book reviews

The Splintered Day by V.K. Mina

Published by Serpents Tail (U.K.), 1999
reviewed by alia levine

A series of fractured, lonely vignettes do not necessarily add up to a conventional novel, but by providing us with the surefire plot of love (and how to get it), V.K. Mina constructs a stark, yet hopeful world that is hard to leave until the last page.

New York City is as ruthless as it gets; The Splintered Day follows its characters through grimy dawns, half-dark rooms, failed drug-deals, rancid take-out, and love that always seems to be just out of reach. The central protagonist is a North Indian woman in her twenties - strong, intelligent, thoughtful, and just old enough to be bitterly aware of her own lack of identity. Known as Neelam, Lili, or sometimes simply as N or L, isolation pervades every corner of her life. In what seems to be the process of trying to name herself, she finds herself in a string of half-hearted affairs: the target of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Either pregnant and alone, or with any number of men or women with whom sex is "where you come, and I don’t," we follow Neelam’s descent into disenchantment.

I know, it sounds pretty depressing, but there is an edge to this work that is critical. Each scene is depicted with an acrid clarity that is uncompromising; Neelam is a woman who recognizes that "while [she is] young, [she] wants to be happy" (ha, maybe there's a sequel). Her awareness of her situation is acute; Neelam’s insights are enough to make any reader flinch. Combined with imagery vivid enough to evoke the smells of the subway and dirty sheets, The Splintered Day is an almost visceral experience.

Don't look for a happy ending; hope slowly dissipates with the turning of each page. Fortunately it's a fairly slim book; I'm not sure I could endure it if it wasn't. Unlike the work of Sarah Schulman, who also writes about issues of identity and desire in a New York City context, there are no moments of humor - not even a wry remark - to lift the characters (or the reader) out of the bleak din of life in the city.

From within this grim setting, however, surface some provocative issues. V.K. Mina is not afraid to scrutinize problems of race, gender, culture, and sexuality. The narrative does not provide any easy answers, yet the tangential shifts are stirring and innovative. Through the eyes and actions of Mina’s characters, identity and desire tangle until one cannot be explained without the other. Involving and adamantly unapologetic, The Splintered Day is an exploration of what happens when a strong-minded woman tries to please herself in an environment set up to displease.

A staunch lesbian/feminist/antipodean, Alia Levine moved from New Zealand to her family's native New York in 1997. For the last three years, she has worked as a literary agent, as well as freelance writer and editor. Having recently jumped into the non-profit sector, she's now trying to save the world at an education advocacy organization. A Women's Studies/English Literature graduate from Victoria University, NZ, Alia spends most of her time in her garden weeding the eggplants, obsessive/compulsively knitting, or trying out impossible positions at her local yoga center. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York.

©Alia Levine, 2001
All Rights Reserved

|  site map  |  about STP  |  write for STP  |  contact us  |  links  |  home  |