The End of Peril, The End of Enmity, The End of Strife, A Haven

by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint

Fiction. A mythopoetic work that traverses both time and place, The End of Peril, the End of Enmity, the End of Strife, a Haven tells the story of a return from emigration, the traumatic moment when the narrator—a young woman with a baby in her care—is confronted with her inheritance of historical violence and environmental devastation.

"What an amazingly beautiful changeling of a book. Whenever I was sure I had a pulse on it, it would bloom into something else entirely. Within what seems to be such spareness of words, Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint invokes a whole universe that clutches close the realms of memory, dream, and imagination, erasing the boundaries between the living and the dead, the sky and the earth, reality and myth. Myint interrogates the mother/daughter relationship as well as the beginnings and endings of love and life, reminiscent of the myth-making poetic prose in Jamaica Kincaid’s At the Bottom of the River. In the subtle guise of Italo Calivno’s Invisible Cities, she philosophizes on spaces and habitude and internal strife. You will fall deep into the deepest darkness and fear and hope and desire and love and longing in these pages. It’s a lovely journey there and out."
—Jenny Boully

Genres: Fiction, Novels

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2018

Reviews

[phoenix kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK. What an absolute masterpiece. i am so glad i revisited it and let myself take it at a slower pace. It is definitely a read that for me requires a lot of engagement and close reading. When i first read it in my undergrad i'm not sure i was able to fully engage with it. There is so much depth in these pages that i feel i've only started to dig at all the threads and connections here. i think i could read it again very soon and be just as astounded and fascinated with unraveling this story.

i had to stop myself from underlining practically the entire book. The prose was so visceral and dynamic--and concrete and surreal (!!)--and each line had impact like a hook or a shift, surprising and unexpected and intriguing.

This book is such an inspiration. i absolutely plan to share it and encourage others to read it~

[Natalie Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much, and like all my favorites, it made me want to head straight to my desk to write. There is so much to admire here, but I connected particularly with Myint's investigation of the blurry boundary between life and death. The corpses of the "green dead" who seem magically alive, the mother who seems dead while sitting at her vanity table. I read this book months ago, yet it sticks with me, asking me to return and read it again. I can't wait to read the author's next book! And the next...

[Juliet Saxton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning piece of literature that explores a human self in the vaguest way possible. The characters are not named, and gender is vague, which creates a space to explore what Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint calls the "Apocalyptic-Present." Despite this, it manages to be deeply personal. It explores themes of family, love, motherhood(parenthood), identity, climate change, the environment, and the idea of being descendants from conquerors and the conquered.

It's fantastic, enrapturing, thought-provoking... Worth a read and then a read-over!

[Maeri · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was beautifully written. I loved how the author didn't want the focus to be on culture; so the names are hidden. the descriptions stay vague for the reader's imagination.

I spent my time reading this feeling at peace on a perfect day. I appreciate the book being a part of this moment.

I struggled a bit reading it here and there due to the timeline. It would go from here to there from then to now. At times, I would think, "wait, what? where are we? what's going on? wait who?"

The explanations would create images in my head that would blossom into something but suddenly dissipate the moment i thought I had a clear vision.

I would like to rate this higher, but aside from the poetic side and the feminine energy, I could not get deeper into the tale. Ultimately, what was vague is what lost me. The ending made it all the more confusing for me even as I sat all day trying to connect all the dots.

[Shaina Olbrys · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for class and I couldn’t put it down. It’s like a puzzle in book form, with beautiful descriptions and an intricate plot. I found myself constantly surprised and flipping back and forth once something was discovered. I love that I still feel confused about it.

[kate buskirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing beach read and car ride up to the beach read. So splendidly written and gets at everything i have been thinking about recently... mother/child, men, environment, cities, future, war , etc. I hope to come back to this again

[Not Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

paperback.

mythical quality in this work that flows like a beautiful poem.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical and strange, painting similarities to Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo, but completely fresh, this book lured me in.

[Jan Stinchcomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and lyrical, a voyage through all the tricky operations of power, a reevaluation of family and gender itself.

[Pamela Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rebecca Valley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so brief and so complete. A beautiful fable about history and violence and a dying world. It is a brave, confident little book.

[auro · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I did not know then how much space life required. How much separation, how much loneliness"

Beautiful, haunting, unique.

[N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply magical and lyrical, a distant sister’s song, a waking dream. A beautiful, haunting book, as cool and deep as a river.

[Leslie]

This is the story of a young woman with an ailing baby in her care as she travels through a desolate landscape. Beautifully written, the book explores intergenerational trauma, death and duty, lineage, parent/child relationships, mixed-race identity, and how lore shifts. There are some queer vibes too: the baby in the story has no gender, and the protagonist longs for another girl.