Now that it's officially October, I'm all about spooky stories. And I decided to start with Margarita Montimore's novel Acts of Violet. Because I loved Oona Out of Order. And because the cover's so Halloweeny.
The titular Violet Volk is a larger-than-life, red-lipstick-and-combat-boots-wearing magician who's credited with breaking magic's glass ceiling in the '90s. She's tough, she's glam, she's unsettlingly talented (some say she's a witch), and she always gets what she wants. She's also, despite some unflattering media attention, fiercely beloved. So when she disappears during a performance in the 2000s, the world erupts with emotion -- and conspiracy theories. Now it's ten years later, and her fans are more obsessed than ever. There's even a podcast called Strange Exits dedicated to finding out what happened to her (much of the book is in the form of its transcripts, along with emails and other correspondence). The only person not fascinated by the why of it all is Violet's sister Sasha, who just wants to be left alone to run her salon in New Jersey. (That's right; the Volk sisters hail from the Garden State, and not just any part, but the very county where I live, which makes everything creepier.) It's not that Sasha doesn't care about her big sis. It's just that they've always been at odds, plus she's sick of opportunists trying to make a buck off her hope. Now that it's the ten-year anniversary, people are coming out of the woodwork to interrogate and/or troll Sasha. What's more, some very strange things have started happening to her, things that she can't -- or doesn't want to -- explain.
Montimore's writing is smart and descriptive, and she illustrates anti-hero Violet in such a way that she dazzles despite her many questionable actions. I wanted to know more about her, just like (almost) all the characters in the book. But here's the thing. This story isn't really about Violet. It's about Sasha. That's the, ahem, illusion, that Montimore weaves. And although I appreciate the plot device, I just wasn't invested enough in Sasha to want more of her story. That said, I did want to know why all that weird stuff was happening to her. And Montimore tells us. Sort of. But the bigger takeaway is that those reasons don't matter. Or shouldn't matter. But they mattered to me. So although I loved the premise of the mystery, the '90s fashion and pop culture, and the haunting-to-me setting, I couldn't help but feel that something was missing. It was like there were all these what-ifs that ended up leading nowhere or could've been summed up without going on a quest in the first place. It reminds me of the time my family was in Disney World, and my dad and I were in line for what we thought was a roller coaster only to find out that it was one of those simulation things where you sit in a box that looks like a van that gets jostled around while you watch a movie.
As you know, I don't usually write negative reviews. And I read plenty of books that are so bad that I don't review them at all. But sometimes I read books that are so engrossing that I'm moved to write about them even though they don't end the way that I want. Acts of Violet is one of those.
So thanks for making it magical, Violet. Wherever you are.
