This is a compelling book that is very relevant with everything that has happened over the last few years. It was a bit confusing, and I wish it was a little less generic, but overall, it was a good read.

Compelling writing! This story is obviously highly relevant in today's social and political atmosphere. Idra Novey is a talented storyteller and stylist, and I look forward to reading her previous novel!

All in all an engrossing read...although I have to admit at times I needed to reread to figure out which character was telling that part of the story. Very timely, given the Me Too movement in the news frequently. The characters never came alive for me, which hampered my enjoyment of the book. The prose is so beautiful, evoking such strong visual images. Although I cannot rave about this particular novel, I am interested in reading more by this author.

Those Who Knew is a novel about a senator with a violent past in a small unnamed island country. It’s about about the intersections of politics, money and influence. I appreciated the writing style of this author and much of the book worked for me, although I didn’t care for the generic location.

In her student activist days, Lena admired Victor greatly for his passionate fight to improve access to education on the island. Their affair, and Lena’s work as a protester, ended the day Victor viciously assaulted her. Lena is still haunted by the assault, though she told no one about it except her close friend Olga, an older woman who runs a bookstore. When Lena hears about a young woman working for Victor who dies mysteriously, she’s convinced he had a hand in her death. But Victor is extremely powerful and it’s a small island; any attempt to verify her suspicions could have serious consequences for her and her family, and he’ll have much more credibility than she will.

Novey also refers frequently to the island’s political relationship with the United States, and how the U.S. supported its oppressive political regime without ever taking a real interest in the lives of its people.

There’s a lot to unpack in this short novel, and Novey’s storytelling is engaging and creative. The story is told not only from Lena’s perspective, but through the diaries of Olga and the scripts of Victor’s brother, a playwright. Freddy’s scripts tell the story of his brother and their father, and how violence is both influenced by their political world and handed down from one generation to the next.

Novey covers a lot of issues without going into great depth. Aside from Lena and Olga, her characters are kept fairly superficial: the well-meaning but naïve American tourist, the insightful artist, the ambitious but troubled politician.

The main detractor for me in this book was the setting, an “unnamed island.” I’m not a fan of this plot device, for the main reason that I read about other countries to learn about them. When an author sets a work in a specific place and time, she’s responsible for portraying that place and time with historical accuracy. Using an unnamed setting feels lazy to me, and it also feels like a missed opportunity. The author could have created a fictional locale or chosen a place that has the political issues she wants to write about (and I’m sure there are many). Instead I found the references to the island distracting, pulling me away from characters and a story I found interesting.

Still, the issues raised are important and timely, the two main characters are thoughtfully developed, and I appreciated the way Novey weaves together a number of complex issues.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from NetGalley and publisher Viking Books. The book was published November 6.

Reading this book is very timely to the current climate in our country against women victims. I found it appropriate in portraying why victims often cannot come forward until later in life and sensitive to the metoo movement.
This is a story of a corrupt dirty politician that commits crimes against women. ( only to familiar today) . When a women that was assaulted by him decides she can now step forward her life is forever changed. Considering what we witnessed in our senate and the disgusting attacks on Dr. Ford by corrupt politicians this is a very current book and is handled with sensitivity. 5 stars for sensitivity and for bringing further attention to a very sensitive subject for victims of sexual assault . Well done to the author. This is a book that gives your pause and leaves you with food for thought of the issue at hand.

A powerful story with an incredibly satisfying ending. The format was a bit hard to read, but I attribute that to it being a digital ARC. I can see how this story would be unsettling to some, but stories that call out assaulters and the privileged are necessary and welcome.

All in all an engrossing read...although I have to admit at times I needed to reread to figure out which character was telling that part of the story. Very timely, given the Me Too movement in the news frequently. The characters never came alive for me, which hampered my enjoyment of the book. The prose is so beautiful, evoking such strong visual images. Although I cannot rave about this particular novel, I am interested in reading more by this author. Many thanks to Idra Novey, Viking, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an ARC of Those Who Knew.

The unnamed island in Idra Novey’s Those Who Knew could be any number of countries in Central or South America, countries where right-wing despots dictated daily life for their subjects. The dictators bore the seal of approval from the powers in Washington DC. It didn’t take much thought for cash-strapped regimes to learn that if one declared oneself “anti communist” in the paranoid era where communists were purported to hide under every bed, and one’s own excesses in defense of capitalism could be excused. Residents of those countries learned the chilling lesson that “Silence is Health.” As long as a dictator declared the dead and the disappeared to be leftist terrorists or communists, the United States could be counted on to turn the other way as it approved another shipment of arms.
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Those Who Knew
by Idra Novey
BARNES & NOBLE
INDIEBOUND
AMAZON
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But when those dictators were deposed or when they died, and a nascent democracy put down roots in the scorched earth, how did those who had lived through the previous regime go forward? In an earlier poem, “The Wailers in Estadio Nacional,” (published in her collection of poetry, The Next Country) Idra Novey writes of a concert performed by Ziggy Marley and the Wailers that takes place in the Estadio Nacional, the football (soccer) stadium in Santiago, Chile. In the days following the CIA-backed overthrow of the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, thousands were rounded up by the troops loyal to the new dictator, Augusto Pinochet. Many who entered the stadium were never seen again. Novey marks the moment when Ziggy Marley dedicates the first song to democracy and she observes “the grind and slip of hips along the pocked wall,” the dancers’ bodies moving against a wall that bears the evidence of the torture and slaughter conducted within.
Those Who Knew is Novey’s brilliant evocation of recrudescence — but of what? — on an island nation ten years after the end of decades of dictatorship. On the surface, democracy is flourishing and arts culture, the renaissance of theatre, writing, dancing, and nightlife is at full tilt.
But for “those who know,” evidence that the bad times of the past exists, if they could just find a way to bring it to the surface.Are the silent complicit in the abusive men’s behaviors?
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In our current days in America, the #MeToo movement has brought to light many instances where powerful men used their position to sexually harass, and in some cases, sexually assault or rape, women or men who worked for them and who possessed little power to consent or say no. And while those stories have sparked a national conversation, what these incidents have made clear is that much of this behavior had been ongoing for years. Earlier victims did not speak up, or received cash payments not to disclose, and these men were surrounded by men and women who said nothing about what they knew. Are the silent complicit in the abusive men’s behaviors? The next time someone is harassed, are they complicit for not warning that person?
Novey’s novel begins one week after Maria P.’s death has been declared an “accident” by investigators. Maria had been the promising scholar who was serving as an aide to rising-star senator Victor. Years before, Lena had dated Victor when the two were at university. But when Victor became violent toward her, Lena left the relationship. But she never reported the violence when it occurred, and now, years later, she is watching as Victor rises to political prominence. Prior to Maria’s death, Lena had worried for the young woman, concerned that Victor’s past behavior might play out again. When Maria is run down by a bus, Lena suspects that Victor had the woman murdered.
As Novey pulls the narrative back beyond its initial focus on Victor and Lena, she introduces the reader to other people who knew parts of Victor’s story or they are one of the few people who Lena has confided in. Each of them, therefore, possesses knowledge, and as the novel spins out from the island to the streets of New York City, Novey shows readers what it feels like to live with guilt whose provenance is not clear.
Lena’s family had ties with the former regime, so she struggles with whether the information she has about the charismatic Victor will be judged by her family name and assumptions about her motivation for coming forward.
Novey the poet produces prose that sings on the page, and her playing with the novel’s structure provides readers with different ways to access the information. Her ability to convey the maelstrom inside Lena’s head makes it real for the reader. In one passage, after Lena journeys to America, Novey writes of romance unburdened by Lena’s past.
“To kiss a man who understood none of the connotations of her country had been like a vacation from herself. She had felt relieved of her own gravity, from the continual pressure of having to decide how much self-recrimination any given conversation required.”
The release of Novey’s novel was planned months in advance, and yet, its timing feels as if it must have been ordained to come out in the immediate aftermath of the Kavanaugh hearings. We were all witnesses to what happened to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford when she came forward with her knowledge of Justice Kavanaugh. She had been trepidatious of the reaction to her testimony, but the reaction ended up being much worse than she could have imagined. She received death threats against herself and her family because she shared her experiences with Brett Kavanaugh when they were in high school together. Lena’s dilemma has played out recently here, so readers will have much to think about as they read.
Over the weekend of October 28th, Brazilians went to the polls. They elected Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right candidate whose campaign platform harkened back to the days of dictatorship that ruled Brazil in the past. The Guardian reported that, “Over nearly three decades in politics, he has become notorious for his hostility to black, gay and indigenous Brazilians and to women, as well as for his admiration of dictatorial regimes, including the one that ruled Brazil from 1964 until 1985.”
Reading Those Who Knew after Bolsonaro’s election may feel the coolness of its shadow over their reading. The return of the “anti communist” to Latin American politics, coinciding with the release of Novey’s novel, is yet another way that Idra Novey captures the zeitgeist.

A powerful politician is doing whatever he wants with no fear of repercussions. A band of misfits is on their way to change all of that. Intense read that everyone will be talking about.

"People are too desperate for a hero."

Lena, a college student from a wealthy island family, turns activist and gets involved with the charismatic future senator, Victor, and has a fling with him while they are planning and organizing demonstrations in support of reduced tuition for the islanders. The people who live on this unnamed island have barely recovered from atrocities committed against them while under a fascist regime supported and financed by the North (the USA?) Victor is a rising political star but is given to bouts of tremendous rage and in one of those episodes, he assaults and nearly strangles Lena. She doesn't report it and when, several years later, it appears that Victor may have killed a young woman, Lena wants him held accountable. The people she tells about her assault believe her and agree that someone needs to confront Victor about Maria P. What follows is a twisty narrative, interspersed with diary entries and screen play notes that flips back and forth in point of view, in time and place. Will Victor be outed and get his just due? NO SPOILERS.

I'm not quite sure what I think about this book. Was it interesting? Yes, enough to hold my interest though I definitely did not like the writing style and I was especially put off by the screen play segments. Did the novel have anything new or original to impart? Not really -- you'd have to be living under a rock in the desert for a thousand years not to know that male politicians get away with murder and all sorts of other tawdry and despicable crimes. The urge for revenge or to hold that person responsible is tremendous and not often successful. I think the setting and the characters are meant to make us believe that even the least well-placed among us (misfits?) can bring some sort of justice for those harmed and that staying silent is not ever the best response despite the outcry and response that is likely to occur.

The characters were an interesting conglomerate of Islanders and outsiders and each had a part to play in telling the story but I really couldn't identify with any of them. I'm not sure that leaving so much "unnamed" was for the best as I found it hard to relate and to really buy in to the drama in some respects. Perhaps it was to avoid stereotyping or labeling but you will find all sorts of diversity within. The book was engaging enough that I read it in a single sitting and took awhile to digest it all before trying to put my thoughts and reactions into a review. It's definitely outside my usual genre and was not exactly what I was expecting from just reading the synopsis.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for the e-book ARC to read and review.

I couldn't connect with the characters - or for the story for that matter. The writing style is a bit unusual and the narrative seemed to end with more questions than answers. I'm sure some will love this book - just not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Viking for the advanced reader copy of this novel. I’ve seen quite a few rave reviews of this title, it unfortunately I did not feel the same. I found the storyline intriguing, but ultimately unsatisfying. Too many unanswered questions and a lack of historical context made it all feel too vague.

I enjoyed this book. I struggled a bit with some of the cultural references since it was set in a different country. I would have liked to see a little more development for some of the characters and their relationships. It ended a little abruptly for me.

I just finished Those Who Knew, and I can see how a lot of people would really enjoy this book, but for me, it was a difficult read. I had trouble connecting with the characters and staying invested in the book. The book seemed rather heavy to me, which I know appeals to a lot of readers. I just prefer a bit of a lighter read. I had some trouble keeping the characters straight.

I love a book that makes me feel like a walk down a windey road, and I didn’t feel like that with this read.

When I finished this book, I thought I would give it two stars, but I let my feelings settle a little, and it falls squarely in three star territory. I’m not unaccustomed to experimental prose - I’ve read several novels from Ali Smith. Idra Novey’s “Those Who Knew” is similar - prose that sometimes veers into poetry. It’s subject is timely, and it’s plot does come together nicely in the end. I never fully connected with the writing, however, and I picked it up and put it back down several times before finishing. It’s a short, compact story, and worth a read if you like to savor the words and the meanings.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great novel. I loved the satisfying ending.

As I write this review the news is full of a brave woman coming out to speak about being assaulted by a Supreme Court nominee. This book is such a well crafted story of whether it's worth speaking out about someone's past transgressions. And how time and time again woman are portrayed as hysterical and overreacting when they are finally brave enough to speak up against the perpetrator. The only reason I didn't give this five stars is the lack of depth to some of the characters. I would have liked to have known more about Olga and Oscar.