“A young man walks through the gate of the monastery in Cuba where he has been studying for years. He has told the Abbott that he is just going to visit his father before returning to join the order, but they both know he is lying. After stepping through the gate, though, he finds himself somewhere unexpected.
Pirate Freedom is Gene Wolfe’s latest. It’s an epistolary novel, an unexpectedly mild swashbuckling tale, a very slight time-travel story, and just a little bit frustrating.
Almost all Wolfe novels feature unreliable (or at least suspect) narration, and this one is no exception; Chris—his last name is never revealed—is defensive and reluctant, hurried, and not altogether forthcoming. His retelling of his adventures is so bland as to almost rob the buckles of swashing altogether, and there is so much he admits to eliding or rushing past that one wonders what else is being left out. Unlike, say, Peace, though, there are precious few clues as to what it might be.
There are other reasons to dislike Chris, both as a storyteller and as a person, and I think that’s the biggest contributor to my reaction as I finished the book this morning over an omelet; I shrugged, said “Huh,” and closed the cover.”
rdominick wrote this review Friday, November 30 2007.
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