While the subject matter of this book was resonate and intriguing, the writing style was not what I was expecting and, unfortunately, never grew on me. Kielland utilizes a stream-of-consciousness like style to tell this story. This is not referenced or mentioned in the synopsis and I think this does the book a disservice. The prose is elegant and well-crafted, but so out of the realm of what I was anticipating and wanting.

My Men -Victoria Keilland (translated from Norwegian by Damion Searls)

All stories end with death, this one too. Bella knew that.

After suffering horrifically at the hands of a violent husband, Brynhild Storset escapes her past on a boat to America along with thousands of other immigrants. Through a beautiful stream-of-consciousness style narrative, we see Brynhild morph into Belle Gunness, a woman infamous for how she treated, in her words, “my men”.

The argument put forward here is that Belle is hardened by the lack of true love she receives and the way she is treated by the patriarchal, violent society of the early 20th century - she works hard on her farm, becomes a woman of property and means, yet still looks for the romantic love that eludes her, yearning for more self-esteem. She fears about raising her children in such a society, becoming ever more ruthless to protect them, until she becomes so warped that her “protection” means the ultimate sin.

I really enjoyed the writing of this book, more so than other early reviewers, but I have a hang-up about the subject matter and how “fictionalized” this is. From what I have read and heard, Belle Gunness was not a “senseless killer”, as the blurb of this book suggests – if your husband has life insurance, killing him for the money makes sense. I get the idea of a more feminist slant on women killers, and the writing is superb. I’m just not sure a woman who left a body count of at least 30 people is the correct choice for this. What do you think?

A beautifully written novel, just not sure of the premise. A classic 3 star divisive read that some will love, I reckon. Thanks to @astrapublishinghouse and @netgalley for the early copy, this is published 27th June.

If you are looking for a novel about a broken woman going on a murderous rampage, this isn't the book for you. This is a poetic, heartbreaking novel about a woman, Belle, who has endured a brutal act of misogynistic violence, and emigrates from Norway to America to start a new life. Once there, she continues her quest for unconditional love, only to find that no one fulfills her entirely realistic expectations.

Belle Gunness was a real person, who murdered 14 people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Victoria Kielland (and translator Damion Searles) have created a realistic and bleak portrait of a woman driven to extremes by her dissatisfaction with a cruel, sexist world. I was surprised how much I empathized with Belle; her struggles with feckless men unfortunately continue to resonate over 100 years later.

This is a quick read; the pace and structure makes for a perfect one-sitting read. There are parts that are grizzly, and the final paragraph is truly devastating, but this is mostly about a woman with mental health issues and no support. I’ll be thinking about Belle for a long time.

I don't know if knowing this was based on a true story is doing more of a disservice to this novel or not, but in my opinion, it made me mostly question the pacing of this book. "My Men" is written in an elegant and literary stream of consciousness style. Themes such as the female body, sexual awakening and religion (sort of) prevail while we witness a young woman spiraling into mental alienation. Had this been more captivating (at least, as much as the blurb let on), I think I would've enjoyed this more, but in this particular case, I think I'm just pretty indifferent to the whole thing. Kudos to the gorgeous translation though.

I'm going to start this by saying the translation was beautiful. The translator did a really solid job in capturing the atmosphere and Kielland's voice. It's not their fault that the story was lacking. The synopsis promises more intensity than the story ends up delivering. I know our main character is a real person, but damn. It was all just flat for me.

My Men by Victoria Kielland is a very polarising read based on a true story of one of America’s most notorious serial killers of the late 1800’s/early 1900’s.

We follow the main character Belle/Bella/Bryhnhilde (her name changes a couple times throughout her life) from her first traumatic experience with a man at the age of 17 in her home country before fleeing to America in hopes of a better life. In her constant chase for the love and affection she craves, a switch flicks inside Belle and the reader observes her descent into madness and pure fem rage. Something I really enjoyed about My Men was how subtle that shift is to the reader, it’s like you’re playing catch up because you don’t realise what has happened until the story has moved on. Belle feels broken and disappointed in the hand she’s been dealt which simmers into a monster inside her. Belle’s body count is debated upon but it was confirmed she murdered 14+ people, many of them men she had lured to her home from overseas.

In my opinion, you will either love or hate the writing style of My Men - think The Yellow Wallpaper but more disjointed. I think it was a great choice by the author to demonstrate how unhinged and erratic the main character is but it would definitely be a challenge for readers who haven’t read anything outside of typical contemporary fiction. The downside of the writing in my opinion was the pacing, there would be some passages which spanned over several months and I had no idea until I kept reading and wondered what was going on so it lost me a little in parts. Again, I know this was intentional but I did struggle with that aspect.

Ultimately, I know there is a particular niche of readers who would absolutely devour this book as there are others who probably won’t read the whole thing and that’s okay! It is definitely an acquired taste to follow the chaos but I really enjoyed it! I think it’s a really interesting concept and Victoria Kielland did a fantastic job of getting inside Belle.

This sounded great. The description alone drew me in completely. I don’t actually care for true crime, but serial killers are undeniably interesting from psychological perspective. Especially, the unusual ones. Especially, female ones.
I’ve never heard of Belle Gunness, not the woman, not the mystery. A Norwegian immigrant who became America’s first serial killer and by all accounts racked up a terrifyingly impressive body count.
The story is fascinating, the book should have been riveting. And yet, it chose a different path. Specifically, a purely narrative, all-in-the-mind, almost stream of consciousness like style that never varies until the last page. A style that often works with short stories but stretched over 200 pages becomes rather…dense, monotonous, difficult to enjoy. Unless you really want to spend that much time in Belle’s lovelorn, affection-hungry, careening straight into madness mind.
Yes, there is a hypnotic quality to this style of writing, it’s elegant and literary, and it’s easy to see what the author was going for, but the overall result just didn’t work for me. Seems like a historical figure as singular and enigmatic (Belle was never found) deserves a more exciting, engaging story. But at least it had the decency to be short and go by quickly. Thanks Netgalley.

‘My Men’ tells the (fictionalized) true story of Belle Gunness - a prolific serial killer targeting men. This is a surprising feminist story - Belle targets men as an outlet for the patriarchy, the society that destroyed her life - and brilliantly chronicles her descent into madness. Kielland manages to bring empathy to what could have been a shlocky true crime read and instead charts Belle’s turn from victim to victimizer into a moving portrait of alienation.