Trip Through Your Wires

Author:
Sarah Layden
Narrator:
Sarah Layden
Publisher:
Author’s Republic
Audio Release date: Aug 23, 2016
Listening length:
8 hours and 42 mn
ISBN: 978-1938126178
also available in print and as ebook
Genre: literary fiction

Goodreads

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

I was approached by the author, narrator herself of her novel Trip Through Your Wires, half set in Mexico and the US. Interested in diversity, I accepted to read the book, and am glad I did.

Having a secret crush on Ben living in her city of Indianapolis, Carey decides to sign up to a foreign exchange to Guanajuato, Mexico, where she knows he will be as well.
But something happens there and his death puts an end to their romance.
Years later, Carey hasn’t turned the page yet, and she reminisces and tries to understand what really happened.

So the book alternates between Carey’s time in Mexico and back in the US, after the tragedy.
The pace is slow and allows you to connect deeply with the characters.

As I listened to it, it kept reminding me of To The End of the Land, by David Grossman, in which you accompany Ora along her long journey on foot and listens to her sorrows. Same slow pace, same theme of grief and memory – though of course the cultural and political context is very different.  where

You really get to know the people from the inside.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Carey’s Mexican host family, discovering the customs (and food!) of the country.
And ultimately, the work touches on an important element going on between our two countries.
I have never been to Mexico, but it felt like a very real place, and a place I would love to go. I could feel the deep love of the author for this country.

Even if there’s a mystery involved, I would not consider the book a mystery, but more literary fiction, based on the style of the writing, the way the characters are presented, and the pace of the story.

If you enjoy the Hispanic culture and need to spend some quality time with characters to get to know them from the inside, I recommend Trip Through Your Wires.

AUDIO PERFORMANCE

At first, I found the narrator (the author herself) too fast, but little by little, she slowed down to a more contemplative pace, which I think fits better with the global ambiance of the book.
Also I noticed the volume of the narration is not steady and sometimes you have to play with your own volume buttons. Thankfully, this did not happen too often, so it never became a major issue.
The tone is pitch perfect, with just enough pathos and not over the top.
It was fun to have a lot of Spanish words used, though of course it would be a handicap for you to listen to it if you don’t know Spanish.

VERDICT: Let yourself be captivated and enjoy diversity, as you listen to Carey reminiscing about a major drama in her life and her deep connection with the Mexican culture.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

A clue to her boyfriend’s murder draws Carey back into the mystery that led to his death, forcing her to re-examine her own culpability and the self-delusion that blinded her to the dangers of his world. As she follows the clues and searches her memory, searing loss and guilt take over her life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

photo credit: Eric Learned

Sarah Layden
is the winner of the Allen and Nirelle Galson Prize
for fiction and an AWP Intro Award.
Her short fiction can be found in
Boston Review, Stone Canoe, Blackbird,
Artful Dodge, The Evansville Review, Booth,
PANK, the anthology Sudden Flash Youth,
and elsewhere.
A two-time Society of Professional Journalists award winner,
her recent essays, interviews and articles have appeared
in Ladies’ Home Journal, The Writer’s Chronicle, NUVO, and The Humanist.
She teaches writing at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis
and the Indiana Writers Center.

Trip Through Your Wires is her first novel.

Visit her website,
follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

ARE YOU PLANNING TO LISTEN TO THIS BOOK?
Any other good book you read set in Mexico?
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