A reading acquaintance recommended J. Robert Lennon a few years ago. First I read Castle, a surreal, tense tale of a man who returns to rural New York and buys a dilapidated house on a large amount of property. Then Familiar, which remains my favourite parallel universe novel. Next: Happyland, a complete change of pace, is the story of a unpleasant millionairess, a manufacturer of dolls, who takes over (with her money) a small town. Then came a short story collection: See You in Paradise. That brings me to Subdivision, which content wise is the most similar to Castle.

The story opens with an unnamed narrator, a woman arriving at a guest house in what is known as the Subdivision. Her hosts are two older women, the narrator knows that one is called Clara and the other, the Judge. Here things begin to become tangled. Both of the women are named Clara and both of them are retired judges. There’s a vast unfinished puzzle in the middle of one of the rooms: for some reason, both of the hosts are fixated on this puzzle and although some pieces of the puzzle are completed, the narrator doesn’t see anyone working on it, and for some reason, her hosts think she is completing the puzzle. She has her choice of rooms, “Virtue, Mercy, Justice, Duty and Glory.” Ok, perhaps just a quirk on the part of the hosts’ law background, or perhaps the names have some deeper meaning.


We don’t know why the narrator is there, how she arrived, where she came from, but there are flashes of past trauma. She intends to find a job and a permanent place to stay, so her hosts draw her a map, and the next day she sets off. At a local shop, she buys a Cylvia device, a “digital assistant” whose capabilities appear to be Alexa-like. The town’s streets are not marked with names and the first place she visits to rent is “the Tess” owned by a small woman named Justine. The Tess is a bizarre construction of tiny rooms–so small that the narrator must get down on her hands and knees to crawl through.:

I didn’t see Justine when I passed through the doorway; it simply opened onto another hallway, somehow even narrower than before, that was punctuated by several more narrow doors. One of them, however, was split. like a Dutch door, and the top hung half open. I shuffled over to it and peered inside. Here, the space had been divided vertically, creating two tiny cubicle rooms. Justine sat cross-legged on the top floor. Its floor was parquet; a miniature chandelier hung from the ceiling.

The next place is owned by Jules, a handsome man who is leaving the area and seeks a tenant for his home. His garden is spectacular, with an apple tree, a swing, a fire pit and a croquet court. The house has three large windows which offer views of the east, the west and the north. Through one window is a glorious view: another blighted and dead.

As we came around the side of the house, I turned for one last glance at the lovely back yard . . . my gaze, however, fell upon the western window of the living room, and then out to the yard again through the eastern window.

What I saw puzzled me. The living room appeared normal . . . but as seen through both windows, the back yard looked different. The apple tree was dead—blackened, in fact, as though it had been partially consumed by fire. The fire pit and bench swing had been destroyed; their pieces scattered about on stony, weedy ground. And from the hills in the distance, smoke rose.

In both views: the green, paradisaical. and the blighted and dead, there is one constant: a crow. The narrator feels a strong sexual attraction to Jules, and she begins to have sexual fantasies. Jules draws her closer and he smells smoky, but then other odours emerge: I smelled smoke, wood smoke, tinged with other things, gasoline, melted plastic, seared hair and meat.

The house, explains the owner, was built in a “probability well,” and the “windows aren’t event tempered against narrative repolarization.” According to Jules, “they show the past, the future or some alternate version of the present.”

During all this, Cylvia is vibrating in the narrator’s bag, and the crow caws. Cylvia becomes a character in a sense as the plot unfolds, issuing warnings and alerts. Throughout the labyrinth story, it becomes clear that the narrator is on a journey of self-discovery, but why is the big question. Dreams often make no sense; we have bizarre encounters and we never stop to question the logic of our dream narrative. The same is true here; the narrator accepts all the bizarre characters in this bizarre landscape. I tend to prefer concrete characters (with names) but here Lennon cleverly weaves an unusual tale full of imagery. Could have done without the biblical imagery, but that’s just me. Is the narrator seeing an alternate reality or the past and an apocalyptic future?

I guessed what was going on here, so the ‘journey,’ for me became somewhat heavy. If you like fantasy or surreal fiction, then there’s a good chance you will like this. Lennon is one of the most remarkable American writers producing books these days (IMO). Always original, and I never know what to expect. This is the least favourite of his books so far, but I’d read this writer’s shopping list.

review copy

A wild ride! Kind of feels like a cross between a fever dream and a parable. I really enjoyed some of the imagery, and found myself always wanting more.

This audiobook was sent to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Content notes for this book include violence against people and animals.

Subdivision is a surreal story about a woman who moves to a mysterious town to start her new life, but is confronted with various supernatural and/or strange people and events. This novel will make you ask more questions instead of answering existing ones as you progress through it, which can be a good or bad thing.

I enjoyed the surreal world created in this story, but a lot of the protagonist's choices do not make sense even with the surrealism taken into account. The novel needed perhaps a bit more focus. I understand that not all books need a fast-moving plot, but this one could have benefited from the plot not being incredibly slow. Nevertheless, I still listened to the entire novel because the characters were quite interesting, and the prose is great!

Audio-wise, Nicole Poole is an amazing narrator. I especially enjoyed when she did the voice of Sylvia. Poole brought this novel to life in a whole new way with her skills.

Format: audiobook.
Author: J. Robert Lennon ~ Title: Subdivision ~ Narrator: Nicole Poole
Content: 4.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

This novel took me on a very unusual journey. It is a surreal literary fiction, so maybe you can imagine. Subdivision is an interesting story about an unnamed woman who can’t remember her past. She arrives in a place called Subdivision, where she stays at the guest house owned by two elderly ladies: Clara and the Judge. The first thing that they expect of her is that she solves a jigsaw puzzle.

Subdivision is a novel that consists of illogical events and characters. Quite a few events are confusing for the main character. And maybe even more for the reader. In the end, the author leaves a lot to the reader’s perception and interpretation. I want to write a spoiler-free review, so I will not go into more details.

Here we have an excellent story for those looking for something different to read. And, of course, like surreal stories where nothing is as it seems. This was my first novel by J. Robert Lennon, and I will definitely look for his other works.

The narration is perfect for this novel. The narrator’s voice and tone suit the main character.

Thanks to HighBridge Audio for the ARC and the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

This book freaked me out. At first, I thought I was going crazy, not actually hearing what was happening in the story. Yet, I wasn't going crazy at all...or was I?

This novel is an absolute fever dream of a story. From the first page, the Subdivision begins to lead the narrator and the reader down false hallways dropping clues and red herrings about what, where, when, how, if things exist in this world. This novel is both completely banana pants and completely compelling. It’s on the Tournament of Bioks 2022 longlist and I’m rooting for it to make the shortlist if only because I want to read a reaction/analysis!