Betsy James

Roadsouls explores the power of art and creativity for transforming not only one's own life but also the world one lives in. Timid Duuni has spent her life as abused and guarded property. Blind, arrogant Raím is determined to be again what he once was: hunter, lover, young lord of the earth. Desperate to escape their lives, the two lift up their hands to the passing Roadsoul caravan, and are--literally--flung together naked. Each of them soon learns that saying "yes" to the Roadsouls is more than just accepting an invitation to a new life--it's a commitment that can't be reversed. For Duuni and Raím, nothing is as it was. Lost to their old lives, hating each other, they are swept out of their cruel old certainties into an unknown, unknowable, ever-changing world of journey and carnival, artists and wrestlers and thieves. Behind them, inexorable, pads a lion. Inexorable, too, is Duuni and Raím's inevitable encounter with it, an encounter that will change everything.

Roadsouls

Aleena Korell

"I am whole," said Raím. "Broken and whole are the same."

Roadsouls is an absolutely beautiful book. I've never read anything quite like it-- it's certainly one of my top books I've read this year. I'm not sure I can explain it, but let me try.

Roadsouls follows two characters closely: Raím, a vain young man who seems to have it all-- beautiful, strong, skilled-- until he loses his sight and becomes bitter, proud and reclusive; and Duuni, a sheltered but skilled young painter and weaver who has been abused her whole life and all she's destined for is more of the same.

Both of these characters, when they come across the Roadsouls caravan, lift up their hands out of desperation and are taken in by the traveling troupe. But both have very different journeys to take.

Raím is angry and arrogant, so closed off in his heart that he isn't able to accept help, much less love, from anyone. He wants so achingly and deeply-- for companionship, self-efficacy, value in the eyes of others instead of being viewed as helpless, a worthless blind beggar. He wants for the identity he lost when he lost his sight. But he sabotages his own desires with his relentless pride.
Duuni is naive and terrified, her entire knowledge of men based on a life of forced submission and abuse, being beaten, being owned. She finds freedom with the Roadsouls, a place where she has agency, where she can contribute-- but she struggles to find the courage to step out of her open cage. 

And of course, the characters the two come across are wonderful (and terrible), as is the breadth of the world as we discover it through Raím and Duuni's eyes as they travel from their homes for the first time. The meaning of a name in different regions and languages plays a significant part in Raím's personal journey, with a beautiful resolution.

What I loved most about this book is the writing: philosophical, fluid, lyrical, true. The dialogue and the character interactions are often left open-ended, James doesn't hand-hold or hit us over the head with each scene's significance. But they are all significant. James does not shy from showing the truth of a character--their deepest desires and twisted logic, flaws, joy, shame. But while each character (particularly Raím) makes many mistakes, the reader is still endeared to them. The reader IS them.

But ultimately, each character's journey is their own. While they're deeply entangled in each other's stories, their growth and choices and mistakes are their own. I found that beautiful. The whole thing is beautiful. It's worth hunting this one down if you can get hold of it.

Roadsouls

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