Nicholas Christopher

Book Review: A Trip to the Stars, Nicholas Christopher

A Trip To The StarsA Trip To The Stars by Nicholas Christopher My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Much of this novel is ravishing diversion. Much of it is grinding tedium. Nicholas Christopher infuses Mala's storyline with tremendous passion and feeling. You soar as she discovers deep, abiding love and crash when she loses her way. Her journey, both mystical and maddening, is fascinating.

Christopher employs expository detail to relate Enzo's life. Told in first person by Enzo, his story drags on and on, with a voice that never varies, no matter what Enzo's age. It reads as one long flashback, like an interminable movie voiceover. Christopher mires this storyline in so much exhausting detail that he loses all sense of urgency, suspense, and relevance. The threads that weave together to form the complete tapestry of Enzo's and Mala's destinies are found throughout Enzo's narrative, so resist the temptation to skim. But prepare yourself to suffer boredom at the eye-rolling conceit.

Christopher's prose is achingly beautiful, his imagination vast and astonishing, his characters warm and profound. Despite my frustration with the author's style choices A Trip To The Stars will stay with me. And the night sky will hold deeper wonder

View all my reviews