Vaclav & Lena

A Novel

By: Haley Tanner

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, Rebecca Lowman

NAMED BY THE NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION AS A 5 UNDER 35 AUTHOR

Vaclav and Lena seem destined for each other. They meet as children in an ESL class in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Vaclav is precocious and verbal. Lena, struggling with English, takes comfort in the safety of his adoration, his noisy, loving home, and the care of Rasia, his big-hearted mother. Vaclav imagines their story unfolding like a fairy tale, or the perfect illusion from his treasured Magician’s Almanac, but among the many truths to be discovered in Haley Tanner’s wondrous debut is that happily ever after is never a foregone conclusion.

One day, Lena does not show up for school. She has disappeared from Vaclav and his family’s lives as if by a cruel magic trick. For the next seven years, Vaclav says goodnight to Lena without fail, wondering if she is doing the same somewhere. On the eve of Lena’s seventeenth birthday he finds out.

Haley Tanner has the originality and verve of a born storyteller, and the boldness to imagine a world in which love can overcome the most difficult circumstances. In Vaclav & Lena she has created two unforgettable young protagonists who evoke the joy, the confusion, and the passion of having a profound, everlasting connection with someone else.

Praise for Vaclav & Lena

“Wonderful and wrenching . . . Vibrant characters, believable romance and dark undertones make for a moving tale.”—The New York Times

“From the moment they meet, Vaclav and Lena make magic together. . . . Through all the twists and turns of the book, the most enduring theme of the novel is love.”—NPR

“Haley Tanner’s assured narrative voice finds new ways to describe emotion and character, stunning the reader again and again with small shocks of awareness. This book is sad, funny, true, and shot through with grace.”—Judy Blundell, National Book Award–winning author of What I Saw and How I Lied

“Highly recommended . . . Tanner’s captivating debut novel is a love story of unusual innocence and intensity [and] a suspenseful, literary work that is hard to put down.”—Library Journal

“A debut to savor . . . Tanner’s charming story unfolds as gracefully as a flower.”—People

“The magic Tanner makes is as dazzling as it is profound.”—Booklist

Critic reviews

“In this charming and wonderfully engaging tale, the reader is swept into the beautifully rendered landscape of the immigrant childhood experience. Haley Tanner has created a world peopled with characters of great poignancy and they will linger in the mind––and heart––long after the book is put down.”
—Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kitteridge

“There are books you enjoy, and then there are books you live in. Haley Tanner plunges you into the Russian émigré community in Brooklyn, where two souls connect under a maternal watchful eye. Tanner’s assured narrative voice finds new ways to describe emotion and character, stunning the reader again and again with small shocks of awareness. This book is sad, funny, true and shot through with grace.”
—Judy Blundell, National Book Award–winning author of What I Saw and How I Lied

“Vaclav & Lena is a wonderful achievement, generous, playful, moving and refreshing. It was the voice that first captivated me here, a voice that allows Haley Tanner to say anything at all, and to say it truly. Give this novel a few short pages, and I guarantee you’ll want to read it to the end.”
—Kevin Brockmeier, author of The View from the Seventh Layer and The Brief History of the Dead

“A terrific, enlightened debut.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Charming Love Story

Vaclav & Lena is a sweet tale of young love that overcomes the ugliness that can destroy innocence. Very well read by Kirby Heyborne and Rebecca Lowman. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Magic and sorrow, love and redemption

I listened to this for my bookclub.The theme of magicians and concealing secrets was the basis of the story.In the hands of a more talented author I feel this could have been explored more thoroughly.The author did a good job of developing the characters of Vaclav and his mother, but fell short on Lena. Lena's character could have been a vehicle for delving into child abuse and neglect on a deeper level. The mother was probably the most interesting character, she tried to acclimate to the USA while she protected her beloved son, but in doing so, made some tough decisions that she was untruthful about and was guilt ridden. All in all, it was a sweet, hopeful story albeit a bit unrealistic. Not a waste of time or credits.

Stilted Language

Any additional comments?

Vaclav & Lena - H. Tanner
Audio version performed by Heybourne/R. Lowman
3 stars

Vaclav and Lena are 20th century Russian immigrant children growing up in New York City. The story is about friendship, family, secrets, and truth. It is a picture of the immigrant experience within a coming of age story. Vaclav is a bright, imaginative boy who is loved and protected by his devoted mother. Lena is a neglected orphan left in the care of a disinterested Aunt. These children come together through their shared Russian background. They develop the kind of intense friendship that is a survival skill of lonely, isolated children. Vaclav draws Lena into his obsessive plan to become a great magician. Much time and imagination go into planning the first performance of the act.

I expected to like this story more than I did. The characters are well drawn. Vaclav' s mother, Raisa, is the quintessential mother; always striving to do the best thing for her son and never knowing if her decisions are correct. Her parenting decisions are complicated by her alcoholic husband and her uncertainty about American culture. She tries to be like the American mothers she sees on T.V. Vaclav is a hyper-imaginative, self-centered little boy. Even as the 17 year-old at the end of book, he is amazingly unconscious of anyone else???s needs. Lena is a wounded, lost child. The happy ending of her new life as an adopted child is too simplistic given the damage that must be repaired.

I listened to this book. The audio production was well done with two performers. Kirby Heybourne read most of the story that was devoted to Vaclav's perspective and Rebecca Lowman read the portion of the book that was told from Lena's viewpoint. They did a good job with accents and character voices and they did as much as could be expected with a stilted prose style. I am guessing that the author deliberately chose to write in the manner of an English Language Learner (ESL). It was a good ploy at the beginning. Short, repetitive, sentences; this is the way that I introduce language to my second language students. The problem for me as I listened to this book, is that I think Tanner continued her ESL voice for too much of the narrative. It was tedious to listen to paragraph after paragraph of sentences in which a character's name is repeated over and over without the use of pronouns. I was left with the feeling that 17-year-old Vaclav had become fluent in English, but the author had not.

wonderful

What made the experience of listening to Vaclav & Lena the most enjoyable?

It's a great book, and the narrators animated the characters well, including their dialects.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Vaclav & Lena?

Well let's not give it away! This is a story that builds anticipation.

Which scene was your favorite?

Not giving that away either.

If you could take any character from Vaclav & Lena out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I'd take the author.

Any additional comments?

True, beautiful, honest.