Equilateral: A Novel
Kalfus’ previous novel, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country (2006), won raves for its trenchant satire of post-9/11 relationships and garnered a National Book Award nomination. Coloring outside the lines of mainstream fiction and into alternative history, his latest work tells the fanciful story of Sanford Thayer, a famous nineteenth-century astronomer who galvanizes support for a grandiose plan to a light a triangular beacon in the Egyptian desert bright enough to captivate earth’s Martian neighbors. Inspired by the 1877 discovery by colleague Giovanni Schiaparelli of Martian canals (in reality, later debunked as an optical illusion), Thayer marshals the financial support of businessmen worldwide who salivate over the bounty Martians will bestow on earth when they realize its inhabitants are civilized, too. Yet only weeks away from its planned completion, construction of the triangular trench, dubbed the Equilateral, is going badly, with Thayer fighting fevers and insurrections from the project’s Arab excavators. Although Kalfus’ new novel may appeal to a more selective audience, his writing takes a big step forward with stylistic elegance and deeper insights into human nature. --Carl Hays