Something Remains Book

Andrew Christiansen, a war photographer turned cabdriver, is having a bad year. His mother has just died; his father, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, gets arrested; and he's married to a woman he doesn't love. To make matters worse, Sarah, the gifted actress from his past, storms back into his life, bringing with her a hurricane of changes and the possibility of happiness.

Keeping Andrew sane is his beloved camera through which he captures the many Torontonians who ride in his taxi. Also keeping Andrew rational is his friendship with Zakhariye, a Somali-born magazine editor grieving the death of a son. Through Zakhariye we glimpse the world beyond Toronto, a world where civil wars rage and stark poverty delivers everyday sorrow and anguish.

Something Remains probes the various ways humans grieve when the lives they build for themselves fall apart. It speaks of the joy we find in what remains and the hope that comes with life putting itself back together in ways we never imagined.

Publishers Weekly

A burned-out Toronto cabdriver named Andrew holds together a debut novel that braves big themes of grief and loss, but drowns in an excess of characters and plot. A former war photographer, Andrew abandoned his career after an existential crisis; meanwhile, his recently widowed father has become dangerously helpless in his grief; and Andrew's best friend, a literary magazine editor (and a Somali immigrant, like the author), feels his marriage withering after his son's death. In addition, Andrew crosses paths with an old student of his mother's, a successful actress named Sarah, with potentially serious consequences. Santur weaves together these relationships believably and invents credible interior lives for his characters, but his narrative has a tendency to wander in random directions: Andrew's Helsinki lover; Andrew's sister, Natalie; the minutiae of characters' work (including a full-length short story written by one). Heavy-handed rumination over life, death, art and politics also weighs down the proceedings. Though a disappointing start, Santur's career could blossom with experience and a more diligent editor. (Jan.)