Queen of Corona
Esterhazy
Publication date: December 15th 2017
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult
Roza Esterhazy is a mixed-up kid. Eighteen years old and on the threshold of adulthood, she feels powerless in the face of a world that hasn’t adequately prepared her for adult life. She is riddled with anxiety about the world’s problems, the problems of her classmates at an inner-city high school in Corona, Queens. As an American of multicultural heritage (Polish-Jewish on her mother’s side, Venezuelan on her father’s) she struggles to find her place in society where the odds are stacked against people like her.
At the outset, she is on an airplane heading to Warsaw – the city of her ancestors, a city she’d never been to before. The city her mother had fled from in the 1980s because of an article she’d written that had offended the authorities. Roza’s voyage is a kind of reverse immigration – she’s escaping from America back to Poland because of a student protest that ended in tragedy. She alludes to the protest and its bloody end throughout the novel, with flashbacks tormenting her traumatized mind to the very end. When she arrives in Warsaw, she struggles to come to terms with what happened and what part she played in the tragedy. She grapples with the concept of guilt and blame – were the students to blame for what happened or was it the fault of overzealous police? She weighs how fear quells courage in an oppressive society. She confronts the grey reality of post-war Warsaw and realizes that there’s very little of it that she can identify with. She retraces history’s steps through the Polish capital and the former ghetto of WW2.
Her longing for home is visceral, reflected in the flashbacks of school and relationships that are woven through her daily existence. Flashbacks that reflect the absurdity of the inner-city high school experience, where kids are meant to learn an inimical thread of history that has little to do with their own reality, that places many of them in the position of the conquered and exploited.
Queen of Corona is a look into the inner life of the inner city. A foray into the mind and heart of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, torn from her destiny because she dared to stand up and speak up for those who don’t have a voice. A glimpse inside the hopeless hallways of New York City’s failing public schools. It is a coming-of-age novel in a tumultuous time. It is a lesson on how fear is the most dangerous aspect of our Trumped-up existence.
Review:
3 stars
Queen of Corona by Esterhazy was an interesting story that has a very dark, but a plot that will potentially leave a lasting impression on you if you can get through the confusing parts of the story - which I feel was due to the writing style. Although, overall, I thought the plot was great - it just had moments where I didn't know when it was happening, and so forth.
The character development was on point in this book, and by that I mean, Roza grew throughout the story, but in a way that made you really connect, so much so that you could love her while being completely frustrated with her at times. Her story is dark and sad, and realistic, which is what got to me.
The ending was horrible, but not in a way that ruined the book. More like, it wasn't satisfying for it to happen, but it was also perfect for this story because it really brought home the focus that this is real, and this is what happens.
Overall, I did enjoy reading the book. Although I was a complete emotional mess while doing so. I would recommend this book if you can stomach darker novels, because it can be tough to get through.
Author Bio:Esterhazy is a journalist, writer and translator. A native New Yorker, she holds degrees in Comparative Literature from New York University and American Studies from the University of Warsaw. Queen of Corona is her debut novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment