Margarita Karapanou (1946–2008)

One of the most distinctive books I've read. Perhaps the one that comes closest to it is Unica Zürn's Dark Spring. Surreal, poetic, fable-like short chapters told from the voice of a child narrator. Nightmarish fairytales that are, to borrow from one of the blurbs, lovely and sinister. Some of the images here will haunt me for a long time. Absolutely cannot recommend to anyone because I feel it's a book you will have to page through and decide for yourself, since it touches upon sexual abuse, parental neglect, death, suicide, mental illness without quite naming these things for what they are. It's a book that I'm glad I read and will probably always remember in terms of its brutal, whimsical images, but it's hard to rate in terms of stars because "like" and "love" or even "enjoy" are not quite the words to capture the experience of reading this book.… (més)

Terrible things happen. It's hard to get upset about it though because the protagonist, possibly a child throughout although even this isn't clear to me, has the perceptions and the amorality of an animal. She goes to a slaughterhouse for example because of she loves the smell and feel of the carcasses on hooks; while there she may or may not be violated by one of the butchers. She bites people for the hell of it. What is this novel about, anyway? Child abuse? I'm not sure the protagonist is a child per se, though. Or is the novel an indictment of the morals of the wealthy classes? Maybe. The protagonist has governesses and servants and there seem to be the trappings of wealth in her descriptions of depravity. When it comes to what this novel means, in other words, pretty much anything is possible. There are frequent references to Greek mythology and though I know who these mythic characters are my knowledge didn't help me comprehend their use in the story. The "Kassandra" of this novel doesn't relate, in any way I can figure out, to the Kassandra of Greek lore. Although, come to think of it, whatever this Kassandra is pronouncing is incomprehensible to me as her audience, so I guess her name is exactly right.

Let me say I have great appreciation for the author, though, and that my confusion did not get in the way of my enjoyment of this novel. I think, maybe, that I loved it. Although I''m not sure why. And those who enjoy knowing precisely what's going on in a story may want to choose another novel.… (més)