Originally published on Fields Magazine online blog.
Chasing the sun is a whimsical thought in itself: the idea of chasing something that’s beyond our grasp. But in her debut novel, Natalia Sylvester puts an interesting spin on the concept, asking what if what we’re chasing was never real to begin with?
Drawing upon her family’s culture and history, Sylvester has fashioned a story that, while seemingly run-of-the-mill, keeps the reader invested in the characters’ fates and may leave you reflecting on your own life choices and where they’ve led you. The story focuses on Andres, a self-made, affluent businessman whose wife is kidnapped in politically-turbulent Peru. She is taken for ransom on an ordinary day, as was common in Peru for many years. Faced with the prospect of sacrificing everything he has worked for to save her, Andres finds himself hiring a consultant who advises his every move in securing Marabela’s safe return.
This is nothing too groundbreaking in terms of plot (it recalls Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State, which told the tale of a wife’s kidnapping in Haiti and was released just one month before Sylvester’s novel), but throw in the twist of an already-crumbling relationship, and the story transforms into a poignant probe into morality. How much are people willing to give up, especially for someone who’s sent them through the darkest recesses of emotions? It is commonly said that overcoming adversity makes our relationships with others stronger, but what happens when we realize that the reality we thought existed never did?
The writing in Chasing the Sun is simplistic, yet still manages to invest the reader. But at times the novel reads like a telenovela, with flaring drama all around. Despite this, it is worth a read if you’re looking for something with a driven, well-developed plotline that will leave you asking questions about how far you would go to salvage a relationship with someone you loved.
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