“The boy giggled a little at the nakedness part, but on the whole the story seems to have made him uneasy. Some stories just are like that.”
Oana Aristide’s Astronaut! (W.W. Norton & Company 2026) is likely going to be in my top ten reads of the year; it’s simply well done with so much heart. The novel is set in 1989 Romania, near the end of Ceaușescu’s dictatorship. A serial killer is on the loose, and there doesn’t seem to be anything connecting the victims. Or is there? Eager to avoid mass hysteria that a serial killer would create, the murders are blamed on a man-eating, rabid bear.
It’s not the first time police detective Constantin has attributed crimes to an innocent party; he keeps records of the homeless dead so he can later finger them for crimes that need perpetrators. He’s an idealistic officer, becoming increasingly distraught with the regime and his role, who scribbles fairytales in notebooks to tell his young son at the end of the day. He’s been tasked with finding the bear or the real killer.
But the true heart of the story is 8-year-old Lia, who longs for colors. She wins a contest that was rigged, is punished because she wasn’t supposed to win, and now she has to meet Ceaușescu himself. A bit of seditious child without knowing it, her parents are extremely concerned they will end up detained or dead because of something she says or does. Meanwhile, Comrade Mantea is planning on using the young girl for his own rebellious goals. Comrade Mantea is a known rebel, but he is relatively untouchable because his “traitorous” son is on Ceaușescu’s staff. Both Comrade Mantea and Lia have plans to make Ceaușescu’s visit unforgettable, provided the bear or Constantin doesn’t find them first.
The cover and title are absolutely perfect. I loved this novel.
