What readers think of Twist, plus links to write your own review.

This is a literary novel about connection…brokenness…and repair on multiple levels. And while the symbolism and themes mostly work, in the end it just feels quite heavy and cumbersome.

Written by Colum McCann, this is the story of a down-on-his-luck Irish writer named Anthony Fennell. Unable to focus on his creative fiction, he decides to write a magazine article about the miles and miles and miles of relatively fragile undersea cables that connect our Internet. Yes the "cloud" is mostly in the ocean, and when those cables break, which happens due to natural disasters, such as underwater volcanoes and landslides, as well as accidental and rogue encounters with ships, someone has to fix it. The cables are far too deep for divers, so ships atop the sea must send down grappling hooks to do the work. It's difficult, treacherous, and demands highly skilled people. Fennell hops aboard a ship in South Africa that is heading out to repair three different breaks.

While Fennell narrates the book in the first person, the novel is really about John Conway, the mission specialist who is charge of finding and repairing the cable. He is young, handsome, and troubled. And he is not at all who he says he is.

This is a story about survival—physically and psychologically. Just like the cable at the bottom of the ocean that is ruptured, both Fennell and Conway's lives are ruptured with trauma and in need of repair. As Conway says at one point in the novel, "Everything gets fixed, and we all stay broken."

Still, the storyline can feel slow, although it is highlighted in parts with surprising dramatic tension…and then goes back to being slow. In addition, the writing is dense with a lot packed into a relatively short book.

The novel explores a profound topic about the human psyche, but ultimately it just gets weighed down.

I am a huge fan of Colum McCann’s fiction -- I've read almost every single one -- but this one left me feeling disappointed. The subject of African workers who repair the cables that lie on the deep ocean floor, carrying almost all of our internet messages, sounded fascinating. But the narrator, a middle-aged, alcoholic, failing Irish writer, divorced and with no relationship with his 16 year old son, instead becomes obsessed with the other Irishman on board, a ”mysterious” younger man, Conway, in charge of finding and repairing the cables.

The narrator, Fennel, seems to sense a younger version of himself in Conway. Fennel also becomes obsessed with Conway’s potentially broken relationship with a rising South African actress, performing in Waiting for Godot in England, and spends much of his time on board trying to learn about it over the internet. As he narrates, we are subjected to Fennel’s mediocre writing and often pretentious prose and endless literary allusions, too – how many times can he use the metaphors of “brokenness” and “repair” and “turbulence” without our wanting to shout “Enough! We get it!” I honestly was not compelled to care that much about either of these Irishmen.

I was most absorbed by the scene when, back on land, outside of Accra, Fennel’s maid, a scientist in her own right who has chosen to stay in her impoverished village, takes him to a dump where villagers are melting down the metals in the broken sea cable to resell, in hopes make a meager living. Those are the kinds of people and stories that Colum McCann is usually so wonderful at relating, with careful observation and great compassion. But here, we are stuck with two Irishmen who won’t do the hard work of really trying to solve their own personal issues with meaningful, long-lasting relationships – perhaps try a therapist?

Instead, Fennel returns to his obsession with Apocalypse Now. Heart of Darkness, Conrad, Conway, get it? Oy. The mysterious Conway and his puzzling actions remain cloaked in mystery, and the book ends with Fennel having a revelation that perhaps he can repair his broken relationship with his son by taking a selfie with the famous South African actress and sending it across the ocean in a cable.