asianamlitfans | A Review of Ruchika Tomar’s A Prayer for Travelers (Riverhead, 2019)

A Review of Ruchika Tomar’s A Prayer for Travelers (Riverhead, 2019).
By Stephen Hong Sohn

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Well, what a strange but immersive ride this book was! Here, I am reviewing Ruchika Tomar’s debut A Prayer for Travelers (Riverhead, 2019). The best book description I actually found was on Goodreads, so here it is:

“This daring debut novel propels readers into the world of Penny and Cale, two marginalized young women who forge an intense bond against a constricting backdrop of violence and isolation in Nevada's northern desert. Cale, a bookish loner of mysterious parentage, was abandoned by her mother and raised by her grandfather in a loving, if codependent, household. One pivotal summer her life is upended by the discovery of a devastating secret that irrevocably threatens this formative relationship. Set adrift for the first time in her life, Cale begins waitressing at the local diner, where she reconnects with Penélope Reyes, a charismatic former classmate and all-around hustler. Penny exposes Cale to the complicated reality that exists beyond their small town, and the girls become inseparable until one terrifying act of violence shatters their world. When Penny vanishes without a trace, Cale must set off on a dangerous quest across the desert to find her friend, and discover herself. Told in short, interconnecting chapters, A Prayer for Travelers explores the complicated legacy of the American West and the trauma of female experience.”

I was really thrilled to read that Tomar is from the Inland Empire; you can tell she has been a TON of time in deserts, understanding them both as a site of possibility but also of dystopian degradation. The hope we find in this novel is in the strong bond forged between Cale and the very alluring Penélope Reyes (who is called by her nickname Penny throughout the novel) but the problem is that trouble seems to follow Penny wherever she goes. It’s not surprising in some sense that Penny disappears; she seems to attract trouble, but the way that Tomar sequences the novel is what is startling. Highly anachronic but incredibly poetic chapters allow things to unfold at a leisurely yet meticulous pace. Throughout we get a very strong sense of Cale’s sense of isolation. It becomes increasingly evident that Penny’s allure for Cale—unlike so many others—is that Penny offers Cale the possibility of another family, one that is needed especially as her grandfather Lamb is slowly dying from cancer. Cale’s quest to find out what happened to Penny at first might seem a bit strange, even a bit obsessive, but Cale sees in Penny something absolutely effulgent, a brightly burning site of swagger and pomp that shines more hotly than the desert that surrounds them. While the novel is exquisitely written, I had considerable mixed feelings about the ending. As I edged every closer to the last page, I kept thinking to myself, there’s no way that Tomar can keep this pacing up. There’s something like an anticlimactic shift that occurs about 50 pages toward the end, but I won’t spoil it. It’s almost as if Tomar got painted a bit into a corner: the highly naturalistic world that has been created somehow does not swallow Cale up whole but the ending that awaits us may leave readers with far too many questions. Despite my feelings, let’s be clear: you should read this book if only to luxuriate in Tomar’s lush prose and her razor-harp regionalist eye. Never has a desert community felt both so palpable and illusive at the same time.

Find out more about this book here:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576805/a-prayer-for-travelers-by-ruchika-tomar/9780525537014/

Review Author: Stephen Hong Sohn
Review Editor: Nicholas Clark
Web Posting: Xiomara Forbez

If you have any questions or want us to consider your book for review, please don't hesitate to contact us via email!
Prof. Stephen Hong Sohn at sohnucr@gmail.com
Nicholas Clark, PhD Student in English, at nclar004@ucr.edu