Unveiling the enigma of existence: Anne de Marcken's "It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over" is a remarkable exploration of life, death, and the spaces in between.

The protagonist is vividly alive in the afterlife, and navigates her existence with a voracious curiosity. Despite forgetting her name and much of her human connection, she is acutely aware, observing the peculiarities of her new reality. The narrative, both spare and haunting, follows her journey westward, accompanied by a dead crow nestled in her chest. In this surreal odyssey, she encounters the bizarre, the terrifying, the hilarious, and the heart-wrenching, losing and discovering fragments of herself along the way.

De Marcken's prose is a tour de force, a testament to her audacity and creative vigor, effortlessly bending reality and challenging the reader's mind with a throwaway assurance. De Marcken delves into mortality, exploring how it transforms everything, except, perhaps, love.

The writing itself is exemplary, skillfully weaving a plot that is simultaneously elusive and enthralling. The deliberate absence of a clear, linear trajectory invites readers to revel in the enigmatic allure of the narrative, provoking thoughtful reflection. De Marcken's adept use of metaphors enriches the story, infusing it with dark humor that serves both as amusement and a conduit for deeper contemplation. Throughout the narrative, De Marcken poses profound questions, eschewing easy answers and compelling readers to grapple with the uncertainties of existence. The deliberate cultivation of ambiguity becomes a virtue, enhancing the overall allure of the narrative. My only negative comment: certain sections towards the end appear unclear or less integral to the overarching narrative, offering a minor detraction from an otherwise cohesive and compelling journey.

Many thanks to NetGalley for this fantastic ARC!

"Which comes first, a believer or a religion?"

We are always in search of meaning, as if by knowing the cause, the origin, we have control, we can allocate blame, and say that if we had done that then we would have won, been safer.

But we live in a world that does not always have meaning. It might also be that 'meaning' is a social construct.

Anne de Marcken writes about someone, a dead someone, loosing body parts, with a haiku spouting crow in her chest, who is search of meaning, clinging to fragments of memories, fragments of love, that gave meaning to her previous life. All this in a crazy kind of limbo devoid of all meaning whatsoever.

An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley.

In all honesty, my reasons for picking up this book were more superficial than substantial - 'It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over' is one of the most sublime, poetic titles I've ever come across, and any blurb which contains a favourable quote from Alexandra Kleeman is an instant object of interest for me. Having now actually read the novel (rather than simply its front and back pages), I am pleased to say that it offers a rebuttal to the old saying: Anne de Marcken's work is proof that it IS possible to judge a book by its cover; inside and out, this is a piece of tender, elegant, and sharply crafted literature.

As a fragmentary text, told in a series of loosely connected vignettes (and without a clear-cut narrative thread to follow), readers who prefer their novels to contain lucid, explicit stories may feel lost - but, particularly in relation to the text's central consideration of grief and mournning, I felt it really worked here: de Marcken's disorientating, unmoored prose seems to reflect her narrator's sense of loss; she, too, is adrift in the world, thrown off course by the absence of her loved one. And, perhaps due to the use of the crow motif (in an earlier edition of the text, an image of a black bird takes up most of the cover), the tone of the novel feels (in a favourable sense) comparable to that of Poe's work - at times, I felt like I was reading a modern twist on 'The Raven': disturbing, perturbing, and totally unforgettable.

Thank you to Fitzcarraldo Editions and NetGalley for this ARC ebook!

I found it hard to know what to make of "It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over", an intriguing title which promises a little more than the book can deliver. It's post-apocalyptic and poetic, fully of striking images and events, narrated as if it's a series of dreams and sometimes just as hard to follow. There are traces of Samuel Beckett and Isabel Waidner in its bleakness and resistance to narrative conventions, but I wasn't convinced that the sum was greater than its parts. About half way through the narrator says "A Time that is to middle as beginning is to end. Maybe this is that time,. Middle but without the hope of resolution". The book felt a bit like that to me, all middle but without the clarity of writing either to resolve itself or to reveal its context or origins. Worth reading but a little frustrating.

The unnamed heroine of this sparse and contemplative read has little memory of anything but one thread stays with her throughout her wanderings even as she begins to lose parts of herself to this strange, half-apocalyptic world: her love and longing for someone she has left behind.

This could easily be read in an afternoon and its drifting vagueness sweeps the reader along through a landscape that is eerie, desolate, bereft of its beating heart of life much like each of its characters are bereft of some physical part of themselves. That's not all, much like the unnamed narrator, everyone in this book seems to be searching eternally for some understanding of how to persevere in what is not quite life, but not unlike it either. The writing is beautifully lyrical and I paused multiple times to contemplate a particularly well-crafted or elegant turn of phrase. I feel this is where the book's strengths lie, in its wonderful prose that verges on the poetic. I was not surprised, upon some quick google searches, that Anne de Marcken has published quite a collection of shorter former writing which aligns to more poetic and fluid shorter-form writing.

I must say that what let me down slightly was this quality of ambiguity which tipped a bit too far into vagueness for me. I felt very adrift throughout and whilst I could appreciate the writing I would have enjoyed this far more if there had been slightly more solid foundations stringing the novel together.

"It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over" by Anne de Marcken is a forthcoming novel that introduces a fresh and captivating voice in literature. Published in the UK by Fitzcarraldo Editions, known for their commitment to bold and daring literature, this book offers a unique reading experience.

Throughout my reading of this book, I found myself often navigating through a plot that was intentionally enigmatic. However, the true draw of this novel lies in its exquisite prose, marked by its lyrical and powerful writing. The narrative is masterfully delivered by an unnamed protagonist who finds herself adrift in the afterlife, where a series of weird events unfold.

This is a book that undoubtedly deserves a re-reading. It is relatively short, consisting primarily of short passages that make for a quick and immersive read. Anne de Marcken demonstrates her considerable talent as a writer, leaving me eager to read more of her work in the future.

Note: I will post the review on my Instagram and other social media closer to release date.