Sarah Bruni’s debut novel, The Night Gwen Stacy Died, is a coming-of-age story set in the landscape of a psychological thriller; the mood is dark, and the characters reckless as the inhabitants of a Dylan song: “People are crazy and times are strange . . . I used to care, but things have changed.” The protagonists take on the personas of Spider-Man characters in order to solve a mystery that may save a life—even as they tackle the mystery of their own lives.
Bruni offers a complicated architecture for this story, alternating chapters between Gwen and Peter’s points of view and including a third point of view later in the book. Peter’s chapters are stranger and less accessible than the others: he’s fallen down the rabbit hole of his past, of his recurrent dreams, of his obsession with Gwen Stacy. How far in will Sheila follow him? How can she maintain herself in the grip of his narrative? How can she claim equal ownership of the plot?
By Sarah Bruni (Mariner)
Reading Fri 7/12, 7:30 PM
Women & Children First
5233 N. Clark
womenandchildrenfirst.com
free
