Por Júlia Abrahão
“Welcome! Welcome to Caraval! The grandest show on land or by sea. Inside you’ll experience more wonders than most people see in a lifetime. You can sip magic from a cup and buy dreams in a bottle. But before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it’s all a game.”
Caraval, Stephanie Garber
Caraval is the first of the young adult fantasy trilogy written by Stephanie Garber, published in january of 2017 by Flatiron Books. The story follows main character Scarlett, a young woman who, running away from domestic problems, follows her sister Tella to a magical festival in which spectators become a part of the performance as they participate in a clever game set by Legend, the creator of the festival. Scarlett is forced to play along when her sister gets taken and made the main pawn of the game. The book is fun and entertaining, and for a vastly explored tropes such as “circus/festival” and “real life mind games”, there is a fair share of originality in Garbers work. However, despite all the story driven arguments I could make to convince readers to give this book a chance, I chose to focus on a technical aspect of the narrative.
Aesthetics is not usually the first thing that comes to mind when discussing literature. Nevertheless, it is an important factor to consider, especially when analyzing fantasy and fiction. Stephanie Garber takes physical world building to a new level, creating the perfect ambience to her tale. To create an aesthetic within a book takes more than just detailed description.
Descriptivism is a tool often used to paint a picture, to describe scenery. Its use can cause sensory overload, too much detail can become overwhelming and, at times, boring. It’s easy for readers to get lost in the information and, therefore, losing paramount points made. Garber finds the perfect balance, keeping it steady throughout the book. She manages to subtly set the scene almost crystal clear, crafting real beauty in her story. As descriptive as it can be, to be capable of perfectly imitating a human’s emotional instinctual reaction to visual stimulation is no easy task. There are those who claim visual impact is unachievable in the words of a book. To these individuals I present Caraval by Stephanie Garber.
Never have I read a book in which I murmured to myself awed “that looks beautiful”, feeling it to a realistic degree. Everything from the well written and brilliantly structuralized description of Caraval, to the true wonder the character experiences in trance of the mysterious fantastical illusions of the game, contributes to carve this aesthetic beauty present in Garber’s work.
This book may not have the most groundbreaking plot of all time, but it does raise the bar with its unique and intelligent aesthetic construction.
I’ll conclude with my favorite quote from the book and the oficial Caraval map colored by yours truly.
“What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don’t let any of it trick you. We will try to convince you it’s real, but all of it is a performance. A world built of make believe. So while we want you to get swept away, be careful of being swept too far away. Dreams that come true can be beautiful, but they can also turn into nightmares when people don’t wake up.”
Caraval, Stephanie Garber