The Song of Stork and Dromedary
Daanje’s variations never become schematic or predictable. The novel’s length is daunting, but the writing is swift and eventful, often expressed in coursing run-on sentences. The reader advances across Mr. McKay’s superb translation as though compelled by a fierce highland wind. In the book’s telling, the Drayden sisters’ imaginative visions are so powerful that they reshape the way people experience reality. Readers, too, will finish this vast, teeming novel with a sense of a world transformed.
Carefully rendered by translator David McKay, Daanje’s silky prose balances delicacy and lyricism with a sense of dread. As characters wrestle with deathly curses, disturbed graves, and unexplained phenomena, the novel sends chills with the turn of a page ... Yet in her intricate web of interconnected stories, Daanje opens the door for intrigue, but largely fails to furnish the room. Much like her debut novel, this work often presents characters with a verbosity that spills over the page rather than adding depth ... Ultimately, The Song of the Stork and Dromedary stands as another example of Daanje’s brilliant storytelling, cementing her status as a writer to watch for years to come.
Read Full Review >>
A sprawling meditation on death, sisterhood, and the mysteries that refuse to be buried ... Serving as both its strength and weakness, Daanje’s multilayered composition creates a palpable atmosphere that takes on the quality of recovered history rather than fiction. For all its inconsistent focus, the novel boldly grapples with unsettling questions ... Another example of Daanje’s brilliant storytelling, cementing her status as a writer to watch for years to come.
Read Full Review >>
