The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekara, 2023

This is an acclaimed science fiction book that has gathered both critical and popular praise. I read it a couple of years ago — I try to read the ‘best of the year’ books in SF – and it didn’t engage me, although I did manage to finish it. I am now reading it a second time, as part of a Science Fiction and Fantasy course I’m taking at the U, and am going to try harder to appreciate it; or at least to understand what others appreciate in it. And perhaps also reflect on aspects of it that prevent me from appreciating it.

At this point I’ve just started the re-read it. I am noticing some very nice turns of phrase. I also notice that the protagonist begins as, in a sense, an abused child who is being trained to do terrible things by a mother who sees him only as a tool. I’m not really noticing much in the way of love or affection or humor among any of the characters.

Contents

Phrases and Passages I Like

already wearing thin his first decade of life… (p 1)
their gait a strange cousin to grace (p 4)
He finds a terror in his yearning for the open sky, the call of falling up and up for ever. (p 5)
Headaches begin to curl in his temples (p 6)
The dark brown territories of his skin, darkened further by the sun, are mapped by white traceries of scars, most of them faint. (p 14)
The white cranes in an arc across the skyline like a sheath of arrows fired at once from a god’s bow… (p 14)
…he feels like he has time. He luxuriates in the feeling stretching out in it like a cat in the sun.
He had a headache squatting in the darkest corner of his head, like a second beating heart. (p 20)
[the language used] offers grievance no easy purchase. (p 22)
…in a forest clearing under the open black sky, a natural amphitheatre with packed earth underfoot, rich dark soil made smooth by years of pounding feet, a stage for secret and sacred songs. (p 23)
Lessons learned in childhood have deep roots and are not easily plucked out by reasoning. (p 35)
fallen leaves, curved like twisting smiles (p 77)
soft petals like bloody tongues (p 86)
In the hollow silence between drum beats, there is the roiling susurrus of the crowd questioning one another… (p 86)
It sounds loud to him in the silence, like a temple bell calling the hours for the faithless. — ibid., p 158.

C1 – Fetter’s origin and early training…

Fetter, the protagonist, had his shadow magically torn from him at birth by his god-like mother. He lives in the city Acusdab and is trained from childhood to commit unforgivable sins: matricide, patricide, assassination of his father, and two others. Whether because of his parentage or the loss of his shadow, he has unusual powers: he can see devils; he is not burned by fire; and gravity does not hold him.

The main event in this early bit his murder of his grand uncle, which his mother engineers and supervises. It is awkwardly done, and he really only succeeds as a result of his ability to float. It seems evident that eventually his mother expects him to murder her, since he is being trained to commit all the unforgivable sins.

We learn quite a bit about the background of the world. There are lots of different cults and gods. Fetter is the son of The Perfect and the Kind, and his mother is Mother of Glory — but they have separated. There a devils and demons and strange creatures — the ones that only Fetter can see — all around, but others can, at most, only sense their presence and malign influence. It is also a world in which a classical education involves training in gramarie, dialectics, revanche, deferral and murder.

At 13 Fetter leaves home, armed and dangerous, as the text says.

C2: Teenage years pass with no details

This chapter is five sentences, and says only that he’s had a difficult adolescent and has learned to follow his luck and trust his gut.

C3: Fetter coming of age (beginning his 20’s)

The chapter begins acknowledging that he spent his childhood “in the thrall of a toxic, abusive parent.” But now he has “put away childish things,” [Xref Corinthians] and plans to lead his own life, renouncing violence for peace. He is how dating; and he has joined a support group for “unchosen ones” — he “is not the only feral child of a messiah.” But, at the moment, he seems happy: “…he feels like he has time. He luxuriates in the feeling stretching out in it like a cat in the sun.“

We learn more about the world, and now get the sense that it has modern elements: TV and talk shows and influencers. We also learn about the Bright Doors, and also learn that the members of the support group are recognized by the authorities and would never be allowed to work on the Doors. We also see that Fetter is likely the only one in the support group who can see the Devils.

The Bright Doors are brightly painted, kept well repaired, and often have offerings left in front of them. They are different from ordinary doors: they are opaque, and locked, and don’t appear to go anywhere, though a cold wind can be felt coming in through their cracks.

If what’s behind the door is the outside, then does that make all of Luriat—all of the world-the inside? The wind from the other side seems to intensify, as if there is a storm being held back by nothing more than this thin, over-painted orange door. The knob is freezing cold in his hand, though he can’t tell if it was cold when he touched it.
— ibid., p 19

C4: Fetter meets Caduv

We learn more about the world. It is a blend of old and new, low tech and high tech. There are religions and cults and gods and saints, and there are fans and crowdfunding of campaigns. There are plagues and pogroms from which people flee. We learn that the Perfect and the Kind is still active and popular, and that he has an entourage, and that the religion has two competing groups: the Path Ahead and the Path Behind.

Fetter meets Caduv, who comes to him for assistance with forms, and discovers that Caduv is another of the unchoosen, associated with a religion/cult called The Song of the Red. Caduv’s voice projects Fetter, temporarily, into another place. We learn more about the Sands, where Fetter lives, and its role as a place newcomers come, and from that we learn that there are many wars and pogroms in this world. The city, Lurati, has lots of refuges; but it also has a very substantial and powerful police/military apparatus that will persecute certain groups. We see an instance of people being rounded up and disappeared; those who lived in the same place do not speak of them.

C5: Fetter introduces Caduv to Koel

Fetter brings Caduv to the “Unchoosen group” and Caduv affects others of the unchoosenin the same way. The attracts the interest of Koel, who is one of the senior members of the Unchoosen group, and appears to be politically active, working against the terrorist tactics of the Lariat police state. It appears that the common language across cities is called Hellspeak. We learn that they use DNA and handprints for ID. Fetter takes Caduv to visit Koel, who is interested in making use of Caduv, and also, it turns out, Fetter.

C6: Koel, the Walking, and Bright Doors

Koel tells Fetter and Caduv her story and about the religion she is associated with: The Walking. An interesting feature of it is that a portion of the story/doctrine is omitted every time it is passed on to a new person/generation, so over time the religion becomes fragmented and ambiguous. Koel recruits Fetter to impersonate Peroe, a student. In that guise he will be allowed to study a Bright Door

We also learn that Fetter’s relationship with Hej is intensifying, though he has not told Hej about his parents, or status as an unchoosen, or his interest in the Bright Doors.

Koel also explains more about Bright Doors

They cannot be opened
They are one sided
Over time they become indestructible
Any door, if unused, can turn into a bright door
Bright doors are painted, named and cared for; each door has a committee of people.
It seems like they open onto a different world or worlds.

C7: The Bright Door and its Committee

Fetter makes contact with the committee for a Bright Door called “Nine Yellow Oxen,” and receives permission to study it. We learn a little about the elaborate race and caste system that governs status in Lariat and the larger world. Fetter has his first experience with his Bright Door, and can sense a faint cold wind and bitter scent.

C8: Mother Calls; F expands his connections

His Mother calls Fetter on a land line; she says she is dying and it’s his fault; they begin to have regular conversations. Koel is not interested in Bright Doors, but is interested in Fetter getting close to certain members of the Door’s committee. Fetter attends a dinner, and discovers that one of the committee, Gerau, is a follower of the Perfect and the Kind, who says she will get him a ticket to see Him when He comes to Lariat. Another member of the committee decides he wants to connect Fetter with a group of students who are researching Bright Doors.

C9: F meets Pipra & not-sees a Bright Door forming

F meets Pipra, the leader of the student research team in an abandoned mall where they are trying to observe regular doors “translating” into Bright Doors. He suggests that maybe the doors only translate when unobserved and so, although they have done it before, he and Pipra arrange to close their eyes and stop their ears — and indeed their door becomes a Bright Door. F is attracted to Pipra, and hopes to see her again. In this chapter he also learns more about the scientific bureaucracy and that Coema is a big wheel in the Ministry of Health.

C10: F, Pipra and the execution

Back at home F is awakened by drums, and after a moment of confusion where he imagines he is a child (and this thus fills in a bit more about his childhood), he goes out and sees a line of prisoners being led through the streets. He joins the crowd and follows along to the beach, where a gallows is being constructed. The prisoners are being hanged; then he bumps into Pipra there. The watch the execution, and end up keening in one another’s arms.

C11: F & Hej plan to see the Perfect and the Kind

Fetter meets Hej for lunch. We learn a bit more about the history of the world, and that Hej is a non-practicing follower of the Path Behind, but wants to take F with him to see the Perfect and the Kind.

Interlude: Pause for reflection in the midst of reading

I’m about a hundred pages into the book. The positive things I see in it are some nice writing — images, well-crafted phrases — and a unique and intricately crafted world.

That said, there is a lot lacking. I can’t say I like any of the characters — not one. Furthermore, there are very few I dislike either — Mother of Glory, perhaps, but she is more of a force than a character. The world seems unpleasant rather than interesting. The blend of magic and technology falls flat for me. And the world is really just being used to make points about refugees, class, prejudice, power, hegemony, tyranny, brutality, and so on. The Bright Doors are mildly intriguing as a mystery, but only a little.

I’d like to root for Fetter, but other than a mild lust for Hej, it doesn’t feel like there is a lot to him. He doesn’t care about much. He’s curious about the Doors, but not intensely so. He is just getting by. Although he’s in a relationship with Hej, he’s really not sharing anything of importance with him — his parents, his unchoosenness, his new attraction to Pipra. But then, as we get to know Hej a bit more, he seems like a sort of arrogant, conventional person: What does Fetter even see in him?

More generally, where is this story going? There’s no quest, no looming war, no threat that must be thwarted, no journy that must be completed. At least not that I’m aware of. Most of what happens seems to mostly happen by happenstance.

That’s my take so far.

C12: Mother of Glory’s Story

M of G’s story about the arrival of The Perfect and Kind as a pirate, how he learned managed and gathered power from the ‘innocent’ and unknowing natives, and then used that to become their ruler and then destroy their past and their country by obliterating it and replacing it with a new world and new history. When he does this, many people disappear and almost everyone forgets their past — but not M of G. Most of the devils disappear — or at least humans, excepting Fetter, cannot see them. The Perfect and Kind decides to reject Fetter, so that he can have unlimited power. M of G gathers a little power around her, and decides to raise Fetter to get revenge.

C13: The Unchoosen morph into Koel’s group

The unchoosen group has been reduced to those who are playing parts in Koel’s plans. Koel reveals that a white year — featuring plagues and prison camps — is in the offing, and that she is working against the authorities. F learns that Koel is much much older, and thinks: “She will get him killed doing something he doesn’t even understand.

C14: A Devil comes through the Door

Fetter is watching his Door and sees, first, a circle of dots, and then realizes that a devil is pushing through the door. He watches as it does so, and enters their world and goes off elsewhere. He realizes that the bright doors are not just doors but portals from another world, and that they are not locked.

c15: Fetter is depressed and is visited by Hej and his Mother

Fetter stays in his room for several days, not answering any calls. Finally Hej comes over to take care of him; he almost tells Hej what is going on but ends up lying. Later his mother calls, and rants at him. While she rants he imagines telling her, but does not, that he can see the devils, and when he was young and in Acusab, he could see that they were all laughing at her and mocking her.