Can the engine of a car stand in as a metaphor for the immortality of the soul? That's the question at the heart of Paula Champa's debut novel, The Afterlife of Emerson Tang.
Beth Corvid has been dead before--as a child, a near-death experience left her feeling out of synch with the rest of humanity, lost to her own life. An archivist with a passion for cataloguing and collecting, Beth becomes the employee of Emerson Tang, a wealthy young man who has fascinated her since they were children. But Beth's job becomes complicated when she finds out Emerson is dying.
Emerson entrusts Beth with a last mission before his death: to find the original engine of his precious Beacon racing car. In this quest, they have a rival: a famous European artist, Helene Moreau, is also seeking to reunite the Beacon with its engine for mysterious reasons of her own.
Beth's search for the engine takes her from Emerson's Manhattan apartment to places as wide-ranging as Germany and California; and through research topics that include fascism during World War II and modern art movements of the 20th century. Meanwhile, Emerson's impending demise and the competition of Helene Moreau lend urgency to Beth's mission. Emerson is a man about to lose his life far too early, while Helene is attempting to regain the vitality of her lost youth. In the center is Beth, who has never truly begun to live. In seeking immortality for Emerson, Beth must grapple with what it means to live a fully realized existence.
The Afterlife of Emerson Tang is cleverly written and constructed like a mind-bending puzzle. Only at the end are the characters' true relationships to one another and to the coveted Beacon revealed. While the pace can lag at times, Champa's self-assured prose and character development--particularly the tormented character of Emerson--effectively move the story forward. The central conceit of the novel--the Beacon's body and engine as a metaphor for the human body and soul--can feel forced at times, but is thought-provoking and integral to various threads of plot. That the metaphor involves a car, which exists solely to move forward, might be the most important lesson: despite the pain of her past, Beth must learn that as long as the body and soul are united, their destiny is to forge ahead, not back. --Ilana Teitelbaum
Shelf Talker: Beth Corvid's quest to restore a classic racing car before her employer's death is both a cleverly written, complex mystery and a meditation on mortality.