katarinaliest

One of the memorable debuts of 2010 comes from Welsh writer Deborah Davies. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this relatively short novel, though it also chilled me to the bone.

Davies doesn't make it easy for the reader to get to know her characters. Both her narrator and the man she loves and loathes stay unnamed throughout the book. This reminds me vaguely of reading "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk. Just as Palahniuk does, Davies leads the reader down a flight of stairs, into a dark area and to the edge of the abyss. An abyss her main character willingly jumps into head-first.

And just as in Palahniuk's works the reader is taken on the narrator's dark journey towards self-distruction. A journey that will end in a vivid description of murder that no doubt only a few people would consider desirable prose.

This is an intense story, of love, loneliness, submission and maybe even masochism of the mind - the willingness to surrender the very core of your being to another person. And so it ought to be read with due care. Only the reader that can take the descent, shall take this journey.

A journey without a beginning or an end. Leaving the reader to dwell in the momentum between, as Davies never lets up on why the narrator might crave to destroy herself or whether the horrifying end of the novel has any consequence for her.

The novels climax is also the end to the reader's short acquintance with Davies' characters. An end that she slowly works up to. An end that the reader can almost feel coming but dares not to believe in or hope for. An end that the reader had no way of guessing would come true on the first page of the novel.

My Recommendation:
I can only give a restricted recommendation. This novel is too extreme, to raw to recommend it to any and everyone.
But if you are looking for something that is out of the ordinary. If you are looking for a novel that will change you. If you, like me, want something new and fresh and aren't afraid of the dark side of the human mind. This is the perfect book to read and never forget.

So do read it but at your own risk...