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Echolocation
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 cancer. Her death draws them back together, forcing them to face their past–and each other. When Cheri’s mother turns up with a strange baby and a dangerous secret close behind, the choices that follow will push all of them beyond boundaries they never thought they’d cross.
In this stunning debut novel, Myfanwy Collins lays bare the hearts of three lost women called together by their own homing instincts in a season that will change their lives–and the place they call home–forever.
What people are saying about Echolocation:
“Myfanwy Collins tells a deep and resonant story about people she loves, and along the way shows us how to love them as well.”
—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina and Cavedweller
“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!”
—Ellen Meister, author of The Other Life
“Myfanwy Collins has the goods. It’s that simple. Echolocation is about love in all its magnificent slipperiness; it’s about how secrets bind us rather than rend us; it’s about the endless series of personal reinventions we call a lifetime. And these are things we had all better be thinking–and reading–about, if we plan to try and get out of this alive.” —Ron Currie Jr., author of God is Dead and Everything Matters!
“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 live with what’s missing.” —Pia Z. Ehrhardt, author of Famous Father and Other Stories
“A moving and delicate novel, tracing the poignant destinies of women who long for a home they never had.” —Laila Lalami, author of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and Secret Son
“Get ready to fall madly, sadly in love with the fiction of Myfanwy Collins.” —Benjamin Percy, author of The Wilding and Refresh, Refresh
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 cancer. Her death draws them back together, forcing them to face their past–and each other. When Cheri’s mother turns up with a strange baby and a dangerous secret close behind, the choices that follow will push all of them beyond boundaries they never thought they’d cross.
In this stunning debut novel, Myfanwy Collins lays bare the hearts of three lost women called together by their own homing instincts in a season that will change their lives–and the place they call home–forever.
What people are saying about Echolocation:
“Myfanwy Collins tells a deep and resonant story about people she loves, and along the way shows us how to love them as well.”
—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina and Cavedweller
“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!”
—Ellen Meister, author of The Other Life
“Myfanwy Collins has the goods. It’s that simple. Echolocation is about love in all its magnificent slipperiness; it’s about how secrets bind us rather than rend us; it’s about the endless series of personal reinventions we call a lifetime. And these are things we had all better be thinking–and reading–about, if we plan to try and get out of this alive.” —Ron Currie Jr., author of God is Dead and Everything Matters!
“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 live with what’s missing.” —Pia Z. Ehrhardt, author of Famous Father and Other Stories
“A moving and delicate novel, tracing the poignant destinies of women who long for a home they never had.” —Laila Lalami, author of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and Secret Son
“Get ready to fall madly, sadly in love with the fiction of Myfanwy Collins.” —Benjamin Percy, author of The Wilding and Refresh, Refresh
199 pages, Paperback
First published March 4, 2012
3 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
About the author
Myfanwy Collins
13 books226 followersMyfanwy Collins's 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 out now from Lacewing Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
March 17, 2012
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:
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.
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.
March 24, 2012
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 to be their destinies.
The death of Marie, when Geneva and Cheri are in their twenties, launches the narrative, which builds to a dramatic confrontation in the remote town on the Canadian-U.S. border where Marie tried, against the odds, to build an orderly existence for those she loved.
There’s really a fifth female here: an infant who comes into the story in a surprising way and who embodies both the hope that these rough-ridden women are still capable of and the fragility of love in their world. In fact, I’ll add a sixth: Nature. Myfanwy Collins is masterful at evoking landscape, particularly the harsh winter landscape of way-upstate New York. This novel’s emotional and physical weather are much the same: scouring, unpredictable, and dangerous. Echolocation casts a spell and leaves you shaken.
The death of Marie, when Geneva and Cheri are in their twenties, launches the narrative, which builds to a dramatic confrontation in the remote town on the Canadian-U.S. border where Marie tried, against the odds, to build an orderly existence for those she loved.
There’s really a fifth female here: an infant who comes into the story in a surprising way and who embodies both the hope that these rough-ridden women are still capable of and the fragility of love in their world. In fact, I’ll add a sixth: Nature. Myfanwy Collins is masterful at evoking landscape, particularly the harsh winter landscape of way-upstate New York. This novel’s emotional and physical weather are much the same: scouring, unpredictable, and dangerous. Echolocation casts a spell and leaves you shaken.
August 4, 2012
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!
November 18, 2012
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. It is "that" incredible!"
_________________________________________________________________________11/17
Note to Author: Mcfanwy,
How did you write this book? It is so multi-layered without being heavy, and has so many brilliant twists and turns that I've literally stopped at points, stared at the page, re-read what I'd read, my mouth forming perfectly round Os and I found myself silently mouthing, "No way! How can this be? Yes? Yes! This is really happening." My mind could not fathom or believe what I was feeling and processing. I had to shake my head, my eyes going round and BIG - Shock. Disbelief. But yes, what I'd read was what I'd really read.
WOW: You and Echolocation have made me feel just about every emotion I've ever felt. This ride and experience you've taken me on is beautiful, scary, ugly, magnificent, unimaginable but so viscerally real at the same time, and so much more.
Brilliant as the British might say and brilliant by definition of brilliant.
I had to pause in my reading to share my thoughts and feelings with you.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
_________________________________________________________________________
11/17 Page 140
Talk about twists and turns. Totally unexpected. Incredible! Not many things creep up on me so stealthily when I read a book. There are now. WOW!
_________________________________________________________________________
11/17 Page 120 "The weaving of characters and their relationships with their surroundings and nature is seamless and intricate. So much intimacy in every way on every page.
So full of soul, souls, and soul-full.
_________________________________________________________________________
11/11
Note to Author:
I started reading Echolocation late last night. I have been literally 'feeling' every single one of your words. I can only read a few pages at a time because I become so utterly consumed and filled with emotion. I feel your characters inside me. They have become living, breathing, and feeling human beings to me. I know them somehow - they are me - they are special people in my life who I have known and who I know now. I'm crying writing to you. I don't know how to describe to anyone what you have created, who you are, or how anyone can possibly feel and write as you do. I don't know. I don't know.
I am totally caught up in the prose, how the writing just flows so naturally. I'm inescapably filled with emotions. Characters are completely real human beings to me. I feel everything they are feeling. I'm reading this book but the characters have emerged from the pages and I feel that they are alive and living in our world. I'm tense, and moved, and speechless. They are already part of me.
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. It is "that" incredible!"
_________________________________________________________________________11/17
Note to Author: Mcfanwy,
How did you write this book? It is so multi-layered without being heavy, and has so many brilliant twists and turns that I've literally stopped at points, stared at the page, re-read what I'd read, my mouth forming perfectly round Os and I found myself silently mouthing, "No way! How can this be? Yes? Yes! This is really happening." My mind could not fathom or believe what I was feeling and processing. I had to shake my head, my eyes going round and BIG - Shock. Disbelief. But yes, what I'd read was what I'd really read.
WOW: You and Echolocation have made me feel just about every emotion I've ever felt. This ride and experience you've taken me on is beautiful, scary, ugly, magnificent, unimaginable but so viscerally real at the same time, and so much more.
Brilliant as the British might say and brilliant by definition of brilliant.
I had to pause in my reading to share my thoughts and feelings with you.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
_________________________________________________________________________
11/17 Page 140
Talk about twists and turns. Totally unexpected. Incredible! Not many things creep up on me so stealthily when I read a book. There are now. WOW!
_________________________________________________________________________
11/17 Page 120 "The weaving of characters and their relationships with their surroundings and nature is seamless and intricate. So much intimacy in every way on every page.
So full of soul, souls, and soul-full.
_________________________________________________________________________
11/11
Note to Author:
I started reading Echolocation late last night. I have been literally 'feeling' every single one of your words. I can only read a few pages at a time because I become so utterly consumed and filled with emotion. I feel your characters inside me. They have become living, breathing, and feeling human beings to me. I know them somehow - they are me - they are special people in my life who I have known and who I know now. I'm crying writing to you. I don't know how to describe to anyone what you have created, who you are, or how anyone can possibly feel and write as you do. I don't know. I don't know.
I am totally caught up in the prose, how the writing just flows so naturally. I'm inescapably filled with emotions. Characters are completely real human beings to me. I feel everything they are feeling. I'm reading this book but the characters have emerged from the pages and I feel that they are alive and living in our world. I'm tense, and moved, and speechless. They are already part of me.
April 9, 2012
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.
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.
February 24, 2012
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 was born. Cheri returns to help Geneva with their aunt, and Renee shows up unexpectedly with a secret that will change them all.
The characters in "Echolocation," men and women alike, are flawed in the best, most fascinating, ways, and though they make mistakes, they are not beyond redemption, not beyond our empathy. Collins clearly loves her characters, weaknesses and all, and that authorial love elicits a similar compassion from the reader. These four women are fierce. Auntie Marie's devotion to Cheri and Geneva is as strong as her devotion to God; Cheri is determined in her self-destructive desire to deny her feelings; Geneva's strength in carrying on with life after a devastating accident is remarkable, and Renee finally discovers she's capable of caring for another more than herself.
This is a complex story, told with an assured, deft hand. Collins is a master at weaving story lines together in an artful, spare way. Every word is well-chosen. Every nuance is perfectly placed. "Echolocation" is literary fiction at its finest.
The characters in "Echolocation," men and women alike, are flawed in the best, most fascinating, ways, and though they make mistakes, they are not beyond redemption, not beyond our empathy. Collins clearly loves her characters, weaknesses and all, and that authorial love elicits a similar compassion from the reader. These four women are fierce. Auntie Marie's devotion to Cheri and Geneva is as strong as her devotion to God; Cheri is determined in her self-destructive desire to deny her feelings; Geneva's strength in carrying on with life after a devastating accident is remarkable, and Renee finally discovers she's capable of caring for another more than herself.
This is a complex story, told with an assured, deft hand. Collins is a master at weaving story lines together in an artful, spare way. Every word is well-chosen. Every nuance is perfectly placed. "Echolocation" is literary fiction at its finest.
June 29, 2012
This book surprised me. Didn't expect it to take the turns it did. I enjoyed Collins dipping into the soft thriller territory, with strong women and wonderful descriptions of the country just south of the Canadian border. I think Pia Ehrhardt said it best, it's about "women ... who slam back together and figure out how to live with what's missing."
July 19, 2012
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 in the novel is created by the consistent PRESENCE of the PAST. This particular aspect of the novel reminds me of Alice Munro, whose characters seem like mental time travelers, moving between now and then. Collins juggles Renee, Cheri, and Geneva and I'm curious what she'd be able to do with just one character put under the microscope of her sentences.
The closing ~30 pages is quite interesting as it reveals more memories than I expected from the climax of the novel, cementing Geneva as the emotional core of the novel, the potentially tragic figure, and the one who still lingers after I've shut the book.
I think the greatest momentum in the novel is created by the consistent PRESENCE of the PAST. This particular aspect of the novel reminds me of Alice Munro, whose characters seem like mental time travelers, moving between now and then. Collins juggles Renee, Cheri, and Geneva and I'm curious what she'd be able to do with just one character put under the microscope of her sentences.
The closing ~30 pages is quite interesting as it reveals more memories than I expected from the climax of the novel, cementing Geneva as the emotional core of the novel, the potentially tragic figure, and the one who still lingers after I've shut the book.
September 12, 2011
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 the one leaving," or create scenic exhibitions: "Gray trees along the roadside creaked in the wind, bare branches scratching out the blue from the sky. A single crow let out a continuous, ornery caw, rippling the morning's stillness."
This story never hiccups and never meanders. It paints a world that is at the same time believably tough and graciously beautiful. It is about connections and relationships and hardships and so much more. Oh, and the title is perfect.
Read it.
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 the one leaving," or create scenic exhibitions: "Gray trees along the roadside creaked in the wind, bare branches scratching out the blue from the sky. A single crow let out a continuous, ornery caw, rippling the morning's stillness."
This story never hiccups and never meanders. It paints a world that is at the same time believably tough and graciously beautiful. It is about connections and relationships and hardships and so much more. Oh, and the title is perfect.
Read it.
May 3, 2012
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 short novel entertaining and complex rather than brutish. Indeed, by the book's end, you come away believing that salvation is possible even for the most misguided among us. The language sings throughout the book.
Read
April 14, 2017Although the author is a dear friend and colleague, I am reviewing this book with an objective eye. Echolocation is a story about a dysfunctional family of women from the rural north of New York near Canada. These women each have a unique story of their own, but each tale revolves around their mother figure Marie. These women love and hate each other, and these emotions ebb and flow throughout the story. They do a great job of manipulating men, but not through sexual means. I could go on and on but I don’t want to spoil the book for you. The book is riveting and although I am not one for binge reading, I couldn’t put it down. —Barb (https://www.bookish.com/articles/book...)
February 5, 2012
Echolocation is a perfect little book about reality hitting hard. It's about necessary roughness and begrudging tenderness, and it swallows one up while reading. I certainly look forward to experiencing more of Myfanwy Collins' work.
(My full review can be found at Glorified Love Letters.)
(My full review can be found at Glorified Love Letters.)
June 21, 2012
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!
August 15, 2013
Based on the the cover and the blurbs on the back, I started this book expecting beautiful, evocative writing. I wasn't disappointed--just surprised at how taut and tawdry it was as well. A great, unique story, full of beautiful literary language dispatched at a thriller's pace.
March 11, 2012
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 -- events. Nothing is quite as simple as it seems, Echolocation least of all." -- Ellen Akins , Special to the Star Tribune
" Myfanwy Collins’s Echolocation is a new classic literary crime thriller, beautifully written, seamlessly plotted, and heart-wrenching... I believe Collins clearly has earned her own rightful place in the pantheon, as the creator of 'Adirondack Noir.'" -- Maura Lynch, Loudmouthkid62.
“Collins makes beautiful art out of terrifying and grim realities. That she does this with so much obvious love for her characters is what makes Echolocation more of an elegy than an exposé. This is compassionate fiction, thankfully still clear-eyed and penetrating, but more than anything else, it is merciful.” – Michelle Bailat-Jones, Necessary Fiction.
“Echolocation is a perfect little book about reality hitting hard. It’s about necessary roughness and begrudging tenderness, and it swallows one up while reading. I certainly look forward to experiencing more of Myfanwy Collins’ work.” Sara Habein, Glorified Love Letters.
“Echolocation will appeal to readers who are drawn to stories that explore humanity in all of its facets, the good and the bad, and that consider the rocky road to redemption. Fans of literary short fiction and flash fiction will especially appreciate Collins’ tightly crafted writing and suspenseful style.” – Jennifer M Kaufman, LitStack.
“This is a complex story, told with an assured, deft hand. Collins is a master at weaving story lines together in an artful, spare way. Every word is well-chosen. Every nuance is perfectly placed. “Echolocation” is literary fiction at its finest.” — Katrina Denza.
An excerpt of Echolocation: http://necessaryfiction.com/stories/M...
“Myfanwy Collins tells a deep and resonant story about people she loves, and along the way shows us how to love them as well.”
—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina and Cavedweller
“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!”
—Ellen Meister, author of The Other Life
“Myfanwy Collins has the goods. It’s that simple. Echolocation is about love in all its magnificent slipperiness; it’s about how secrets bind us rather than rend us; it’s about the endless series of personal reinventions we call a lifetime. And these are things we had all better be thinking–and reading–about, if we plan to try and get out of this alive.” —Ron Currie Jr., author of God is Dead and Everything Matters!
“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 live with what’s missing.” —Pia Z. Ehrhardt, author of Famous Father and Other Stories
“A moving and delicate novel, tracing the poignant destinies of women who long for a home they never had.” —Laila Lalami, author of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and Secret Son
“Get ready to fall madly, sadly in love with the fiction of Myfanwy Collins.” —Benjamin Percy, author of The Wilding and Refresh, Refresh
Available for pre-order now at Engine Books: http://www.enginebooks.org/Echolocati...
Was delighted to be interviewed about Echolocation at the Vernacular blog: http://www.vernacularlit.com/2011/09/...
A new interview with me about my writing life and Echolocation here: http://blog.mixerpublishing.com/?p=1162
Ellen Meister interviews me about Echolocation: http://www.eclectica.org/v15n4/meiste...
Here's the Facebook page for Ecolocation: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Echoloc...
Echolocation gets a mention on Today's The Quivering Pen: http://davidabramsbooks.blogspot.com/...
July 30, 2013
I read this book in less than a day! This is very much against my usual habit. This was perfect, though, as a compelling holiday-weekend book that I just never felt like putting down. No, I still don't have plans today? Ok, I'll be in bed finishing the book.
I read this on the strength of Kfan's review which is real real compelling too. I wanted to know what was violent and scary! It's cool, how much is packed in a small frame. It's short and fast, and weirdly it's as if the reading experience itself is in character: these people don't have the time or patience to explain more. It's like they're saying, you don't know the half of what we're dealing with. Just take it and go.
Their lives are fairly harsh, and there's a surprisingly large cast for such a small book. They're like a little constellation of characters over this small, wintry town. A weird pick for July 4th weekend, it turned out — how cold this book is, how brutally frozen. It's not entirely unlike Fargo, actually. Or Winter's Bone. It would not take a whole lot of shift to make this book a real cool movie. Can I get this movie? I never asked anyone for Divergent, let's do this one instead. No one ever asks me.
The narrative omniscience offers you a good amount of dramatic irony, linking them together in ways they won't ever figure out. It pushes your buttons, too — there are the slightest brushes with incest, in like at least three places; there are lost identities, missing parents here and returning parents there. You're not 100% sure who is being straight with you, so to speak. You think you know something she doesn't know. But maybe she does? But she'd never do that if she knew what you know, right?
So, I would call this gripping, and really super impressive based on how much happens. A lot. You should read it! Truthfully, though, I was disappointed when I reached the ending. Maybe my balance was off because I tore through it, didn't savor a thing or build it up. But for some reason it felt like it wasn't what I wanted. But, probably? Wanting something for these characters, for this story — wanting something more! — means they're realer to me than they seem to be on paper. And that's a thumbs-up, always.
I read this on the strength of Kfan's review which is real real compelling too. I wanted to know what was violent and scary! It's cool, how much is packed in a small frame. It's short and fast, and weirdly it's as if the reading experience itself is in character: these people don't have the time or patience to explain more. It's like they're saying, you don't know the half of what we're dealing with. Just take it and go.
Their lives are fairly harsh, and there's a surprisingly large cast for such a small book. They're like a little constellation of characters over this small, wintry town. A weird pick for July 4th weekend, it turned out — how cold this book is, how brutally frozen. It's not entirely unlike Fargo, actually. Or Winter's Bone. It would not take a whole lot of shift to make this book a real cool movie. Can I get this movie? I never asked anyone for Divergent, let's do this one instead. No one ever asks me.
The narrative omniscience offers you a good amount of dramatic irony, linking them together in ways they won't ever figure out. It pushes your buttons, too — there are the slightest brushes with incest, in like at least three places; there are lost identities, missing parents here and returning parents there. You're not 100% sure who is being straight with you, so to speak. You think you know something she doesn't know. But maybe she does? But she'd never do that if she knew what you know, right?
So, I would call this gripping, and really super impressive based on how much happens. A lot. You should read it! Truthfully, though, I was disappointed when I reached the ending. Maybe my balance was off because I tore through it, didn't savor a thing or build it up. But for some reason it felt like it wasn't what I wanted. But, probably? Wanting something for these characters, for this story — wanting something more! — means they're realer to me than they seem to be on paper. And that's a thumbs-up, always.
June 27, 2012
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 destinations, Collins delivers the payoff every time.
Geneva’s journey is arguably the most transformative, certainly in the physical sense but mentally as well. Her emotions run the gamut from innocence to heavy guilt, her decisive action in the face of imminent danger cold and calculated, yet sacrificial in nature. By the book’s end, readers can only hope she’ll go on, somehow able to cope with all she knows about her own capabilities.
Cheri and Renee, daughter and mother, run from one another and from the rest of their family, only to come full circle. Geneva’s sacrifice occurs for their benefit and that of Cree, the baby they nearly lose, and readers are left hoping that Geneva’s actions on their behalf will be worth their toll.
Rick’s ride up the east coast, chasing Renee, disturbing but realistic, ends the way we all hope it will as we read it.
For a novel not short on deaths, Collins’ tone is one of hope, in my opinion. Hope that humans, in spite of all of our boredom and angst and fear, can persevere. No character is a better example of this optimistic notion than Auntie Marie, whose spirit acts as a guiding light for Geneva, Cheri, and Renee in specific situations and in a more general sense throughout the narrative.
I hope Myfanwy Collins, whose flash fiction I always enjoy, follows this novel with others; I’ll surely read them.
Geneva’s journey is arguably the most transformative, certainly in the physical sense but mentally as well. Her emotions run the gamut from innocence to heavy guilt, her decisive action in the face of imminent danger cold and calculated, yet sacrificial in nature. By the book’s end, readers can only hope she’ll go on, somehow able to cope with all she knows about her own capabilities.
Cheri and Renee, daughter and mother, run from one another and from the rest of their family, only to come full circle. Geneva’s sacrifice occurs for their benefit and that of Cree, the baby they nearly lose, and readers are left hoping that Geneva’s actions on their behalf will be worth their toll.
Rick’s ride up the east coast, chasing Renee, disturbing but realistic, ends the way we all hope it will as we read it.
For a novel not short on deaths, Collins’ tone is one of hope, in my opinion. Hope that humans, in spite of all of our boredom and angst and fear, can persevere. No character is a better example of this optimistic notion than Auntie Marie, whose spirit acts as a guiding light for Geneva, Cheri, and Renee in specific situations and in a more general sense throughout the narrative.
I hope Myfanwy Collins, whose flash fiction I always enjoy, follows this novel with others; I’ll surely read them.
May 12, 2012
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, and tension. Collins’ prose is elegant, but also lean and mean; as beautiful as the writing is, she doesn’t shy away from the dark, the gritty, and the cold part of life. Her use of short sections from the different characters’ POV (including some secondary characters) show their thoughts and motivations, of course, but also drive the story forward efficiently and quickly. Collins continued to surprise me throughout the book, as the story went places I hadn’t expected.
This is also a very visual novel. I was right there with the characters, stomping through the snowy woods to the old quarry; waiting out the ice storm in the safety of the family’s store/home as ice pellets hit the windows; having a drink in a seedy bar. And, of course, in the climactic scene. Though the three lead women were flawed, I cared about them, and couldn’t put the book down until I saw how it all turned out.
This is literary fiction with plot, action, and tension. Collins’ prose is elegant, but also lean and mean; as beautiful as the writing is, she doesn’t shy away from the dark, the gritty, and the cold part of life. Her use of short sections from the different characters’ POV (including some secondary characters) show their thoughts and motivations, of course, but also drive the story forward efficiently and quickly. Collins continued to surprise me throughout the book, as the story went places I hadn’t expected.
This is also a very visual novel. I was right there with the characters, stomping through the snowy woods to the old quarry; waiting out the ice storm in the safety of the family’s store/home as ice pellets hit the windows; having a drink in a seedy bar. And, of course, in the climactic scene. Though the three lead women were flawed, I cared about them, and couldn’t put the book down until I saw how it all turned out.
May 31, 2012
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.) This lull is important to ease the reader into the non-traditional family-- Aunt Marie raises her sister Renee's abandoned daughter, Cheri, and another abandoned girl (not related by blood), Geneva. We are able to see the girls' relationship to Aunt Marie and to each other. We are also able to see Geneva's relationship to her husband, Clint, and Renee's relationship to Rick. Once all of the characters are established, Collins introduces the main conflict, and the pacing quickens until the climax. Unlike many other novels, Collins also takes us beyond the climax to show how these characters cope with what has happened. Overall, this was a gorgeous, balanced novel that I would recommend to anyone.
May 12, 2012
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. The author's familiarity with the terrain and feeling of belonging is reflected in the lush descriptions of the northern wilds as well as the characters it bears.
Myfanwy writes beatifully and movingly, each word well-chosen. Her story, too, is gripping with several story lines dancing back and forth with each other before culminating in a rather shocking event. There were times when some of the character's choices or events prompted me to think, "Really?" But the book is so beautifully crafted, I was happy to let Myfanwy take me for the ride.
She also explained that the Adirondacks represent home to her. The author's familiarity with the terrain and feeling of belonging is reflected in the lush descriptions of the northern wilds as well as the characters it bears.
Myfanwy writes beatifully and movingly, each word well-chosen. Her story, too, is gripping with several story lines dancing back and forth with each other before culminating in a rather shocking event. There were times when some of the character's choices or events prompted me to think, "Really?" But the book is so beautifully crafted, I was happy to let Myfanwy take me for the ride.
December 13, 2013
Even though I know I should know better, I have an expectation (prejudice?) that if a book is labeled “LITERARY” it’s going to be slow-paced, introspective and probably have characters that are graduate students or tortured artists.
Echolocation grabbed me right from the opening scene. It is fast-paced and the underclass cast of characters are very very real. I’m pretty sure none of them have been to grad school.
This story reminded me in some respects of the film “Winter Bone” with its gritty, no bullshit characters. It would make a great film. But read the book first because it’s beautifully written.
I like to read the Goodreads reviews after I read the book to see what others thought. This book has been reviewed by a number of skilled reviewers who do a much better job than I can of critiquing this work.
Of all of them, I think Susan Rukeyser’s 5 star review is one of the best for giving a potential reader a sense of what this book is about.
Echolocation grabbed me right from the opening scene. It is fast-paced and the underclass cast of characters are very very real. I’m pretty sure none of them have been to grad school.
This story reminded me in some respects of the film “Winter Bone” with its gritty, no bullshit characters. It would make a great film. But read the book first because it’s beautifully written.
I like to read the Goodreads reviews after I read the book to see what others thought. This book has been reviewed by a number of skilled reviewers who do a much better job than I can of critiquing this work.
Of all of them, I think Susan Rukeyser’s 5 star review is one of the best for giving a potential reader a sense of what this book is about.
June 30, 2012
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. What didn’t seem in keeping was Geneva’s spiritual search at the end. Everything else was well set up (and, indeed, all loose ends are tied in this novel, very little left to wonder about) so this felt “unearned,” as it were.
Nonetheless, the writing is beautiful and the story compelling. I can whole-heartedly recommend Echolocation.
Nonetheless, the writing is beautiful and the story compelling. I can whole-heartedly recommend Echolocation.
June 2, 2012
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 distracted from the plot. Still, the writing and story was effective.
April 1, 2012
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!
April 30, 2012
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.
July 5, 2013
Echolocation is well-written and so tightly plotted that one is tempted to fall into it and read it in one sitting--it is that compelling. I've read that this novel is an exploration of relationships between mothers and daughters and sisters. But not any mothers, daughters or sisters that I have ever known. Thank God. These are flawed, gritty women that seem born to flail and fail. If you're looking for an uplifting book with likable characters, this may not be your read.
April 12, 2012
A debut novel of beauty and strength, stunning in its language and powerfully drawn. A book to read straight through, absorbing the building tension. I almost felt anxious as I read, wondering what would happen next. As a story of four women, of family relationships and secrets, and of place, Echolocation is wonderful.
November 22, 2012
*I received this book as a First Reads giveaway.*
This was a wonderful read. Well-written and captivating, it was difficult to put down. The scenery and language were beautiful throughout. It was clear that Collins put a lot of thought and care into her characters, and I managed to feel connected to each and every one of them.
This was a wonderful read. Well-written and captivating, it was difficult to put down. The scenery and language were beautiful throughout. It was clear that Collins put a lot of thought and care into her characters, and I managed to feel connected to each and every one of them.
July 15, 2013
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT. I was captivated throughout the book. The author was successful in writing characters that were intriguing and interesting. I wanted to know more about each one. But the ending? What ending? The book just stopped. I thought perhaps I missed something. This made the book forgettable unfortunately.
September 10, 2016
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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