THE VANISHING ACT by Mette Jakobsen | Booklover Book Reviews

Mette Jakobsen’s The Vanishing Act was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize, 2012

The Vanishing Act Synopsis:

This is a story about a snow-covered island you won’t find on any map.

It’s Minou’s story. She’s twelve. A year ago, the morning after the circus, her mama walked out into the rain with a black umbrella and never came back.

It’s a story about a magician and a priest and a dog called No Name. It’s about Papa’s endless hunt for the truth.

It’s about a dead boy who listens, and Minou’s search for Mama’s voice. And it’s about discovering what love is.

The Vanishing Act, Mette Jakobsen’s spellbinding debut novel, is a story you will never forget.

(Text Publishing)

Disclosure: If you click a link in this post and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

BOOK REVIEW

Mette Jakobsen’s debut novel The Vanishing Act could best be described as a literary meditation on isolation and loneliness, and how those two concepts are quite different. Discussions on philosophy are used to explore alternate viewpoints and highlight the tension between people’s needs and desires.

Papa said that to live on an island was to live in a closed fist.

‘Nothing suits a philosopher better,’ he said. ‘How can you philosophise if you constantly have to choose?’ On an island as small as ours there were choices to be made, but not that many. Most of the time could be spent thinking, which for Papa was the noblest of all pursuits.

The reader is presented with the mystery of a woman’s disappearance from the island at the outset, and the picture of what happened is gradually filled in for the reader piece by piece.

In The Vanishing Act Mette Jakobsen delivers a haunting story about life and all its mysteries.

The power of this tale comes from Jakobsen’s use of first person narration from the independent and curious twelve year old Minou. The world and the actions of those that inhabit it seen through the eyes of a child is a unique and disarming perspective.

… then maybe he was an awful person like Rousseau, who Mama told me, went out into the world to serve the Enlightenment, leaving behind his wife and five children.

‘What does Enlightenment mean?’ I asked Papa.

‘It means,’ said Papa, ‘that Rousseau wanted the best for everyone. He wanted a new world where people were happy and free.’

I imagined five hungry children standing on a cold floor, waiting for their father to come home and enlighten them as well.

Although the subject matter of death and loss results in stark and bleak passages, Jakobsen injects colour and optimism through Minou’s interactions with the eccentric island inhabitants and her loyal canine companion No-Name. While the prose is wonderful and the story a clever one, I did find the pacing frustrating at times and found myself wanting a little more from the ending.

The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen is a subtle story written in a way that will really make you think. Is the world black and white, or a rainbow?

BOOK RATING: The Story 3.5 / 5 ; The Writing 4.5 / 5 — Overall 4

Get your copy of The Vanishing Act from:

Genre: Literature, Mystery, Drama

About the Author, Mette Jakobsen

Mette Jakobsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and now lives in Newtown, Sydney. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and a BA in philosophy. In 2004 she graduated from NIDA’s Playwrights Studio and several of her plays have been broadcast on ABC Radio National. Her novels are The Vanishing Act, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize in 2012, and What the Light Hides.