Finna

December 2, 2019
In this whimsical but underwhelming interdimensional adventure through an endless furniture store, two retail workers face myriad otherworldly obstacles as well as the specter of their own recently ended relationship. Cipri (Homesick: Stories), a Publishers Weekly reviewer, employs this delightfully unusual setting to explore the soul-crushing nature of retail work and the pain of recent breakups. When Ava is unexpectedly called in for a shift at the big-box furniture store Litenvärld, she and her former partner Jules are tasked with delving into an endless series of wormholes into display rooms in alternate versions of the store to find a customer who was sucked through a wormhole. Each alternate dimension contains its own unpredictable monsters and amazements, in an episodic structure that will leave some readers longing for more connective tissue. While confronting the mysteries each world offers, Jules and Ava negotiate their relationship dynamic, rehashing their breakup and lingering feelings. Their emotional arcs resonate but are frequently overpowered by the introduction of new, seemingly random sets of problems to face. Cipri delivers on a fun premise, but readers will wish for greater depths of feeling. Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Agency.

Starred review from January 1, 2020

All Ava wanted was to stay home and recover from her breakup with Jules. Instead, she's called back to work at LitenVärld, the giant box furniture store where she and Jules both work--and, of course, Jules is there, too. Jules is not happy to face Ava either. The two are called in to handle a customer disappearance through an unknown portal to another dimension connected to the LitenVärld multiverse. Sent through the portal to look for their wayward customer, Ava and Jules contend with furniture that eats you up (literally), a hive mind of retail workers, and their own lingering postbreakup feelings. VERDICT Cipri (Homesick) hits all the right notes in this fantasy novella packed with action and emotion. Part horror, part humor, and all heart, the story uniquely showcases two queer protagonists dealing with their own emotional separation while also being forced to work together. Highly recommended.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2020
This slim novel follows two recently broken up queer co-workers, Ava and Jules, as they discover that the monolithic Swedish furniture store they've been working for has been concealing the existence of wormholes that frequently appear in their furniture showroom. When an elderly customer becomes lost in the multiverse, Jules and a reluctant Ava are volunteered to find the missing grandma, or a suitable "replacement" from another world. In their search for the missing customer, Ava and Jules will have to deal with carnivorous furniture, very literal corporate hive minds, and their own unresolved baggage. If they can stop fighting long enough they may be able to make it back alive, and even manage to be friends. While the length of the novel means it can at times feel a little slight, the mixture of corporate drudgery and dimension-hopping adventure will hold the reader's attention as well as Ava and Jules' post-break-up foibles do. Recommended for those interested in sf that features queer relationships, minimum-wage labor, and many worlds theory.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from January 1, 2020

All Ava wanted was to stay home and recover from her breakup with Jules. Instead, she's called back to work at LitenV�rld, the giant box furniture store where she and Jules both work--and, of course, Jules is there, too. Jules is not happy to face Ava either. The two are called in to handle a customer disappearance through an unknown portal to another dimension connected to the LitenV�rld multiverse. Sent through the portal to look for their wayward customer, Ava and Jules contend with furniture that eats you up (literally), a hive mind of retail workers, and their own lingering postbreakup feelings. VERDICT Cipri (Homesick) hits all the right notes in this fantasy novella packed with action and emotion. Part horror, part humor, and all heart, the story uniquely showcases two queer protagonists dealing with their own emotional separation while also being forced to work together. Highly recommended.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.