Throwing the reader off balance

From the moment I glanced at the table of contents, I realized that The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia would challenge my need to find meaning in every element of the book.  In the table, each of the three major divisions includes a hand symbol, and each chapter is assigned one to three dots or bars, with no explanation of the code.  Fortunately, the meaning of the dots and bars became clearer as I read and noticed the pattern of alternating voices, but I have not forgotten that feeling of being in unfamiliar territory.

The text throws the reader off-kilter from the first three sentences of the Prologue, which quickly establishes a surreal setting with elements both familiar (papal decrees concerning reproduction) and fantastic (people created out of mud and bones).  The reader keeps looking for familiar elements to put the story into context, but there are certain elements that cannot be reconciled with reality, such as a man making people out of folded paper.  Discussing rules of coherence in Before Reading, Rabinowitz states that “The most general rule here, familiar in part through such critics as Wayne Booth and Mary Louise Pratt, states that we should read a text in such a way that it becomes the best text possible” (45).  In the case of People of Paper, I assumed from the start that the story is told through the lens of magical realism, with some big mysteries explained as the reader progresses, such as Saturn overseeing the action.

This novel is remarkable for its self-awareness, and for the presence of the author as a rather unlovable character.  This Sal is no Bill Gray from Mao II, but his relationship to his characters is much clearer and more clever.  It is hard not to think of House of Leaves when encountering text layout tricks such as black boxes in this book, and also as the novel deconstructs itself for the reader.  With People of Paper, the characters rise up and emerge from the book, the author reveals himself, and the reader is left with text and a new idea of what it can do.