The Letter Opener
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On Sale:
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08/02/2007
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Formats:
Hardback
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It is 1989 and Naiko is working in the Undeliverable Mail
Office, a cavernous space that resembles a giant, congested pawnshop. Immersed
in things lost and missing, she searches for clues to match undeliverable mail
with addresses, a job that allows her to achieve a semblance of order in a
disorderly world. It is a shock, then, when Naiko’s co-worker Andrei, an
enigmatic Romanian refugee who has become the unlikely object of Naiko’s
fascination, suddenly vanishes.
As the novel reveals itself in exquisitely wrought layers that
drift through time from the Second World War to the fall of communism, Andrei’s
story of his past life in communist Romania becomes an opaque reflection of
Naiko’s own existence, and objects—from the pens hoarded by Naiko’s mother
in her retirement home to the personal effects of Jewish women that Andrei’s
grandmother sorts through at Birkenau—become touchstones for memories and
meaning, loss and love. A luminous debut novel from a rising talent of the new
generation of Canadian writers, The Letter Opener is a compelling work of
literary fiction that glows with truth.
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Author Extras
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Critical Praise for
The Letter Opener
"This is an extraordinarily thoughtful novel.... It all feels so tranquil, so exact, so hallucinatory in a tidy and scientifically organized way, the report of such a careful, observant and honest witness."
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Elisabeth Harvor
"Kyo Maclear’s humanity is an indispensable part of everything she writes. It’s the basis of her commitment to history’s forgotten people and its undelivered stories. Her voice is exquisite and incisive."
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Joy Kogawa
"Kyo Maclear has produced an ingenious work of fiction that combines rich, intimate characters with a narrative that unfolds like a puzzle box. The Letter Opener is that rare book that nourishes both the mind and the heart, at once wise and tender. A stunning, lyrical debut."
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Naomi Klein
"Like the masterful Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, Maclear creates a layered world that is both real and dream-like.... Her language and tone are just right, neither sentimental nor sensationalist.... In The Letter Opener all the elements of craft are woven together into a rich and seamless tapestry. It is hard to believe that this is a first novel. Maclear is a writer with many gifts, all of them on display in this strong debut."
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The Gazette (Montreal)
Reader Reviews from First Look
Reading The Letter Opener was very much like opening one of Naiko's letters, full of mystery and uncertainty, yet all the while surprisingly intriguing.
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Alison (Carleton Place, ON)
Reading The Letter Opener was very much like opening one of Naiko's letters, full of mystery and uncertainty, yet all the while surprisingly intriguing.
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Alison (Carleton Place, ON)
The Letter Opener has you caught up with childhood memories, items and past wrongs. While working at an Undeliverable Mail Office the character brings you on a journey, showing how peoples memories become attached to items. It kept me turning page after page to see what would happen next. This is the author’s first book. I look forward to future Kyo Maclear books.
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Lisa (Hamilton, ON)
Kyo Maclear’s The Letter Opener has the perfect premise for a novel about memory and loss, identity and isolation: the narrator’s work in the Undeliverable Mail Office mirrors her struggle for connection and belonging brilliantly. Like Caroline Adderson in A History of Forgetting and Kerri Sakamoto in The Electrical Field, Kyo Maclear’s The Letter Opener reaches in space and time, stretching overseas to back to WWII, to combine a contemporary Canadian setting and credible characters with a strong sense of place and historical verisimilitude.
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Marcie (Toronto, ON)
The book steadily brings pieces to the mosaic. MacLear has a way of gently dissecting the relationships of the main character. The peeling away of the layers of the relationships create in themselves an interesting story reflective of the cultural mosaic of Canada.
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Shannon (Smithers, BC)
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! It was very compelling. It took many twists and turns that I didn't expect and I was sad when it was over that I wouldn't get to be a part of Naiko's world anymore.
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Valerie (Toronto, ON)
Kyo Maclear's The Letter Opener simultaneously delves into two lives, those of Naiko and Andrei, that have briefly become entwined. Their life stories are presented concurrently in a wonderful form of narrative that layers past and present. Thoughtful consideration develops into an understanding of how two seemingly opposite individuals are experiencing paralleled situations. An exquisitely subtle exposure to the message that 'we are not all so different', presented in a beautiful novel.
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Marcie (Springfield, ON)
Kyo Maclear does a fine job of taking the reader on a journey that is a blend of fictional and real world events, the past and the present are seamlessly blended together and it is very easy to imagine you are in the same room as Naiko sorting packages or that you are watching Andrei perfrom his daring escape from Romania.
This book would be great for a book club or discussion group because it would be interesting to compare what events really happened and what was based on those events.
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Miriam (Ottawa, ON)
Congrats to a Canadian writer for such a great read!! I look forward to seeing more of Kyo Maclear's work published as she is clearly a Canadian author on the rise with some fantastic stories to be told!!
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Julie (Mississauga, ON)
The Letter Opener is a beautifully written novel. Through Naiko, Kyo Maclear provides us with insights into human nature. As Naiko searches for answers to the mystery of her friend Andrei's sudden disappearances, she continually discovers more questions. Ultimately, acceptance for people and things as they are appears to one of the best answers. The best word I can think of to describe Kyo Maclear's style of writing is "seamless". She lets the characters tell the story and it is an interesting and thought provoking story to read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
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Brenda (Mississauga, ON)
The story is very profound. It takes Naiko's and Andrei's lives, as different as they are, and relates them to each other, showing what connections people can have with each other despite differences in culture.
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Agnes (Richmond Hill, ON)
The Letter Opener contains all the wonder and imagination that a writer could muster in a novel - but with heart, believability and wisdom. Kyo Maclear has written something beautiful and thoughtful in The Letter Opener. She has taken the lives of ordinary people and extracted extraordinary stories from them, causing us to look for the same in our own lives. Everything we do or experience has a ripple effect - our responses, our choices and duties affect those around us and theirs affect us. We do matter and we can make a difference. It's in the understanding and believing where the magic lies.
Beautiful, thoughtful and lovely. Did I like this book. You betcha! Definitely a book I will read again...soon!
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Jacqueline (St. Philip's, NF)
This is a nourishing, compassionate novel that sings in perfect pitch. I highly recommend this novel. It is one that you’ll want to read again and again.
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Suanne (Richmond, BC)
The Letter Opener is a smooth flowing story full of colour, texture and nuances only experienced by those who have had to live their lives exposed to the pressures of life in a world foreign to them.
The twining of their experiences with the subtext of the possibilities of the lives intertwined in each piece of mail in the dead mail department presents yet another layer of this writers ability to expose the reader to life’s subtleties.
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Nancy (Aurora, ON)
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Stray Love
Born of an adulterous affair in London, England, Marcel is ethnically ambiguous, growing up in the racially charged 1960s with a white surrogate father named Oliver. Abandoned as an infant, Marcel is haunted by vague memories of his bohemian mother, and is desperate to know who his real parents...
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The Letter Opener
Naiko works in the Undeliverable Mail Office where, immersed in things lost and missing, she searches for clues to match undeliverable mail with addresses. Her job allows her to achieve a semblance of order in a disorderly world. It is a shock, then, when Naiko’s co-worker Andrei, an enigmatic...
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