book review: Ply by Hernan Diaz

 

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 3.5/5

Thank you Riverhead Books for providing an ARC for review consideration via NetGalley! All opinions are my own. 

 

Hernan Diaz’s prose immediately drew me in…”Even at night, the bridge throws a shadow on the river — a black lane where the otherwise shimmering waters seem to deepen. I am invisible gliding down that narrow eclipse. No one can see me from above; no one can spot me from the shore. The whir of the propeller slicing through the current vanishes under the city’s hum that rolls over the river like a mist. The boat and I become nothing. A possibility no one considered.” 

 

The main character is unnamed, yet made deeply layered by the author sharing everything in her early life which has brought her to this point. A dual timeline was cleverly used to reveal this information, while getting the reader right into her current situation as a “pincher” stealing electricity in this future derelict city to trade for not only necessities but to donate to her favorite bands to play impromptu underground shows. 

 

The second part of the book shifts to her stealing electricity, but in aid to an older woman who is trying to succeed in an experiment she believes will change humanity. Because physics is my favorite genre, I was immediately intrigued by this new storyline. I also particularly loved the description of this woman…”Every now and then she falls behind on purpose to be able to study the old woman, whose features, in the yolky light of dawn, are a bit more relaxed. She’s an elegant cyclist whose upright posture and effortless pedaling manage to convey the understated joy her body finds in movement without renouncing a patrician sort of deportment. Hard to tell if her sinewy limbs are the result of ascetic emancipation or athletic discipline.” 

 

While the exceptional writing completely immersed me in the characters and world, I found myself needing to read this book in small chunks. It would have benefited from being much shorter, trimming excessive details while maintaining the integrity of the story. Furthermore, section two felt disjointed; weaving it into the rest of the book using the same dual timeline from the first half would have created a tighter, unputdownable five-star read. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys literary works where the investment pays off in prose that reads almost like poetry.