Pitch Perfect: Ed Seaward reviews The Unravelling of Ou by Hollay Ghadery
Review by Ed Seaward.
I assume authors begin their novel with an epigraph for a reason, pointing the reader in a particular direction. For her debut novel Hollay Ghadery chose a quote from Henry James: “The increasing seriousness of things, then that’s the great opportunity of jokes.” The epigraph is pitch perfect, as is the title of her novel, The Unravelling of Ou.
Hollay Ghadery, author of The Unravelling of Ou (Palimpsest Press, 2026).
The humour is delivered in the form of narrator Ecology Paul, a sock hand puppet that female protagonist Minoo wears constantly on one hand. (To understand the origin of the name 'Ecology Paul' and the Farsi pronoun 'ou' you need to read the novel — they are integral to the story and should not be revealed here.) I have read references to Ghadery’s novel as 'experimental', because of this unique narrator, which I think is unfortunate. 'Experimental' creates a barrier for many readers and this novel deserves a wide audience. It is, in fact, an easy read — and I mean that in the best of terms.
While the choice of a sock puppet narrator is inventive it renders no difficulty for the reader to fall into the throes of Ghadery’s story. In fact, the opposite. Given that the story is of the unravelling of Minoo — showing her psychological breakdown over a lifetime — what could otherwise be a depressing read of a tortured psyche is offered up as a fulfilling read through the puppet narrator’s “great opportunity of jokes”. This unique approach blends first and third person narration. We know the puppet’s words are Minoo’s thoughts, in the same way we know a dummy’s voice emits from the ventriloquist, yet rendered as third person it provides the sense of complete honesty. There is no “unreliable narrator” here — Minoo’s tormented life is laid bare.
Structurally, the novel unfolds over Minoo’s short drive home from the hospital after her daughter gives birth to her own daughter. Through revealed memories along this drive home, we see the entirety of Minoo’s life, starting in Iran and her banishment to Canada by her mother, the story of Minoo’s unravelling. While this is Ghadery’s first novel, she has been published several times, including a poetry collection, a collection of short stories, and a memoir that received the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her skill as a writer becomes apparent as the reader flows through countless flashbacks to Minoo’s days first arriving in Ontario, and earlier days in Iran, during the real-time drive from hospital to home. Ghadery crafts this narrative structure in such a way that it is seamless in time and location shifts. As reader we are never left confused of when or where we are — we are always present, in the moment, held there through the excellent storytelling skills of our narrator, the puppet. Henry James's seriousness and jokes blend.
In one scene our sock hand puppet describes how Minoo slams her head into the steering wheel of her parked car. The hand puppet comforts Minoo by brushing back her hair and then offers “a rumpled takeout napkin that had been shoved in the cup holder. It was stained brown with tea, but it was a better option than her resorting to using me as a snot rag. Which she’s been known to do.” The poor sock puppet narrator, being used as a 'snot rag,' makes us laugh in the midst of detailed mental anguish. This is the perfect tension of 'The Unravelling of Ou'. Every aspect of this novel works together, theme and character and plot, so that it meets the promise of the epigraph.
Since I began with the epigraph, I’ll conclude by mentioning that when I finish a novel I always take time to flip through the acknowledgments at the back. Ghadery’s acknowledgments are fairly brief and end with this sentence: “Finally, thank you to my family who put up with me talking to a sock for a year.” The image of Hollay Ghadery engaged in research by wandering around her home with a sock covering one hand for an entire year makes me smile. This well structured, well written novel will make you smile even as it makes you ponder — and breaks your heart.
Reviewer and author Ed Seaward
Ed Seaward’s debut novel Fair was published in 2020 by The Porcupine’s Quill. Awarded the Silver Medal in Urban Fiction by the 2021 Independent Book Awards, Fair was also shortlisted for the Canadian Authors Association’s 2021 Fred Kerner Award. His screenplay, Mother Daughter Happiness was a finalist at the 2019 Pasadena International Film Festival. His web publications Profiles From The Bright Side Of The Road features writers, actors, artists and environmentalists. The Newfoundland family series, It’s Sharpe to Stay Home, was republished by Down Home Magazine. His novel London Gothic is being published by DarkWinter Press and will be available in October, 2026. After 30 years in the corporate world, Ed now writes full-time. He and his wife Barb live in Georgetown, Ontario.