Palimpsest (novel)



"“Thus it is that four strangers sit in the red chairs, strip off their socks, plunge their feet into the ink-baths, and hold hands under an amphibian stare. This is the first act of anyone entering Palimpsest: Orlande will take your coats, sit you down, and make you family. She will fold you four together like Quartos. She will draw you each a card — look, for you it is the Broken Ship reversed, which signifies Perversion, a Long Journey without Enlightenment, Gout — and tie your hands together with red yarn. Wherever you go in Palimpsest, you are bound to these strangers who happened onto Orlande’s salon just when you did, and you will go nowhere, eat no capon or dormouse, drink no oversweet port that they do not also taste, and they will visit no whore that you do not also feel beneath you, and until that ink washes from your feet—which, given that Orlande is a creature of the marsh and no stranger to mud, will be some time—you cannot breathe but that they breathe also.”"

In another reality, there is a wonderful place full of living trains, anthropomorphic houses, talking animals, and every fantasy being imaginable. This land is Palimpsest, a strange place that humans can visit... but only after sleeping with someone who has part of a map of Palimpsest tattooed magically on their skin and only for one night at a time. Newcomers arrive in groups of four known as Quartos and while some love the country and wish to stay forever, none of the "immigrants" know for certain how to do that.

A Quartos consisting of Amaya Sei (a train-loving woman from Tokyo), November Aguilar (a beekeeper from California), Oleg Sadakov (a locksmith from New York City), and Ludovico Conti (a book binder from Rome) arrives in the city as the novel begins and the story follows their adventures in Palimpsest, delving into their lives in the real world, the people they seek, the things they lost, and the pursuit of what they love.

Palimpsest is a 2009 fantasy novel by Catherynne M. Valente.

""Do you know what a thirteen-year-old girl can do when she is alone and frightened and believes she is right?"
 * Adult Fear: Lyudmila died as a child, before Oleg was even born. . Sei also experiences this near the end, when
 * Being in a strange land and being dragged out of a public place and murdered, with nobody caring because you're an immigrant. Such is the fate of anyone who crosses the Dvorniki, but it's also a chilling reality for immigrants in real life.
 * All Just a Dream: What Palimpsest is initially dismissed as, by most immigrants initially. Unfortunately subverted when it's revealed that injuries such as carry over to the real world and people who die in Palimpsest remain dead in real life.
 * Artificial Human: Palimpsest has the ability to make copies of people, aware of what they are but still capable of acting like humans.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Body Horror: Besides, November ends up with magical tattoos on her face, where they can't be hidden. By the end of the book, she has trouble finding a partner to take her to Palimpsest, since her appearance is rather unsettling. There's also the war veterans, who had to have amputated body parts replaced surgically with animal limbs.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Heavily implied to be present in some form between Oleg and Lyudmila. It's mentioned that she became veyr upset and disappeared for some time when Oleg tried to get a girlfriend and
 * Blue and Orange Morality: The people of Palimpsest operate under a different sense of morality than in real life. Casimira as a means to help her, then
 * Crap Saccharine World: Palimpsest has all sorts of wonderful, beautiful things in it and many people feel like they belong there far more than they ever did in their own world. But it's also recovering from a devastating war and there's also a massive amount of Fantastic Racism towards immigrants, to the point where veterans of the aforementioned war will occasionally murder immigrants. As Nerezza notes, "It's wonderful there, in Palimpsest, but sometimes it's not very nice."
 * Creepy Child: According to Sei's friend, babies conceived through sex bringing people to Palimpsest are born covered with maps on their skin and the ability to talk. She had a child like that and was so terrified, she immediately gave him up for adoption.
 * Driven to Suicide: Sei's mother, Usagi, killed herself when Sei was a child.
 * Electric Torture: It's mentioned at one point that Usagi underwent electroshock therapy because of her insanity.
 * Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: The priestess of the Dvorniki has a shark's head.
 * Fantastic Racism: The people of Palimpsest generally really don't care for immigrants. At best, they look down on them and consider their use of sex to cross over to be amusing. At worst, "street cleaners" will murder immigrants for the slightest reason (or, occasionally, no reason at all). They also refuse to tell immigrants how to permanently move to Palimpsest.
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: The land of Palimpsest contains dragons, moon rabbits, sentient locomotives, fortune-telling, Mix-and-Match Critters, and much, much more.
 * Fingore: Casimira cuts off fingers to impress upon  that this Palimpsest is not a dream.
 * Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Even though is given plenty of reasons why giving birth to a baby conceived through Palimpsest is not a good idea and she should have an abortion, she can't make up her mind on going through with it.
 * Great Offscreen War: One frequently mentioned, fought over the issue of immigration and whether or not to open Palimpsest again. Because of it, people are able to reach Palimpsest again in their dreams and there are more than a few veterans of the way who show up.
 * Human Sacrifice: The Dvorniki will kill immigrants on a door-like alter, praying that immigrants will be unable to find their way to Palimpsest.
 * I Choose to Stay: Quite a few people who find Palimpsest want to stay there forever. The trouble is, nobody knows how to make the move permanent.
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Casimira came from a prominent family, but was so lonely growing up that she started a war for the right to let immigrants return.
 * Meaningful Name: A palimpsest is a manuscript that has its original writing taken off for later writing, but still has traces of the original document. This applies to the land of Palimpsest itself (Casimira's war was held to eradicate the anti-immigration policy and succeeded in changing it, but the negative views towards immigrants remained) as well as towards all the characters who visit, using it as a way to start over while still dealing with the lingering effects of their pasts.
 * Casimira means is a feminine version of "Casimir", which is translated either as "someone who destroys opponent's prestige/glory during battle" or "the one who reveals or establishes peace". Casimira went to war against those who supported the anti-immigration policies, winning the right for immigrants to return and allowed Palimpsest to continue to grow.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Oleg's reaction when he realizes just how terribly he'd treated.
 * Reality Ensues:
 * Single-Target Sexuality Oleg is only interested in the spirit of his sister, Lyudmila. It's mentioned that he briefly had a girlfriend who was actually a living person and not related to him, but it was unsatisfying. Ludovico is only shown to be interested in his wife.
 * The Reveal:
 * Teens Are Monsters: Played with. Casimira was a teenager when she launched a massive war. While the war had far-reaching consequences and cost many lives, it's treated as the end result (immigrants returning to Palimpsest) was ultimately in the land's best interest.


 * Tongue Trauma:
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Even though is the same as, Oleg is furious with her and chases her away when he finds out the truth. He later is ashamed of his behavior and tells Ludovico that just because she was  didn't mean he had the right to speak to her like that.
 * 0% Approval Rating: How Casimira's immigration policy was met. She ended up having to start a war to get it put through..