The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Alva & Irva: The Twins Who Saved a City, by Edward Carey
reviewed by Brian Budzynski

Edward Carey. Alva & Irva: The Twins Who Saved a City. Harcourt, 2003. 207 pp. $24.00.

Edward Carey has carved himself a nifty little niche in the atmosphere of this world, by which I mean to say, he has, in only two books, successfully blown this world to slivers, and he seems poised to write each sliver back into existence one at a time. Alva & Irva is the story of twins with perfectly opposite dispositions. Alva, the historian with gasoline in her veins, fuel she hopes will propel her to an adventurous life. Irva, mousy and precise, preferring the sheltering quietude of kitchen cabinets to the idea of life outside their fictional city of Entralla, their “corner of existence . . . everything that we learnt and saw could be contained within it.” Together, at the urging of an overbearing grandfather, they create a plasticine model of Entralla (shown throughout in black and white photographs; the model was actually built by Carey), which becomes the thing that may save Entralla following a massive natural disaster and immortalize the twins, together, forever. Like Carey’s horribly overlooked first novel, Observatory Mansions, A & I skirts the line between clever convolution and just plain convolution, the latter at times making seemingly choice turns of phrase into toss-offs easily disregarded for their deliberate cuteness. But these instances are few. Carey’s prose simultaneously pulls readers into the world of his creation and holds them at arm’s length, dangling them in the air above this world, to demonstrate the wonder he has created. The reader becomes a kind of child or spectator at an amusement park: positioned safely to avoid danger, but with clear sight lines to all the best attractions. While this may potentially turn some readers off, there is no denying Carey’s ingenuity. His is a voice both fresh and familiar: a writer who will continue to impress himself on our landscape.