(Reviewed by JD Jung)
How do I begin a review of a novel that kept me captive from page one and didn’t release me until the very end? I didn’t want to break for work, family, friends, or anything. How can I do this book justice? Dear readers, I will try.
Eric (Keyvan) fled Iran as a child during the Islamic revolution and grew up in Paris. He later studied Comparative Literature at Princeton. That is one scenario. What would have happened if he was forced to stay in Iran? So much of one’s life (or death) is determined by a single decision or act made by either the individual or at the hands of someone else.
As a young boy he questioned his sexuality, but at Princeton he knew what he wanted…Mark. He was so obsessed with him that he couldn’t see any of the warning signs or even the bigger picture.
“…á lifetime wasted in pursuit of meaningless love affairs and enslaved by jealousy; a brilliant but equally unfulfilling social life; and that unflappable monster time, obscure, yet deadly and inexorable, triturating the lives of the characters in the novel”.
“He recalled flashes of an insane and unspeakable love affair that had almost destroyed him and yet felt a yearning for the selfsame feelings of abandonment —the love or the madness that had led him to the edge of doom.”
Whether it was an analysis of Proust’s La Recherche, or Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Eric could discern the flaws of the characters and the reasons for their ultimate downfall, but he was unable to see this in his own life.
Now as a high-priced New York attorney in a loveless marriage, at age forty-four he is reevaluating his life and the decisions he has made. That is another scenario.
The Riddle of the Sphinx provides several possible outcomes and we keep asking ourselves, “What if…?” Though author Alexandre Montagu does get philosophical, he doesn’t belabor the points. That is, you can enjoy the story simply on its own.
Montagu provides an intelligent story-line without compromising the human or emotion. At all times he is completely aware of the unawareness of his characters. Each one is deftly portrayed, and the images are vivid.
We learn of the history of twentieth-century Iran and how it contributed to Eric’s identity. Events are described in detail, but they’re never mundane, whether from a personal or historical perspective.
There are so many layers to The Riddle of the Sphinx that it would be a perfect book club read. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the best book I have read in a long time.
