Steinberg’s debut novel, Imaginary Order, is a tale of self-discovery, but it is also much more: it is a deep meditation on enduring human themes familiar to any lover of literature—for example, the question of identity and its many riddles; the mystery of the memory and the way it plays with our experience of time; the ambiguous nature of first impressions, but also of last impressions; of both wanted and unwanted desire, as well as the many surprises of requited and unrequited love.
In an overall reflective tone, Steinberg’s novel moves from one of these themes to another, and with an attentive eye on the many trials and ambiguities encountered in the world, she tells a story about that constant human search for home, a consistent desire found echoing within every human voice. Humans inhabit a world at once vast yet fragile, and so it is understandable why we desire to find a permanent site of dwelling, a location that we can call home. But why is it so difficult, if not impossible, to find such a permanent dwelling, be it a place, a person, or an experience? As Nani, the novel’s protagonist, transitions from one station in life to another, all the while holding together the fragile search for her identity, we the readers are also continuously confronted by these questions, in their many difficult forms.
Here is a brief excerpt that captures the the author’s introspective mood:
“My time in London had, as most things, its ups and downs. When life became especially difficult, I often found myself reminiscing about the past, as if within its boundaries lay an inevitable, unreachable happiness I would never feel again. In reality, the brain has its own analgesics. We remember what we want to remember and discard the rest.”
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