyemi is definitely making a point, but I couldn’t tell you what that point is.

One area where this book really shone was in the characters. There aren’t many of them, but they are genuinely charming and complex, with really quite deep layers that are revealed throughout the novel, making you re-assess each character over and over again. This helped to give an otherwise surreal story a sense of realism that anchors it and gives the reader something believable to hold onto.

On the whole, Peaces is an entertaining ride and definitely worth a read, but be prepared for a unique literary style and a truly bizarre plot.

What??? WHAT??? No idea what happened. Not a clue what it was about. Not a clue, loved it anyway. Honestly Oyeyemi is a gift and an incredible talent but I couldn’t tell you what it is that makes her so good. It feels like reading a book from a parallel universe, a book alive with joy and feeling and just enough of a glimmer of sense to lead onwards into the bafflingly enjoyable end.

As soon as I found out this was set on a train I was running for a copy or a chance of an early read! I love everything about books set on a train or an old fashioned ship, I truly don’t know why but there’s just something about these settings that always ticks my boxes.

Having said that, I’m not sure I was maybe the perfect reader for this as a lot of it went over my head/ended up leaving me a little confused. Not in the sense of story plotting but I just found it slightly hard to read. I would still recommend this to reader who are drawn in by the plot of Helen’s previous work, but for me this one didn’t necessarily hit the mark

Thank you to Netgalley and Faber Faber for the ARC!

This is another wonderfully surreal, beautiful story from Helen Oyeyemi. The imagery is amazing and this is a lovely piece of literary fiction to get totally lost in. A recommended, magical read..

This is a surrealist,"flight of fancy" story about Otto and Xavier and their "companion" Arpad, the mongoose travelling on a strange, private train on their "non-honeymoon, honeymoon." The train is heading through otherwordly scenery to an unspecified destination and the other passengers seem to be the woman who owns the train and two other people who may be guards. Who knows? It's all a bit of a crazed, magical yet fevered dream.

It's a long time since I've tackled a book like this. I don't know maybe I'm just too old and jaded and lacking in intellectual curiousity at the moment but I found it all hard work. I can see that others with a lighter spirit could find the tale exciting, quirky and a fantastic journey.

Although I don't seek out surrealist fiction, those books I have read in the genre tend to stay with me for years afterwards. Provided a novel commits itself clearly and unambiguously to not playing by normal rules from the beginning, I can set my expectations accordingly and go along for the ride. I much prefer that to novels that dabble in magical realism, putting in odd little bits in what seems to be an otherwise conventional story.

'Peaces' is in the first category - it isn't trying to be a straightforward, real-world novel. It is odd, and unabashed in its oddity. It helps that Oyeyemi is one of those literary authors whose intellectual but readable style suits the bizarre, dream-like set up of the book. However unlike some surreal novels, it has a very clear plot and narrative drive.

The story is set on a train - a privately owned train inhabited by one woman and her two friends (keepers? guards?). The narrator, Otto, and his boyfriend Xavier, join as special guests to celebrate their honeymoon (although they are not actually married). They're accompanied by their pet mongoose, because... well, it's that sort of book. The train sets off on an unspecified journey, with other worldly scenery, and all manner of strange things happen. Gradually a story emerges, about a man who might or might not be there, and who might or might not have been part of all the passengers' lives in different guises. Is he friend or foe - if he even exists?

That's the best synopsis I can come up with, but it is one of those novels that you need to read to 'get it'. I feel rather pleased that having done so, I'm now in the club that does. I actually found it quite compelling, partly because I hoped that all the strangeness would make sense eventually. And to some extent it did - at least, it had a clear beginning, middle and conclusion and I had a sense of satisfaction at the end. I had a lot of unanswerable questions too - it's one of those books that you'll keep thinking about at odd moments when unable to sleep. That's why this type of strange-but-good story tends to stick in my mind.

If you like books that are unusual and original and will make you think then you will love this. I think it's worth a try by anyone who likes literary fiction - it's well written and even if you don't like it, you'll probably remember it.

What a surreal novel in all the senses of the word! I liked the randomness of it and found the main characters very cute and charming with all their quirkiness and adventures! Really recommend it.

Peaces is the first book of hers I’ve read that is not folkloric. It feels closer to Agatha Christie - though with her distinctively joyful disregard for the constraints of reality. Otto Montague, his husband (in name if not in marriage) Xavier Shin and their mongoose Arpad XXX are given train tickets to The Lucky Day by Xavier’s elderly aunt. The train was formerly used to smuggle tea in the 19th century and is now owned by the descendants of these smugglers, an eccentric woman named Ava Kapoor who does little else than play the theremin and respond to letter. She travels accompanied by her girlfriend Allegra Yu, a composer, and an ex-criminal Laura de Souza who has been hired by a debtor Mr Lin to watch over Ava’s sanity so that she can come into inheritance on her 30th birthday. ⁣
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The couple inadvertently brings chaos with them, potentially destabilising Ava’s sanity as her 30th birthday approaches. With too much alignment to be mere coincidence, all the characters seem to have been brought together for a reason. As the novel unravels, it’s revealed that they have all met some variant of the same person - except Ava who unsaw this person, and in doing so banished him from existing. The novel this questions what it means to be seen and unseen, and how much of ourselves is precariously derived from other people.

I'm not sure I exactly know what is going on with "Peaces" by Helen Oyeyemi but for some reason that doesn't matter. What does matter is that you join Otto, Xavier and Arpad on the Lucky Day train for the most extraordinary journey of a lifetime. It deals with life, loves and identity in the most wonderful of surroundings. Think back to when you were a kid and you might "design" a train - what carriages might you include? You can guarantee that these are included on this train.

Peaces is a surreal novel about what happens when a couple board an almost empty train with a particular mysterious resident, unsure why they're there or what is going on. Otto and Xavier Shin are on their not-honeymoon honeymoon, having recently taken the same surname, and are suddenly on a train, along with Otto's pet mongoose. They don't really know where it is going or who else is on there except the mysterious Ava Kapoor, who apparently lives on the train and seems to be entwined with a man called Prem who she may or may not know.

I really enjoyed the vibe of this book, which combines a folk tale feel with a strange train mystery and some surrealism with a vaguely Czech flavour, and was pleased that despite the strange and ambiguous plot line, I could mostly follow it at least for most of the book. There's some interesting discussion of audiences and what people are looking for too, which probably with some thought could be applied to reading the book, but I found that as I got a bit lost in it, I missed out on some of the writing style too and wasn't sure if there were things I was supposed to know or not. From the style of book I had expected this, though, and I am more of someone who just takes in the surreal ride with this kind of novel rather than trying to take it slowly and understand everything.

The atmosphere of Peaces is intriguing and I can understand why other reviews compare it to Wes Anderson, but for me, by the end I wasn't quite sure what it was saying and why so I left a little disappointed as it had a lot of promise as I was reading. Maybe on a reread it would be better, as I did find the characters engaging, was drawn into the narrative, and initially found it easier to get into than other modern novels with fairy tale vibes.