Raffi is bored. They’re bored with their job looking for dark matter and their relationship has turned stale, and the only frisson of joy they feel is when they escape to sculptor Britt’s art studio, admiring the art and the artist in equal measure. Raffi and Britt are from the same hometown, and might have been childhood friends, if only Raffi had the courage to say hello.
In another universe, they did.
Emet North’s debut In Universes is an achingly tender examination of a what if – a character study that follows Raffi from universe to universe, possibility to possibility. Each of these possibilities is wonderfully weird, showcasing an absolutely stunning imagination. There are worlds where mothers splinter into hordes of animals and insects after giving birth to daughters. There are ones with ghosts and sandcastles big enough to stand in, and ones where octopi live, symbiotic, under your skin. Every universe is unique and totally enchanting, slipping between genres, yet tethered by Raffi’s constant struggles with identity and desire, regret and guilt.
Because as wild as North’s worlds are, they are ultimately tools for exploring Raffi’s inner life. Parallel universe stories are all about comparing and contrasting, the desire to showcase how change and context can impact your characters. In Universes is no different, although North’s comparisons are more subtle, as Raffi is impacted less by their environments and more by their relationships. Raffi’s relationships with the other characters are endlessly reconfigured, friends becoming lovers and lovers becoming memories, and it’s fascinating to see which paths lead to the greatest contentment – which patterns repeat and how Raffi handles them. And it’s in these patterns where Raffi’s character arc lies, a journey written with nuance and striking gentleness.
At the root of this arc, there’s Britt. Britt and Raffi’s failed relationship is the nexus from which every universe stems, haunting Raffi and informing how they approach each subsequent world. In Universes is not a love story in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s, ironically, about thwarted possibility; the withering of something before it could grow. Raffi’s struggle with this failure is alternately heartbreaking and frustrating, peppered with moving observations and building an exquisitely complex character. North paints an intimate portrait of Raffi that is flooded with compassion and it’s impossible not to relate to. After all, everyone has something they wish they could take back.
In Universes is a deceptively delicate book, its gorgeous prose and restrained storylines slowly unspooling to reveal a powerful, poignant whole. Although there are some minor missteps, North’s command of character and structure more than make up for them. North fully embraces every creative freedom that parallel universes afford. In their hands, anything is possible.
IN UNIVERSES by Emet North is out on August 8th from Penguin
