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A review by jheinemann287
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
5.0
So I don't even write fiction, but I'm somehow still envious of Danya Kukafka for writing and publishing this novel before the age of 30.
These characters will stick with me. I wanted to hug sweet, two-year-old Ansel, carrying around his baby brother. I wanted to chill on the mountain with older Lavender and her hippie friends -- as long as we could invite that absolute legend of a woman Minnie, too. I want to debate with Saffy about whether she fucked up, let her emotions get the best of her, when she confronted Ansel's niece and sister-in-law. And I admire how not even the minor characters -- the warden, the prison guard -- are simple.
Ironically, what's interesting about Ansel's character is that he's not all that interesting. He is pitiable and sympathetic but only as far as all humans are pitiable and sympathetic. He isn't a brilliant, charming mastermind (unlike TSwift, amiright). He's a guy with a traumatic past who never got therapy and can't control his shit and so hurts animals and people. Lots of people suffer trauma and manage not to kill people. His growth, his good intentions, his earnest attempts to explore human nature in his crushingly mediocre "theory" -- none of that can make up for the lives he took. (That doesn't necessarily mean justify the death penalty as a response, of course, and I appreciate how the novel doesn't shy away from that discussion either.)
Kukafka also gave me a solid hit of my favorite genre: motherhood angst. When Lavender asks her husband to hold their crying son for a moment, he gives her a look so ugly that Lavender thinks it "must have originated inside Lavender herself." As he leaves the room, Lavender thinks, "This was how it always went, wasn't it? All those women who'd come before her, in caves and tents and covered wagons. It was a wonder how she'd never given much thought to the ancient, timeless fact. Motherhood was, by nature, a thing you did alone" (18).
TL;DR - I didn't realize there was hype surrounding this book -- maybe because I'm not on TikTok -- and only picked it up for one of my book clubs. But it's one of the best books I've read this year.
These characters will stick with me. I wanted to hug sweet, two-year-old Ansel, carrying around his baby brother. I wanted to chill on the mountain with older Lavender and her hippie friends -- as long as we could invite that absolute legend of a woman Minnie, too. I want to debate with Saffy about whether she fucked up, let her emotions get the best of her, when she confronted Ansel's niece and sister-in-law. And I admire how not even the minor characters -- the warden, the prison guard -- are simple.
Ironically, what's interesting about Ansel's character is that he's not all that interesting. He is pitiable and sympathetic but only as far as all humans are pitiable and sympathetic. He isn't a brilliant, charming mastermind (unlike TSwift, amiright). He's a guy with a traumatic past who never got therapy and can't control his shit and so hurts animals and people. Lots of people suffer trauma and manage not to kill people. His growth, his good intentions, his earnest attempts to explore human nature in his crushingly mediocre "theory" -- none of that can make up for the lives he took. (That doesn't necessarily mean justify the death penalty as a response, of course, and I appreciate how the novel doesn't shy away from that discussion either.)
Kukafka also gave me a solid hit of my favorite genre: motherhood angst. When Lavender asks her husband to hold their crying son for a moment, he gives her a look so ugly that Lavender thinks it "must have originated inside Lavender herself." As he leaves the room, Lavender thinks, "This was how it always went, wasn't it? All those women who'd come before her, in caves and tents and covered wagons. It was a wonder how she'd never given much thought to the ancient, timeless fact. Motherhood was, by nature, a thing you did alone" (18).
TL;DR - I didn't realize there was hype surrounding this book -- maybe because I'm not on TikTok -- and only picked it up for one of my book clubs. But it's one of the best books I've read this year.