We Are All On Our Way to Something

Astray by Emma Donoghue
Reviewed by Steven

A life can be defined just as readily by its transitions as it can its discrete states of beings. We are all on our way to something, and the passage itself plays the most important role in the shaping of who we are, though that naturally changes instant-to-instant and never solidifies completely as we, of course, end up becoming ourselves. The characters in Emma Donoghue’s Astray are travelers. Their journeys, like ours, are ill-defined and circuitous, meandering and enlightening, physical and conceptual, entertaining and provocative. Largely based on primary sources from forgotten and misrepresented eras, these fourteen stories document the inherent social transgression of lives lived with novelty. From the very British heartbreak of Jumbo’s trainer upon his purchase by P.T. Barnum in 1882 to the desperate love between two revolutionary Canadian sculptresses in 1967, we are led alongside the heroes of these peripatetic vignettes as they wrestle for control of their destinies. Astray reminds us that we, as individuals and personalities embodied, are dynamic entities, and that the potential for adventure is an ingrained, volatile force within every human mind.

Emma Donoghue is the cross-genre author of a number of biographies, plays, short stories, fairy tales, and novels – most notably Room, which was a finalist for the Man Booker prize and a New York Times Best Book of 2010. She will be speaking and signing at BookPeople on Sunday November 11th at 4:00 p.m. Like every BookPeople event, this mind-boggling celebration of literature is open to the public and free to attend, the only caveat being that, in order to have anything signed, we ask that you purchase a copy of Astray from BookPeople beforehand. Won’t you go on this fantastic voyage with us? We promise we won’t lead you astray.