The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Out of Earth by Shayla Smanioto tr. Laura Garmeson & Sophie Lewis (Boiler House)

I think this is a very strong contender.

A powerful visceral novel centred around five women from four generations: that two are half-sisters one of whom is given no name at birth and later assumes her sister’s identity, and even to an extent her body, after her death of the sister at the hands of her husband, speaks to the hallucinatory, fatalistic nature of the text.

It is told in brief, non-linear and hypnotically-circular prose with the chapters broken up by entries from a dictionary of key concepts, and the strong, disturbing, thread that runs through the story is that of misogynistic violence, and its recurrent impact in the lives of its victims.

That's a great summary of it, Paul.

Agreed - too violent for me though and I can’t say I either enjoyed or could really recommend it.

The first of my longlist Insta posts - I decided to do alphabetically by publisher rather than a ranking.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3IOQv2o8...

I too think Paul's summary is a good description of the book. It is very visceral and you are left with that feeling of earth engrained in your skin, unable to wash it out. Too much despair for me.

I thought maybe I’d try to read this since I have the ebook, but I have a long TBR, so I’ll skip this since GY feels it was too violent for him and Sonia said there’s too much despair. It’s hard enough fighting despair as it is without bringing it into my reading life.

I loved everything about this one, so much so that I think it's the best of the lot (and there are some tough contenders).