Unspeakable Things
Kathleen Spivack
Alfred A. Knopf
2016
Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she is
acquainted with Ms. Spivack in writing circles - Ms. Hen is an on again off
again member of the same poetry group as Ms. Spivack. Ms. Hen has
been meaning to read this novel for a while, and she finally got around to it.
When Ms. Hen started reading this novel, she thought the
voice was difficult to grasp. After a few pages, though, she realized why.
This is a novel written by a poet! Novels by poets are different animals
because they swirl the words around in their mouths like connoisseurs at a wine
tasting. Ms. Hen got used to the poetic flair and the words settled into her
mind after that.
This novel is about Eastern European immigrants, mostly from
Vienna, who end up in New York while World War II still rages on. Maria, a
young girl, lives with her mother, brother, and grandfather. Her father lives
in Washington D.C., and is a translator for the war. Anna, or the Rat, comes to
live with them, and sleeps in Maria’s bed. A pediatrician, Felix, takes care of
Maria while she is sick, and does unspeakable things. The Rat tells Maria of
her past in St. Petersburg while living amongst the Tsars.
This novel made Ms. Hen think of Latin American mysticism,
specifically by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. There are a lot of weird, unsettling
aspects to this story. The Tolstoi quartet, a string quartet, has the end of
the last finger on their left hands chopped off, and go on a quest to find them.
This is one of the dark places where this novel goes. Ms. Hen wondered if there
was a tradition in Eastern European Jewish mysticism, and she read there was,
but not specifically in fiction, more in the vein of mystical religious writing.
Ms. Hen thinks Ms. Spivack might have invented her own genre.
One of the most gruesome and wonderful parts of UNSPEAKABLE
THINGS is the part about Rasputin. Ms. Hen has learned about Rasputin, and what
he did, and what he was like, but she has never read such a description of his actions. He was a
pervert, but the Rat loved it. Ms. Hen wonders if the starved soul is one that
would accept any kind of love.
This novel is about a community of people that immigrated to
the United States that all had lost people to the war. People would ask each other, and who did you lose? It’s terrible for parents to lose children, and
Herbert and Adeline’s loss of their son Michael scarred them, especially Adeline.
Many unspeakable things live in this novel.
Something about this novel moved Ms. Hen in places she did
not know could be moved. She was disgusted, but at the same time, could not
look away. She kept reading to discover how more perverse this could become.
Ms. Hen loved this novel. She likes being disturbed, and if that’s not your cup
of tea, stay away from this novel! If it is, get ready to drink up the darkness
and beauty within these pages.
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