In the Old City of Québec, Kay Harper falls in love with a puppet in the window of the Quatre Mains, a toy shop that is never open. She is spending her summer working as an acrobat with the cirque while her husband, Theo, is translating a biography of the pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Late one night, Kay fears someone is following her home. Surprised to see that the lights of the toy shop are on and the door is open, she takes shelter inside.
The next morning Theo wakes up to discover his wife is missing. Under police suspicion and frantic at her disappearance, he obsessively searches the streets of the Old City. Meanwhile, Kay has been transformed into a puppet, and is now a prisoner of the back room of the Quatre Mains, trapped with an odd assemblage of puppets from all over the world who can only come alive between the hours of midnight and dawn. The only way she can return to the human world is if Theo can find her and recognize her in her new form. So begins a dual odyssey: of a husband determined to find his wife, and of a woman trapped in a magical world where her life is not her own.
It's Ancient Greek mythology time!
Orpheus and Eurydice lived in Ancient Greece, fell in love and were happy. Until Eurydice died, that is. Motivated by grief and love for his wife, Orpheus stormed the Underworld and demanded that Hades give him his wife back. Moved by Orpheus' talents with the lyre and his dedication to Eurydice, Hades and Persephone said they would return Eurydice to the land of the living where she could live out the rest of her days with Orpheus, but only on the condition that on their journey from the Underworld he does not look back to see if she is still there until they reach the world above; if he does turn back to see Eurydice, she will return to the land of the dead and Orpheus will not get another chance. Of course, because those Greeks loved their tragedies, Orpheus forgets to stay true to his promise and Eurydice vanishes forever.
(I knew those three years of classical education would come in handy sometime.)
Keith Donohue's novel The Motion of Puppets is a loose, modernised take on the Ancient Greek classic, which also has hints of Homer's Odyssey. Filled with many personal journeys in addition to physical journeys, this novel is more so a love story and tragedy than it is horror. Don't get me wrong, though. There is still a lot of chills and thrills to be found in this book until the very horrifying climax at the novel's conclusion, which reminds me why puppets are not to be trifled with. They're up there with garden gnomes as being the creepiest inanimate household objects. (I think it's the eyes).
To make a long story short, I loved this book from the very beginning. This is not Keith Donohue's first time writing. His prose is lush and descriptive, informative without dumping mounds of information right away. We learn with the characters what is going on. I thought it was creative to split up the focus between the husband and wife characters, creating dramatic irony whenever it cut back to Theo not knowing where Kay is or what has happened to her, the audience knowing the horrifying truth long before Theo does. I love me some good dramatic irony, and this is done so well.
This book was super creepy when it needed to be. When Kay is turned into a puppet at the beginning, the conclusion, and other scenes along the way that I will not delve into at risk of spoilers, it is told in such a matter-of-fact way that it just makes it all the more creepier and chilling. It definitely added to the magical realism of the novel. Something that added to this is the fact that all of the characters were relateable and likeable, which added to the stakes. I wanted Theo to find Kay, I wanted Kay to escape. The book's overall quality would have been greatly reduced had the stakes not been there for the characters; if the characters were unlikeable, the book would not have been as exciting or believable. I really believed the love between Kay and Theo, the suffering and breakdown of Theo, the different struggles of the other trapped souls that Kay meets in the toy shop. Characterization is key in a novel like this and Donohue created well-rounded, believeable and enjoyable characters that added to the novel as a whole.
The Motion of Puppets is such a unique book, one that I wasn't expecting to enjoy as much as I did. It was atmospheric, well-written and had great characters. At its core, this book is a love story, an odyssey for the main characters. It is, oddly enough, a sad book, filled with magical realism, fantasy, and a bit of the macabre, one that can be, and is, chilling, horrifying and creepy. I tore through this book in less than 24 hours and enjoyed it immensely. I'm going to give The Motion of Puppets 5/5; it is an incredibly unique and original book that I enjoyed beginning to end. I will be looking out for more by Keith Donohue.
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