Loved the concept but the writing style got in the way for me. No speech marks so it was hard to tell when/if people were speaking, but also it’s written in the style of word vomit so it’s quite suffocating for a book so short,

If you get along with stream of consciousness or writing that challenges grammatical norms, then this might work for you.

Wow! This is my first Latin Lit book I have read. I struggle with understanding translated literature at times. It was a raw depiction of women’s inner instability and sexual desires. To me, it was jaw dropping and poetic. It was challenging at times to read but definitely worth the push.

This was such a weird read and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. In this book, a sixty-year-old woman hides under the stairs and becomes increasingly ostracised by a community which believes she has gone mad as she reflects on sex, god, and the metaphysical. It's a strange premise definitely, and the execution, with an almost stream-of-consciousness narrative style and lyrical prose, made it feel all the more bizarre and oddly hypnotic.

If you want a short, weird read that is probably unlike anything else you've previously read, and enjoy slightly unhinged or nonsensical narrative styles, I'm sure you'd enjoy this. For me, however, I think it was just a bit too out there and even though I enjoyed the themes and ideas I don't think I connected with the book enough for it to make a huge impact.

3.75/5

Although a short read, it was a bit of a difficult read. There are no chapters to break up this monolog; there are also no quotations around what the people are saying. It was a bit difficult to figure out who was saying what. However, once I got used to the writing and figured out who was saying what, this was an interesting story. A little eccentric, but interesting.

Thank you NetGalley and Pushkin Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed reading this, it had that concept that I was looking for and enjoyed the way this was told. It had that element that was promised in the description. I though the story worked overall and had that adult feel that I was expecting. Hilda Hilst wrote a great book in this and was excited to read more.