Beings
Engaging, elegant ... Phyllis['s]...voice provides heart and humor in a novel that otherwise has a serious tone ... The interracial couple’s story is a quiet page-turner ... The Archivist’s section is less riveting, serving primarily as a thematic ribbon, although it does have its own lovely arc ... The novel’s primary flaw lies in the Archivist’s asides in the couple’s tale — those interjections often seem defensive and patronizing as the Archivist attempts to overexplain their (and, ultimately, the book’s) mission ... These digressions betray a lack of confidence in the audience’s intelligence ... They are, however, the minority. Masad’s wise novel is a restrained, gentle reflection on the nature of 'truth' versus memory with an elegiac and satisfying ending.
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Initially, I was most drawn to the Archivist and Phyllis, whose chapters gently explore those characters’ feelings of alienation and uncertainty ... Part of the beauty of Beings is that, rather than tying everything up with a definitive ending, it leaves space for many interpretations without feeling incomplete.
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Masad ups the ante with a thematically richer and structurally bolder novel ... Masad brings sensitivity to the themes of displacement, otherness and erasure ... Beings’ speculative elements can be read as a striking metaphor for how marginalized people are made to feel disbelieved or invisible ... Compelling and intriguing ... Intimate and elegiac but never precious ... An empathetic masterpiece that is both timely and timeless. It is a novel for the skeptics, the seekers and the silenced, as well as anyone who has ever felt like an alien in their own life.
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