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Echolocation: a novel

by Myfanwy Collins (Goodreads Author)

4.43 of 5 stars 4.43 · rating details · 75 ratings · 37 reviews

Sometimes the voices that call you home lead you astray…

Cheri and Geneva grew up on “a little patch of nothing made up of dairy farms in the valleys and boarded up iron-ore mines in the mountains, a town of old folks waiting to die and young people dying to leave.” Now, Cheri has fled that life for the city, leaving Geneva behind to care for their aunt as she succumbs to c...more

Paperback, 199 pages

Published March 6th 2012 by Engine Books

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Nov 18, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

11/18 Mcfanwy Collins:

Thank you for writing Echolocation. I treasure it. I can't find the words to express what I want to
share with you right now.
_________________________________________________________________________

11/17 Finished. I wish this book never had to end so I could read it forever.

RUN and find "Echolocation" by Myfanwy Collins, NOW! Everyone should read this author's work.
Online at Amazon, B&N, and more. If you can't find it to purchase or in your library, I'll get it for you....more

2 likes · like · see review

Myfanwy Wow! This is wonderful. Thank you so much, Elizabeth.
Nov 18, 2012 07:42am

Elizabeth Hi,

I know that this isn't a "real" review in ways that many are written. I may be able to formalize or craft a review that flows in a more cohesive wa...more
Nov 18, 2012 08:48am

Feb 24, 2012 Katrina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: booksbyfriends, favorites

Be prepared. Haunting, mesmerizing, "Echolocation" is a page-turner you will not be able to put down until you've reached the end. It's the story of four women connected by family and the bleak, harsh, land of northern New York. Some have escaped, but they're all brought together again by tragedy and secrets they thought they'd left behind. There's Auntie Marie, dying of cancer, the two girls she raised, Geneva and Cheri, and Renee, Cheri's mother, who ran away to Florida not long after Cheri wa...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Evan rated it 4 of 5 stars

ECHOLOCATION by Myfanwy Collins has me thinking about fission. At first I thought of the collapsing of the universe, but, without giving away too many spoilers, this is more about the collision of distinct, related women and the resulting release of energy. There is destruction and creation in the series of events. Examples of gain from loss begin in the opening pages when Geneva (the main character and the most morally compelling) loses her arm but gains freedom.

I think the greatest momentum i...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Myfanwy rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author)

Publishers Weekly calls Echolocation “stark and stirring.”

"Echolocation is written with such directness and apparent simplicity that the occasional flight of fancy or narrative flair might be jarring if it weren't almost always so remarkably right-on -- the soupçon of insight or the moment of strangeness that makes these characters sharply, often surprisingly, real... And what seems like a desultory tale of many generations of mostly women suddenly telescopes into a few pivotal -- and shocking -...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Pia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bookstorushinto, booksoffriends

Myfanwy Collins’ debut novel calls to mind the grim and radiant work of Daniel Woodrell. From page one, I was chilled by the landscape, caught up in the trouble, and riveted by these women of northernmost New York who slam back together and figure out how to live with what’s missing.

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Jun 27, 2012 Richard Bon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Myfanwy Collins leads readers on an absorbing psychological journey in the lives of compelling characters, some with whom we can’t help but sympathize, others we can only detest. The prose itself has a mystical sort of quality to it, a smooth flow allowing readers access to the wandering mind’s eyes of multiple characters, showing us their fantasies, their fears, and their often desperate desires. The path itself enthralls and then, as readers reach each of the main character’s final destination...more

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May 12, 2012 Carolyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

I recently had the pleasure of hearing Myfanwy Collins read from her beautiful debut novel Echolocation at the Newburyport Literary Festival. Someone in the audience asked how she came up with the title, the name for the sensory system used by bats and dolphins to locate objects around them. She told us that for her it captured what her characters were trying to do: manage the objects around them in order to guide themselves home.
She also explained that the Adirondacks represent home to her. Th...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Susan Rukeyser rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read Echolocation’s first chapter and you’ll be unable to do anything but devour the entire book immediately. It's a perfectly-crafted opener, and one which sets the tone and pace of the storytelling you’re about to enjoy.

Echolocation is a beautifully structured book. Its captivating plot and back stories are revealed in ways that call to mind exactly the phenomenon from which it takes its title. Each character’s story starts small and tight, with acutely observed detail, then vibrates outwards...more Read Echolocation’s first chapter and you’ll be unable to do anything but devour the entire book immediately. It's a perfectly-crafted opener, and one which sets the tone and pace of the storytelling you’re about to enjoy.

Echolocation is a beautifully structured book. Its captivating plot and back stories are revealed in ways that call to mind exactly the phenomenon from which it takes its title. Each character’s story starts small and tight, with acutely observed detail, then vibrates outwards, expanding to encompass time, disappointment, loss, offering insight into the past with morsels of information. It returns to the present with ever-increasing intensity.

The death of Auntie Marie means big changes for the women of her family. Theirs is a family complicated by unclear relationships and too much silence. Only one-armed Geneva remains in their tiny upstate NY town, helping to run the family’s gas station and store. Cheri and Renee must return in their own ways, fleeing danger both within and without, not necessarily understanding why they return. Auntie Marie is their only constant. As if by instinct, they fly towards the space she leaves behind.

The language of Echolocation is gorgeous and rhythmic, almost seductive, even when describing the least pretty human behaviors. Collins is a precise storyteller. She knows which words are enough. We come to care deeply for Geneva, Cheri, Renee, and the others, despite their terrible choices. There are strong male characters but this feels like a book of women—the best sort, not the least bit clichéd. These women do ugly things and hurt those who love them. But Collins insists we see they’re worthy of our respect and compassion. None of these women are hopeless, Collins seems to want us to know. Redemption is always possible—in part, at least, and however late. These characters are called home and away like bats to the forest, each return taking a slightly different path. Their looping journeys are messy and inexact. But they’re as inevitable as the winter's frozen earth and the thaw, every Spring.(less)

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Mar 17, 2012 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

As a number of other reviewers have said, Myfanwy Collins’ Echolocation is a novel that confounds expectations. Two almost-sisters are brought home to a small, isolated town in northern New York by the impending death of their almost-mother, whose own half-sister also returns years after walking out on her family. So it’s a family story, about generations of women and their hard feelings, but not really, or rather not only.

The novel opens with one of the sisters, Geneva, cutting trees for firewo...more As a number of other reviewers have said, Myfanwy Collins’ Echolocation is a novel that confounds expectations. Two almost-sisters are brought home to a small, isolated town in northern New York by the impending death of their almost-mother, whose own half-sister also returns years after walking out on her family. So it’s a family story, about generations of women and their hard feelings, but not really, or rather not only.

The novel opens with one of the sisters, Geneva, cutting trees for firewood:

She was down by the quarry, just off the old logging road, claiming a patch of ground Auntie Marie had given her for a wedding present — her dowry. “Don’t tell him, though,” Marie suggested about the wooded acre. “Keep that land to yourself.” Geneva had thought of using the trees for sugaring as Auntie Marie had proposed but now it was too late. She was taking the trees for cheap firewood to sell to tourists at a roadside stand.

Geneva regrets the felling even as she performs it, because “It felt like a betrayal, this taking of saw to tree.” And in an act of fate if not fatality, the chainsaw slips and she loses an arm. This marks Geneva, not only in the obvious way but because the aftermath of this act in which she thought only of short-term gains (sacrificing long term potential for cash in hand) is an awareness of consequences and an ability to conceive of the future, something every other character in the novel seems to lack. She’s able to cast a cold eye on the past, while others nurse old hurts and cling to hazy recollections of who someone was a long time ago instead of noticing who they are now.

Other characters sleep with strangers, commit crimes, run out on each other, and generally fall victim to their own lack of forethought and vision. They’re focused on instant gratification, while Geneva aims to protect what she has, even when that protection turns violent. And Echolocation does get violent, very much so: what starts in the guise of a family saga enters country noir territory quickly, and brutally. So quickly, in fact, that as two characters set off on parallel courses to an inevitably showdown, I thought, “Already? If the big tension is happening now, how will it be sustained?” I was made suddenly aware, as a reader, of my own looking forward: I saw the amount of book left, the distance in pages, and it played against expectation with what felt like a third act escalation coming so soon.

Those dual tensions, from the plot itself and from my own thwarted assumptions, kept me both engrossed in the story and wondering, in the back of my mind, what Collins was going to do with all this. And what she did was impressive: ultimately, Echolocation goes where so few stories that build toward violence have the vision or courage to go: all the way to the aftermath. This isn’t a stories that winds up as soon as the clash has occurred, in which characters presumably settle back into routine once the action is over. Instead, it makes us keep looking, and makes us keep waiting, forcing us to wonder how an ordinary person — not a criminal, not a lost soul — comes back once they’ve been pushed too far. And it does so with grace, not only in the writing — especially the rich, textured renderings of the natural world — but in a final scene that even if you think you see it coming a few pages off (the event of it, anyway) still manages to sneak up and suddenly open a panorama as vast as the future, rather than a more familiar contraction of conflict.(less)

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Apr 30, 2012 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is sumptuously written and so stunning on the level of character and setting I'm thinking it's really a four and a half star rating (come on, Good Reads, give up the fraction option), the half star withheld because, in my opinion, the ending is a little bit rushed. Then again, what do I know. Read this book and tell me how wrong I am, then tell Myfanwy Collins how incredibly she evokes landscape and memory and makes you hunger for more of her work.

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May 31, 2012 Mel rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those books I will return to when considering how to balance character, language, and plot. All three are masterfully done, with compelling characters, gorgeous language, and an engaging but not-too-intricately plotted narrative. Myfanwy Collins begins with a thrilling sucker-punch of an opening chapter, then slows down to introduce the characters, their relationships, and the setting. (For all of the characters, their reaction to their setting helps the reader understand them.) T...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

A fantastic debut novel told from various points of view. Marvelously plotted and consistently engaging. Most impressive is the way Collins keeps readers glued to the page; not a scene goes by without increasing stakes and drama. Engaging stuff.

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May 03, 2012 Holly Robinson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Echolocation is a tense, dreamlike novel that gets you in its grip and won't let go. Set in the forgotten reaches of upper New York State, the story's characters are all fierce misfits, yet somehow Myfanwy Collins manages to make each of them sympathetic characters whose fates we want to follow. You might think the plot, with its murder, suicide, and fleeing women, would be nightmarish, but there is a sly darkly comic tone, and the interplay between past and present in the chronology makes this...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

In which I try to say a few smart things about this incredible book: http://kathy-fish.com/2012/04/07/myfa...

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Aug 04, 2012 Bonnie Zobell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Myfanwy Collin's Haunting New Novel, ECHOLOCATION

The women in Myfanwy Collins' breath-taking debut novel haven't had an easy time of it. In Echolocation, published by Engine Books, the beautiful and haunting Geneva loses an arm when a saw kicks back and cuts through her forearm. She lives only because of her tenacity; despite the gushing blood, despite being in shock, she ties a tourniquet with her teeth, rushes to the truck, and drives, at least until she runs out of gas. Then an unusual man ri...more

Myfanwy Collin's Haunting New Novel, ECHOLOCATION

The women in Myfanwy Collins' breath-taking debut novel haven't had an easy time of it. In Echolocation, published by Engine Books, the beautiful and haunting Geneva loses an arm when a saw kicks back and cuts through her forearm. She lives only because of her tenacity; despite the gushing blood, despite being in shock, she ties a tourniquet with her teeth, rushes to the truck, and drives, at least until she runs out of gas. Then an unusual man riding his ATV, a mysterious man deftly characterized soon enough, discovers her on the road and gets her to a clinic. Geneva is forever flawed when the arm can't be saved. Her husband Clint feels so bad that he couldn't prevent the accident that he goes to the town undertaker and buys a top-of-the-line baby casket for the arm, "white, silver-handled, with pink silk interior." They proceed to have a graveside service led by Father O'Connor. And, yes, with her stunning use of language and her literary prowess with the grotesque, Myfanwy should definitely be compared to Flannery.

As girls, Geneva and Cheri's life together is as intertwined and mostly fun-loving as sisters. They're raised by Auntie Marie in a "border town state in upstate New York, seven miles from Canada." The area is home for adults waiting to die and youngsters waiting to leave. "Auntie Marie owned a store-cum-gas station." When Geneva marries Clint, all Cheri can say is, "He's a pig," and immediately the girls stop being so congenial. Cheri gets herself out of Dodge and goes on with her life, such as it is, sleeping with drunkards and generally not taking care of herself.

Auntie Marie is dying, so the girls are returning home to the only mother figure they've ever known, though Marie is neither Geneva's nor Cheri's birth mother. Geneva was a foster child placed with Auntie Marie, a foster child whose parents seemingly forgot to come back and get her. Cheri's mother, Renee, left her baby girl with Auntie Marie and ran off with her newest boyfriend at the time to Florida. When Renee doesn't come back, Auntie suggests it'll be good for Cheri to stay on so she can finish her school year. When the years continue to creep by and Cheri's mother still doesn't return and no one mentions a thing about it, Cheri figures she'll be staying on permanently.

It is a testament to Myfanwy Collins' well-known lyricism, the depth of her characters and plot, that she is able so artfully to bring together these lives, the past, the present, and hints of the future of these three women who have been given so little to start out with in the way of love and intimacy.

And this isn't even including the misfit men who work their way into this quirky tale. There's the new man in one-armed Geneva's life that so idealizes her he'll kill. Cheri's mother Renee turns up out of nowhere with her newest new man in her life, one so chilling and violent you can't stop reading because you want to find out whether what he ends up doing is not irreversible.

Can these women live in the same house together again? Will Auntie Marie make it? What happens when yet another baby girl without parents arrives at the house with a strange new mother figure?

Lucky you, if you haven't read this book yet! What a beautiful story you have ahead of you!
(less)

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May 12, 2012 Donald rated it 5 of 5 stars

I didn’t know much about the plot when I began reading this novel, but immediately got sucked into the story. Geneva and Cheri were raised as sisters by their Aunt Marie after Cheri’s mother, Renee, ran off years before. Now, suddenly, Renee returns home with an infant in tow. (Cheri also had just recently returned home after the death of Marie.) Now the three surviving women must deal with their estrangements and personal issues head on—and hands on.

This is literary fiction with plot, action, a...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Pamela rated it 5 of 5 stars

This short novel is, unusually, centered on a quartet of women: Geneva and Cheri, two foster children; Marie, the woman who takes them in; and Renee, Cheri’s mother, a good-time girl who justifies her abandonment of Cheri by deciding the girl is better off with out her (she may be right). There are men in this tale, but their stories seem refreshingly tangential even as their impulsive actions shape the women’s lives. These are women who need men, sometimes to excess, and yet who never allow men...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Kevin Fanning rated it 5 of 5 stars

So, OK. This was not at all the book I was expecting it to be. And I love to be surprised, so I mean that as the highest complement.

What you gather from the back cover and the first couple of chapters is that this is a book about a complicated family dynamic. Two sort-of sisters with a lot of distance between them (Cheri & Geneva) come back together when Aunt Marie, the woman who raised them, dies. And as if they didn't have enough problems of their own, Cheri's absentee mother Renee then c...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Myfanwy added it · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

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Sep 12, 2011 Jen Knox rated it 5 of 5 stars

Echolocation took me over so that I had to regroup whenever I stopped reading. The main characters are immediately visible and distinct, tough and believable. And their dynamic is revealed smoothly, with both momentum and surprise.

Collins' consistently highlights the macro--the landscape. There are many short but unforgettable passages that establish character: "She wanted to follow the path of her mother, but not so that she would find her; instead, she wanted to know what it felt like to be t...more

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May 18, 2012 Chantel McCray rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I feel so fortunate this novel came my way. I enjoyed it so much more than I anticipated. A multi-layered, elegantly written story of broken souls finding their way back home. A driving plot that will pull you in from the very first page and be impossible to put down until the last. Fascinating characters that will haunt you well after you finish reading the novel. Echolocation is one of only four titles that Engine Books publishes per year, so it may not be at your local bookstore, but the leg...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Tricia Dower rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is full of surprises, from the plot twists to Collins’s unsentimental portrayal of three women struggling to survive and find life’s meaning. I love the sense of place woven through every chapter; the both lush and, at times, unforgiving landscape mirrors the women’s experiences. They can’t seem to get a break. I was stunned by Geneva’s practical cruelty when it came to dealing with Rick but I wasn’t surprised; it seemed well in keeping with her character as skillfully drawn by Collins...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Ellen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fearless, elegant, and accessible, Echolocation is literary fiction at its best. With heartbreakingly beautiful prose, Myfanwy Collins tells a gripping and tender tale of broken souls yearning for wholeness. These are characters who will stay with you long after you turn the last page. It’s a dazzling debut!

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Jun 10, 2012 Marian Szczepanski rated it 4 of 5 stars

Penetrating insights into human nature, explored through the intersection of a small, down-on-its-luck community and family of women far too experienced at leaving and being left when the going gets rough. And rough it does. Kept me up too late two nights running.

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May 01, 2012 Jordan E. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: alltimefaves

Language is so beautiful in this book it aches. Dark in all the right ways, tense and potent, masterfully woven and full of lush image and emotion. An unforgettable, beautiful book

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Jun 22, 2012 April rated it 4 of 5 stars

It a great book but very sad.The character are very refreshing.
Each of the character had a mind of their own that by the end of the book you want to know more about them.

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Jun 02, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Cherie was raised by her aunt who was also a foster mother to Geneva. Growing up as sisters, Cherie left town when Geneva married a man she didn't like. Now their aunt/mother has died and left her store to them. Cherie's mother Renee also re-enters their lives and with her comes a baby and an ex-boyfriend whose only goal is to take the baby from her. There was a quiet explosiveness to this book with some drastic decisions at the end. Involving the perspective of all the characters both added and...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Patricia Dunn rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. I can't stop thinking about the characters. It's beautifully written.

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Jun 05, 2012 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Good read about sisters, mothers and daughters. But sad.

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Apr 01, 2012 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a terrific debut--a heartfelt story about mothers, daughters, saints, sinners, mysteries, and miscreants. Poignant and deeply-felt, this is a wonderfully crafted novel with a strong sense of place, finely rendered characters, and some nice, gothic undercurrents that twist the plot (she had me at Chapter 1, which opens with a funeral for a dismembered arm!). Ultimately, Echolocation is story about finding yourself, your family, and where you need to be. Highly recommended!

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About Myfanwy Collins

Myfanwy Collins lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts with her husband and son. Her work has been published in The Kenyon Review, AGNI, Cream City Review, Quick Fiction, and Potomac Review. Her debut novel is ECHOLOCATION (Engine Books, 2012). I AM HOLDING YOUR HAND, a collection of her short fiction, is available now from [PANK] Books. THE BOOK OF LANEY, a YA novel, is forthcoming from Lacewi...more

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