Review: Airmail by Naomi Bulger

Title: Airmail

Author: Naomi Bulger

Published: iUniverse 2011

Synopsis: Reclusive old Mr. G.L. Solomon’s favorite things are single malt whiskey, Steve McQueen movies, and gingersnap cookies. He hates processed cheese, washing detergent commercials, and the way the teacup rattles in the saucer when he picks it up. Solomon has become accustomed to his lonely routine in Sydney, Australia-until the day he begins sporadically receiving letters in his mailbox from a complete stranger. On the other side of the world, Anouk is a mentally delicate young woman living in New York who insists she is being stalked by a fat woman in a pink tracksuit. When Anouk declares to Solomon that she is writing “from the Other Side,” the old man breaks away from his daily grind of watching soap operas and reading Fishing World and travels to New York to find her. As he is drawn into Anouk’s surreal world of stalkers and storytelling, marbles and cats, purgatory and Plato, Solomon has but one goal-to unravel the mystery before it is too late.

Status: Read on August 10, 2011 — I own a copy {Courtesy the author}

My Thoughts:

Airmail is an enigmatic yet engaging journey from the ordinary to the surreal.
In Sydney, Australia, Mr G L Solomon lives a life of quiet routine, sipping tea and whiskey, watching daytime television and hissing at his neighbor’s cat. Yet every so often an envelope arrives in his mailbox containing a rambling letter and perhaps a trinket, from a stranger in New York. Anouk lives in a small apartment in Manhattan and writes letters to Mr G L Solomon in a desperate bid to anchor herself as she begins to quite literally ‘lose her marbles’. Caught between reality and glimpses of divine interference Anouk withdraws, her letters stop and a concerned G L Solomon eschews his everyday routine to solve the mystery of his vulnerable acquaintance.
I was immediately intrigued by the protagonists of Airmail. Anouk’s state of mind is shrouded in as much mystery as the identity of the woman in the pink velour tracksuit about whom she writes. Her emotional and mental vulnerability incite empathy and I thought her desperation to connect with her past a fascinating motivation for writing to Mr Solomon.
Mr Solomon’s stoicism in honouring the missives he receives from a complete stranger is equally as interesting. Here is a forgotten old man who forms an ethereal connection with a young woman whom he cannot even directly contact but nevertheless he is willing to abandon his familiar life in order to rescue her. For both Anouk and GL the shift from an abstract relationship to a personal acquaintance is a catalyst for personal change and redemption.
Airmail is a quirky novella with a premise that takes a decidedly surreal turn. Bulger explores themes of communication, connection and alienation from both others and self. It has a dark tone intertwined with moments of humour and tenderness. It’s not the story I was expecting when I accepted the book for review from the author, I wouldn’t identify it as magical realism but something more speculative and abstract, nevertheless I found it an engaging story.  Airmail is not a light novel despite being a short read at just 103 pages as the author keeps the reader off balance by softening the boundaries of reality. To be honest, I’m not sure I fully comprehended the author’s message but I did find it a thought provoking tale and readers with a philosophical bent will likely find Airmail an entertaining novel.

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Naomi Bulger will be joining me tomorrow at Book’d Out with a guest post and giveaway of her book, Airmail, make sure you stop by!

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