Blackout Odyssey
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
All Mallory needs to do to get home is travel across Toronto in a straight line-how hard could it be?
But in this genderbent retelling of Homer's Odyssey set in the 2003 Northeastern Blackout, nothing so simple can ever go according to plan.
Before even boarding the shuttle bus in the east end, she manages to piss off the supernatural, getting a mystical bounty placed on her head. Before long, she's navigating a haunted department store that exists out of time and space, giving dating advice to the lord of the underworld, dodging Russian mobsters and Toronto raccoons, and staging acoustic battles of the bands. All while in a broken pair of heels, just trying to hail a ride--or even find a working pay phone--before the hussy across the hall makes a play for her boyfriend Dylan's affections (and home-cooked meal).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A gender-bent retelling of The Odyssey, Feistner's enjoyable sophomore novel (after Creampuffs) opens as heroine Mallory leaves her job in the east end of Toronto on a hot and sticky summer day. All Mallory wants is to get home to her boyfriend, Dylan. This would usually be an easy feat, but tonight is different: it's the start of the Northeast Blackout of 2003. After the lights go out and Mallory loses her wallet in the chaos, she must make a perilous trek across the city, relying on the kindness of strangers and her own wits to get by. Along the way, she encounters many strange sights, among them an underground supernatural world in the depths of Honest Ed's Discount Store, a pot farm in the Queens Quay streetcar station, and a rock battle—which she joins in on—outside of Lee's Palace concert hall. Mallory's stubborn defiance in the face of the weirdness she stumbles on is endlessly entertaining, and her adventures double as a travelogue through famous Toronto sights. Feistner captures beauty, strangeness, and distinct Torontonian flair in her humorous, energetic prose. Fans of fresh takes on classics and quirky quests will find much to love.
