My best friend Elia, who is also
one of the few persons whose opinion I trust, recommended this book to me. She
was in her Nin phase and I thought I'd give it a try too. When I started
reading it, I was very surprised. My first impression was that I can't understand
anything! I like clear plots and these short stories were everything but clear.
I tried to analyse what was happening and realized that they were written in
such way on purpose. It is not simply the author's mark; because half way
through the book we discover another writing style, the ordinary straight
forward one which was as good as the latter, if not better. In my opinion, the
author's aim in the first few short stories was not to give the reader
something obvious that can be easily enjoyed. Instead, she wanted him/her to
read for the sake of the printed words and not the story itself. The beginning
and the ending are not per say, important to her in these stories as much as
being able to convey the feelings, and that I confirm she did excellently!
Even though I did not follow the plots quite well, this did not stop me from re
reading many passages over and over again because they were just mind blowing. I
knew from the beginning that I was dealing with a strong author. Then half way
through the book, I had more than my dose of satisfaction. The stories were
clear, and I was able to appreciate every written letter. I highly recommend that
you read these three stories: Hedja, The mouse, and Birth. The first talks
about an oriental woman and her confidence issues. The second is about a maid
and her life fears and finally the third deals with Nin's abortion. Described
like that, you'd think nothing is original. I beg to differ. You just have to take
my word for it and read them for yourself to see. Just amazing!
Finally, I just wanted to say that this book might be
one of the hardest to explain. If I were to simply describe it, I would say that
the first half of it if can be compared to abstract paintings:
Unclear but beautiful (see exhibit A). The second is more like clear normal paintings (see exhibit B) that are just perfect
for my taste. The authors excelled in both types: Chapeau!
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
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