A New New Me is both vividly imaginative and alienating

Kinga, in a bid to free herself from her daily turmoil, splits her identity into seven parts.

- Myle Yan Tay

A NEW NEW ME By Helen Oyeyemi Fiction/Faber and Faber/Hardcover/256 pages/$35.07

And so, Kingas A-G were born, each assigned one day of the week, able to communicate only via diary entries as the days pass.

But come one Monday morning, Kinga-A discovers an unwelcome and unexplained surprise from Kinga-G: a handsome fellow, bound and gagged to one of their living room chairs.

A New New Me by Helen Oyeyemi takes place over a single week and is told entirely through the journal entries of Kingas A-G. Each Kinga writes differently and notices different things, and, notably, they live entirely different lives.

Kinga-A works as a matchmaker, but her work-wife is Kinga-B's work enemy. Kinga-C is a low-flying career criminal, conning unsuspecting businessmen with her crew. Thursday's Kinga, Kinga-D, uses her limited hours to spend the cash accrued by Kingas A-C, while lounging in a soapy bath.

Kinga-E is a professional muse, providing olfactory inspiration to an auteur perfumer. And Kinga-F and Kinga-G are better left for the reader to find out.