Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Cycling to Asylum” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Cycling to Asylum

Su J. Sokol (Goodreads Author)

4.14 · Rating details · 51 ratings · 28 reviews

In a near-future New York subject to an increasingly authoritarian and hostile government, Laek, a non-conformist history teacher, finds that he can no longer hide his radical past. After a brutal confrontation with the NYPD, he flees the United States with Janie, an activist lawyer, and their two kids, Siri and Simon. They cross the border by bicycle into Quebec by posing ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 338 pages

Published May 6th 2014 by Deux Voiliers Publishing

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Cycling to Asylum, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Cycling to Asylum

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.14 ·

Rating details

· 51 ratings · 28 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Cycling to Asylum

Jul 25, 2014 Kathe added it

Many of my friends are writers of various stripes. That includes several novelists, mostly new-minted. Reading their books brings anticipation…and trepidation. What if I hate the book? What will I say? Luckily, there’s no such problem here.

Cycling to Asylum is the first novel by my friend and former neighbour Su J. Sokol (our kids used to shimmy over the fence between our gardens). When Su took a sabbatical a couple of years ago, remarkably, she sat down and wrote every day. The result: this nov Many of my friends are writers of various stripes. That includes several novelists, mostly new-minted. Reading their books brings anticipation…and trepidation. What if I hate the book? What will I say? Luckily, there’s no such problem here.

Cycling to Asylum is the first novel by my friend and former neighbour Su J. Sokol (our kids used to shimmy over the fence between our gardens). When Su took a sabbatical a couple of years ago, remarkably, she sat down and wrote every day. The result: this novel, which apparently falls into the genre called interstitial fiction. (Don’t worry if you had to look it up – so did I. I’m not convinced these labels mean much anyway.)

The plot here bears more than a passing resemblance to the path taken by Su and her family when they moved from Brooklyn to Montreal 10 years ago, though their real-life story was nowhere near so dramatically fraught or shadowed by dark doings. The fictional family flees, on their bicycles, a “near-future New York subject to an increasingly authoritarian and hostile government.” I did find the “near-future” part mildly discombobulating, as when one of the characters would refer, for instance, to Quebec having free daycare and university tuition. (Er, not yet…)

Janie and Laek and their children Siri and Simon take turns narrating brief chapters, which keeps the story moving along and provides different takes on what’s happening or appears to be happening. The four characters have highly distinctive voices (this device, which is not uncommon but here used most effectively, reminded me a little of The Poisonwood Bible, one of my all-time favourite novels). Su takes us successfully into their minds, and the dialogue is crisp and realistic.

Will the Wolfe family live happily ever after in a mildly Utopian Montreal? “It’s not about finding utopia, it’s about creating utopia…. But lots of things happened along the road,” says Laek. “I can’t finish the story because it’s not over yet. It keeps going round and round and round.” “Like the wheels of a bicycle?” “Yes, exactly.”
...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 05, 2014 Cora Sire rated it really liked it

If you want to be enthralled and enlightened, a feat accomplished by only the very best books, this is a novel worth reading. "Cycling to Asylum" is an exhilarating ride through a narrative set in a near future that's frighteningly plausible but not entirely hopeless. The story is told by the novel's protagonists, four authentic voices of a couple and their children, whose adventures keep you turning the pages. You are with them entirely when they embark on a bicycle trek that takes them from th ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 15, 2018 Melissa Yuan-Innes rated it really liked it

Near future novel that provokes questions about privacy and refugees

A timely novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the opening, where Laek is stopped by the NYPD and decides that the United States is no longer safe for himself and his family, and they escape to Montreal. I lived in Montreal for three years, yet I learned new details about the city, including the reason that the subway system uses those three tones before making an announcement. I also learned how a lawyer, Janie, might have to use slightl ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2014 Fábio Fernandes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2014, different-frontiers

One of the best books I read in 2014. Maybe, if you are an American or live in the US for a long time now, you might see the novel as sort of prophetic (after Ferguson, for instance), but, sadly, I don't see it that way. I see Cycling to Asylum as an all-too-real about the US and the rest of the world right here, right now. It's a cautionary tale for our times. And a very good one at that. A necessary reading. Couldn't recommend it more.

UPDATED: I'd also like to recommend an interview Djibril al ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2014 Ania rated it it was amazing

Sokol tackles a rather bleak topic set in a dystopian future, but her writing makes the reader empathize with each of her characters as they face challenges. Plenty of page-turning action that makes you question your own place in society. Great first novel.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 22, 2014 Alexis Allinson rated it really liked it

This book is a speculative future fiction revolving around the life of one family. Speaking from each of the four main characters point of view, it forms the world around them where there is an unbalance of power over the people has caused a constant fear within society.
In the hope of something better, the family follows example of a family favorite story and uses bicycles to enter a new country and hopefully a better life.
The author has given a quick, yet deep emotional roller-coaster to the l ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 02, 2014 A.H. Richards rated it really liked it

In Cycling to Asylum, author Su J. Sokol does not pander to sci-fi clichés, or contrive cliff-hanger suspense. What she does so well, so authentically, is to portray the strength of tender, human and imperfect human love persevering in the face of a threatening, de-humanizing society. Cycling to Asylum masterfully and caringly captures the human vulnerability and courage of partners Laek, Janie and their children, in their fraught journey to find safety and home in an alien country. All of these ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 10, 2018 Kate Henderson rated it it was amazing

Cycling to asylum is a fascinating look at where we're headed. Set in the near future, we learn about a Brooklyn family who seeks asylum in Le Plateau. Very realistic feel of place and characters in New York City and Montréal, complete with the screens and holograms of the future that are easy to imagine. We can only hope that the characters of Laek and Janie represent our best selves in that future, as parents committed to social change, and people who remind themselves they have a realm of emo ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2015 Geza Tatrallyay rated it really liked it

Provocative book. Set in the future, I love the picture of Montreal / Canada providing a safe-haven for escapees from an increasingly autocratic American police state to the south. Resonated with my experience as an immigrant to Canada from Communist Hungary in 1956. A quick, easy read, but full of passion and humanity.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 12, 2014 Québec Reads added it

Shelves: www-quebecreads-com

Read the QuebecReads.com review at www.quebecreads.com/asylum. And a short extract at www.quebecreads.com/asylumx. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 03, 2014 Beverly Akerman rated it liked it

A remarkable debut. The first half, with its taut scenes of NYC in a dark future, features real tension.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2016 NormaCenva rated it liked it

I wasn't expecting much from this book. But all and all good reviews and ratings intrigued me. So, I gave it a try. And it was very interesting indeed. Glad I took my time to read it. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2018 Ursula Pflug rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-ve-reviewed

Su J. Sokol's anarcho-pacifist Cycling to Asylum , a 2014 release from Ottawa collective Deux Voiliers is a debut novel about a couple who spends quite a bit more time working to make the world a better place than on its antithesis, consuming, although they do have very nice bikes.

A bit of publishing context: Deux Voiliers Publishing is an initiative of Ian Thomas Shaw, who writes under the nom de plume Con Cú (owl in Vietnamese). Shaw was also behind Prose in the Park, an outdoor book fair in Su J. Sokol's anarcho-pacifist Cycling to Asylum , a 2014 release from Ottawa collective Deux Voiliers is a debut novel about a couple who spends quite a bit more time working to make the world a better place than on its antithesis, consuming, although they do have very nice bikes.

A bit of publishing context: Deux Voiliers Publishing is an initiative of Ian Thomas Shaw, who writes under the nom de plume Con Cú (owl in Vietnamese). Shaw was also behind Prose in the Park, an outdoor book fair in Ottawa that I particularly enjoyed as it brought best-selling authors and emerging writers of all ages together on panels and likewise provided opportunities for genre and literary authors to appear side by side; these communities are often segregated or self-segregating. (My first year as a presenter at PiP, I was on a panel about YA fiction with Charles de Lint and Caroline Pignat). Many authors work hard at self-promotion but Shaw has also paid his community building dues over and over.

I met Su Sokol when we read together at the wonderful Parliament Street Library Open Mic series in Toronto, run by writer Bernadette Gabay Dyer, and we have also connected at Can*Con, the Ottawa speculative fiction convention that takes place each fall at the Sheraton. Sokol is a native New Yorker, a social justice advocate and, like her MC Janie, a lawyer. She knew about the 1988 Tompkins Square Riot when we spoke about the East Village, even though it was after my time there and before hers. I lived in NYC in my late teens and have written about that time in my life here.

Sokol's book was immediately engaging. For me, it may have been because my Berlin grandmother was an active member of Rote Kapelle, the underground anti-Nazi group, and my parents were active in the anti-Vietnam movement, organizing, postering for rallies and housing a family of Alqonquin draft dodgers from upstate New York in the late sixties and early seventies. My artist mother’s idea of family time was to take us postering for rallies during sub-zero temperatures, the glue in our buckets freezing into uselessness. Sokol’s fictional children Siri and Simon don’t know what they missed.

Hence, the concerns, world view and activities of Laek and Janie felt immediately sympathetic and familiar--but I think this would be so even if activism wasn't part of one's immediate experience, as Sokol's characters are likeable and their interactions crafted in loving detail. Her concerns seem less niche than they did in 2014; police brutality, border crossings, and technological surveillance are on almost everyone's minds and lips now. This makes Cycling a near-future-really-talking-about-now novel in a way that's a little chilling, as the world she describes is just a bit more here than when Cycling was first published.

The story is told in four voices: Laek, Janie and their son and daughter each have point of view chapters. I employed this method in my first novel Green Music (but never since!) and Barbara Kingsolver is one well-known scribe who has used this device, notably in The Poisonwood Bible. A first person P.O.V. will, by definition, give us a more or less unreliable narrator, but each family member affords insight into the others, just like in real life. In the end, in spite of the grimness of the world they inhabit, it's the tenderness among family members that allows readers to remain hopeful. Sokol's mastery is to allow her characters to share their vulnerabilities as well as the strength that doing so gives them. In spite of struggles which might incite bitterness in many, in this family members keep extending their arms around one another, creating a circle of safety even when they're at their most fragile, sneaking on bicycle to escape police, across the border to the sanctuary city of Montreal. Love wins, and we’re glad for it.

Cycling to Asylum was longlisted for the Sunburst Award, and is going into development as a feature length film with Kiss Off Entertainment, to be adapted and directed by Sara Beth Edwards. ...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 26, 2017 Elyse T. rated it really liked it

Science-fiction as a genre is an exploration of the imaginative “possible”. We use it to explore the likelihood of eventual space travel, meeting new peoples, and exploring undiscovered locations; anything that could one day, perhaps, exist. Near-future science-fiction is the soup-du-jour in the world of Speculative Fiction, genres such as dark satire, dystopian fiction, and cyberpunk being very popular. This level of storytelling can affect a reader in shocking ways, as it explores possibilitie Science-fiction as a genre is an exploration of the imaginative “possible”. We use it to explore the likelihood of eventual space travel, meeting new peoples, and exploring undiscovered locations; anything that could one day, perhaps, exist. Near-future science-fiction is the soup-du-jour in the world of Speculative Fiction, genres such as dark satire, dystopian fiction, and cyberpunk being very popular. This level of storytelling can affect a reader in shocking ways, as it explores possibilities we may well experience within our lifetimes. Who knows which of our musings or fantasies might come to pass this year, this month, this week, or tomorrow?

Su J. Sokol in Cycling for Asylum explores the consequences of a repressive American Government, bringing up issues that are very real for us living in the “past”(our present), such as police brutality, systemic discrimination and bureaucratic tyranny. This remarkable piece of local literature takes the pulse of many modern readers and resonates across the very newscasts North Americans see daily.

As an activist living under a false identify, the character of Laek lives in constant fear of being apprehended, or barred from the benefits of living in New York city with his family. He becomes gradually more anxious as the policies and decisions of the American government start to put undocumented residents and ethnic groups at risk. After recovering from a serious injury following a violent protest against new oppressive legislations, Laek and his wife Janie make the decision “go underground” and escape the country. Without making their teenage daughter Siri and their son Simon aware of the reasons why they must depart, they set off on their bikes for a permanent “vacation” in Montreal, which has become a universal haven for migrants.

Settling down in a new place is not easy; Siri rebels when finally told that Montreal is their new home, while young Simon struggles to understand. As the family incorporates itself gradually in francophone Canada, they realize that their plight is not unique; countless newcomers have escaped unsafe environments and governments to make Montreal their new home. Janie and Laek attempt to acquire refugee status, but how to explain that staying home in the United States was dangerous, when to the rest of the world is it still considered a stable place? Such refugee claimants already exist contemporarily, and many refuse to accept their stories as true. Who believes allegations of torture, or of imprisonment without a trial, from the American Government?

Laek’s reasons for living with a false identity are unraveled during court proceedings, putting his family’s place in their sanctuary at risk. As the couple fights to prove they are not part of the danger they are trying to leave behind, they desperately strive to earn the trust and respect of Quebecers. Cycling, their favorite eco-friendly mode of transportation, as luck would have it, becomes the common ground between migrants and locals, and paves the way to the family’s acceptance.

Sokol delivers an emotionally charged novel, where the tensions between family members feel visceral and very real. The chapters alternate in points of view between the four characters, thus sometimes the same events are described by different people. This provides the reader with important insights and interesting perspectives, but also begins to feel a tad tedious at times. The sociological aspects of this novel are very thought-provoking, offering a gentle example of Sokol’s philosophical views which endeavours to inspire a better world. Some elements, of Sokol’s future world, however, are somewhat lacking in imagination; more specifically, the inventive advancements of the near-future. As an example, Sokol’s views on futuristic videogames seem to match your cranky great-aunt’s distaste for them. The novel places the natural world on a pedestal, reaching for a return to simpler pastimes, and consequently describes upcoming virtual realities as nothing but ridiculous opportunities to slash and dash avatars to pieces, body parts and blood soaring. This can come across as disappointing for nerdy readers who have higher hopes for innovations in future gameplay and immersion.

As mentioned, Sokol’s particular flavour of speculative fiction allows us to imagine the immediate future. As opposed to space opera or dystopia authors who prefer to depict the upcoming eras of humanity by jumping over large gaps of time, Sokol brings us an image of a transitional era, a guess as to how the advanced world, for better or for worse, must have come about. If literature is meant to be a mirror held up to society, Sokol’s writing is a stern and blunt warning against problems that are easily conceivable, with solutions that could be undertaken – provided we take her cautionary message seriously, in the here and now.

Reviewers and fans are calling Cycling for Asylum a work of prophecy, and believe the outcome of present events will turn out exactly the way Sokol predicts. This week, the media has been filled with theories regarding to what the drastic change in American politics will bring for our southern neighbours, and by consequence, our nation. The rise of attention for issues such as police violence, xenophobia, and the erosion of bureaucratic justice are just a few examples of very real problems that Sokol presents in an only slightly mutated form. At least we can take some small consolation in the fact that, in Sokol’s future world, Canada is the safe paradise at the end of the journey. ...more

flag Like · see review

Mar 16, 2017 Ellen Moss rated it it was amazing

Su J Sokol's first novel is very impressive and timely! Ms Sokol is a new voice for our times the way Leonard Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Mordechai Richler, Irving Layton, Bob Dylan, Moshe Safdie were avant-garde artists for their generation! In fact these artists are much more appreciated with time! These are people who are deeply affected by their worlds and forge a new path and help change the world! These are gifted visionaries and observers of what's around them and critical thinkers who are no Su J Sokol's first novel is very impressive and timely! Ms Sokol is a new voice for our times the way Leonard Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Mordechai Richler, Irving Layton, Bob Dylan, Moshe Safdie were avant-garde artists for their generation! In fact these artists are much more appreciated with time! These are people who are deeply affected by their worlds and forge a new path and help change the world! These are gifted visionaries and observers of what's around them and critical thinkers who are not afraid to go against the norms and do not fit into the ordinary! In fact, they lead the way in being activists for social justice and stand up for the vulnerable, marginalized and unfairly demonized and/or persecuted and powerless! These are writers and artists who articulate what is going on in a courageous and compassionate way so that others can join in to make their contribution, in empowering those who deserve our support, kindness, and understanding! Cycling to Asylum is about a family of four, who cross the New York border on bicycles into Quebec, Canada and make their home in Montreal, in the near future, when it has become a "city-state" a place of refuge for asylum seekers. The author tells the story in the first person and from the point of view of each of the four family members--the mother, a community lawyer, the father a high school teacher, th daughter, and the son, both students.
Ms. Sokol's novel is like a work of art, a masterpiece, in a museum and each person who looks at and experiences it, sees something different in it; not necessarily the things the author intended consciously or unconsciously, and yet it is like "food for thought" provoking us to think about ourselves and our world, and how we are reflected in this work, and it may force us to make changes or question how we can be kinder, better people and how we might make a difference!
The book is very compelling and a real page turner! It addresses issues of our environment, climate change, democratic institutions, the police, our political systems, our countries, family relationships, cultural and linguistic challenges for new immigrants and refugees, traumatized people, the loss of a country we love and hate, at times, the impact we have on our children with decisions that we make that may sometimes put them in danger or may risk their health, when we really wish to protect them. It even addresses the double edged sword of new technologies that may either help us advance or put control into the wrong hands.
Ms. Sokol makes me think of the words of Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever as."
I highly recommend this novel and look forward to reading future novels by Ms. Sokol! ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 23, 2020 Sheindl Rothman rated it really liked it

It's extremely cool when your friend is a published author, and even cooler when said book is well-written, enjoyable, interesting, and thought-provoking.
The author effectively uses the device of four different narrators, Janie & Laek, the parents, and Simon and Siri, the kids. Each has a unique voice and distinctive view of the world.
Certain scenes from Cycling to Asylum came to mind while listening to current news stories of police brutality.Normally, I eschew anything with even a modicum of ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 23, 2017 Cait Gordon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: authors-i-ve-met

I grew up in Montreal, and though this story talks about that island in the future, my heart felt pangs of nostalgia about my past growing up there. The description of the city, right down to the metro car sing-song tone, is bang on.

Su Sokol also did an excellent job of bringing the reader into the experience of these four family members trying to deal with the urgent and sudden need to flee the US for asylum. The book was so well-written, it creeped me out a little. The atmosphere and politica ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 07, 2018 Emilie rated it it was amazing

It took me a while to finally read Su's book. Like another reviewer indicated picking up a friend's book can give you mixed feelings because what do you do if its no good? Well, thankfully (for me - and anyone who picks this book up) Su is a skilled and talented writer who has written a story that becomes only more and more relevant with each passing year. The characters are interesting and relatable and the plot twists kept me engaged throughout the entire book. I loved how she captures the dif ...more

flag Like · see review

Jan 14, 2019 Keiran Gibbs rated it really liked it

Shelves: author-i-met

Taking place in the near-future, C2A is a compassionate work, highlighted by the multi - character POV's. Although some reviews label the book as dystopian, I consider it to be quite the opposite. Montreal is described as a "sanctuary city" and represents a far more utopic vision than its present reality.

I enjoy the light of possibility ignited by these pages; especially in today's present political context, there is no better time to understand difficulties faced by political refugees and thei ...more

flag Like · see review

Oct 29, 2019 Cynthia rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

As much as I didn't like the writing, I kept reading because the first part was trying to make a commentary on oppression and police brutality and activism. However, once in Montreal (and already at the border) we start getting all the cliches about the nice polite Canadians who are not racist and even the cops are nice and respectful. The complete lack of irony about the nice police officers of Montreal (who are so nice, they only protest by wearing weird pants) was so grating and laughable tha ...more

flag Like · see review

May 13, 2018 Dominique rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: adults, people interested in bisexual characters, open relationships

Shelves: dystopia, books-i-own

I've just finished this great dystopian story about a family fleeing an oppressive NYC Big Brother police state to Montreal by bicycle. My only gripe is that this book is less sneaky bicycle action and more of the political refugee process and bureaucracy of the Québec government...A bit more contemporary of a read than a scifi/dystopia of today. And that I thought some of the sexual material in the novel was somewhat unnecessary to the depth of the story...But still, it was nice to read a book ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 15, 2020 Susan rated it it was amazing

Wonderfully written. This book stayed in my thoughts for a long time.

flag Like · see review

Jun 19, 2014 Andrés Canella added it

Shelves: 2015

Reviewing Cycling to Asylum is difficult, because for many this will be a difficult book: this does not refer to the writing - if anything, Sokol's narratives that switch from one member of a family of four to the next are brisk, fun and give insight into how each character copes with change. It's the plot and characters themselves that provide the greatest leap for the reader.

This is my first run with a non-mainstream genre known as "interstitial fiction", which I understand is a between-genre Reviewing Cycling to Asylum is difficult, because for many this will be a difficult book: this does not refer to the writing - if anything, Sokol's narratives that switch from one member of a family of four to the next are brisk, fun and give insight into how each character copes with change. It's the plot and characters themselves that provide the greatest leap for the reader.

This is my first run with a non-mainstream genre known as "interstitial fiction", which I understand is a between-genre label. Cycling to Asylum is part family drama, part migration tale, but set in a near future in which the activist fears of today are exacerbated by more authoritarian laws. It's a cautionary tale, which are usually easily digestible due to relatable characters: that is, a protagonist that lives a typical middle path life who suddenly awakens to the brutality of the times. Instead, our two main protagonists, Laek and Janie, are a married couple who have been life-long activists. This makes their choices, especially on Laek's part, often bewildering and unrelatable - at least for readers who have not devoted their lives to public forms of activism.

Yet, fiction has the capacity to teach its readers empathy, even if the characters' actions cause us to pull our hair out. Sokol has created Laek as a living pacifist who does not conform to the typical reactions we expect: he does not fight back, and while this is aggravating, it is true to his character. The fighter is Janie, and possibly her daughter, Siri. For me, these two characters, strong-willed, independent and anti-authoritarian in very different ways (Janie towards the government, Siri towards her activist parents), are the main draw of Cycling to Asylum.

The plot is simple, and - without spoiling anything - involves a move from the more authoritarian New York City to a speculative future in which Québec is a quasi-utopia for migrants looking to live freer lives. Sokol's love for this potential Québec is apparent through her narrative, as is her passion for anti-authoritarian activism. Siri again proves to be an important foil to what some will perceive as a selfishness on the part of her parents. Siri is there for the skeptics. Laek and Janie are there for the dreamers.

So, in the end, giving oneself over to the activist reality of Cycling to Asylum, and to its characters that defy normal expectations, this should hardly be a difficult read at all. It just requires to a flexible reader who, like the interstitial genre, is able to navigate between typical genre conventions. Recommended! ...more

flag Like · see review

Nov 09, 2014 Timothy Carter rated it it was amazing

STOP whatever you are doing now and READ THIS NOVEL!!!

Hello, my name is Timothy Carter. I'm a good writer. I can tell a decent yarn, boil a few pots, that sort of thing.

Su J. Sokol is a GREAT writer. The kind of author I know I'll never be. Her talent for creating characters, describing locations, adding the sort of detail that makes everything in the book seem real... wow. That's what I'm left with. Wow.

Set in a near-future North America, Cycling to Asylum tells the story of an activist and his ...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 16, 2015 Claudie Arseneault rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf

It's hard to describe this book. In itself, the setting and some of the events are really dark, hard to swallow and follow. Yet the writing is incredibly luminous, and CYCLING TO ASYLUM feels more like a ray of hope than anything else. In so many ways, this is a story about the soft resilience of a broken man and his family.

It's hard not to feel for all the characters, even when you disapprove of their actions. Especially Laek. Laek will make you want to hug him, and make you glad Janie is there ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 09, 2015 Cymric rated it liked it

Shelves: canadian-fiction, politics, sociology

There are passages in this book that are just exquisitely written, particularly the love scenes. This author is one to watch. The story is whimsical and imaginative. The author seems to paint a world that is black and white, in this futuristic imaginary world, the US is dystopic and Montreal is utopia, in reality the world is more nuanced than that; however it is a surprising and unusual novel and I would recommend it.

flag Like · see review

Feb 14, 2017 Yvanna Kroitor rated it it was amazing

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - the slightly dystopian future in the novel eerily foreshadows present day. The four characters in the book are engaging and the narrative following their four separate perceptions of reality make for a richer and more nuanced understanding of how the events effect each of them individually. Intriguing and well executed story

flag Like · see review

Feb 23, 2015 Meg rated it it was amazing

Shelves: social-justice, fiction, lgbt

4.5 stars. Loved, loved this book.

flag Like · see review

Aidan Loeser rated it liked it
Aug 21, 2018

Peter rated it really liked it
Jun 18, 2016

« previous 1 2 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Fiction

5 users

Science Fiction

4 users

See top shelves…

About Su J. Sokol

Su J. Sokol

16 followers

Su J. Sokol is a social rights advocate and a writer of speculative, liminal, and interstitial fiction. A former legal services lawyer from New York City, xe now makes Montréal xyr home.

Sokol is the author of three novels: Cycling to Asylum, which was long-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and has been optioned for development into a feature-leng ...more