It's difficult to me to really say I enjoyed this book when it deals with a lot of horrendous issues. Rape, domestic violence, drugs, etc. are just among the few. However, the way Susan Barker handles these issues is done brilliantly well! She is such a fantastic writer. She was able to write in a very unabashed manner that literally churn your stomach during certain scenes throughout the book. But that's what I liked about her writing. These things that people go through happen all the time and it would be a shame to censor oneself to these atrocities. You should educate yourself to these crimes... even if they are quite grotesque.

The story itself is brilliant! To see the lives of these characters reincarnated over and over, seeing the literal hell they had to deal with in each lifetime, and the pain it causes... it was hard to read... but important to read. I won't say anything more because you just have to read it for yourself.

I don't think this book if for everyone. As I've said previously, it is a very difficult book to read. However, I will encourage you to pick it up if you are curious and willing to learn and go through what these characters go through. It's a ride that will leave you sick and with scars, but I think it's worth it.

I enjoyed the concept and stories in Ms. Barker's 'The Incarnations'.  While I did not like any of the characters in the novel I did care about Driver Wu, his wife and child.

The book reminded me of a large part of David Mitchell's 'Ghostwritten' and I like the freedom incarnations give to an author and what can be done with the storytelling.

Be aware, this novel contains adult themes.

The Incarnations

Susan Barker

Hardcover, 384 pages

ISBN 1501106783 (ISBN13: 9781501106781)                 

I found the plot of this novel haunting as it follows the main character, Wang Yu, as he receives 5 letters that pertain to his past incarnations that span 1000 years. Susan Barker writes confidently, and the research of Chinese History shows in the telling of this story. There were times when, during the present, I thought it a little slow, but I was really interested in the past lives and the history. I would definitely read more of Susan Barker's work.

****this ARC was received from the publisher, Simon and Schuster, in exchange for a fair review.****

Many people in the world are looking for their soulmate—their perfect match, the person who will come to know them better than anyone else, someone who it seems like they’ve always known when they first meet them. Wang Jun is not one of these people, but there is someone in the world that knows him better than anyone else and who really has always known him. Wang Jun just doesn’t know it yet. Susan Barker’s The Incarnations is not a romantic love story; it is the dark twin to a love story. An unnamed narrator is stalking Wang Jun, trying to reconnect with the man this narrator has already spent five past lives with...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.