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A review by nellyandclem
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Well. This is the first book I’ve read in a long time that I have no idea how to review. It’s the literary equivalent to watching Mother! or the film Men. It fully broke my brain.
I loved it, I hated it, I didn’t want it to end, I couldn’t wait to finish it. It was complex and tense, heartbreaking and sinister. I guess you could argue it encompassed how it feels to be a woman, specifically an older woman looking back on her life.
I can’t give too much away and I’m loathed to just label this as a book where ‘a woman goes off the deep end’ as that would do it a disservice. It’s nuanced and a slow burn.
The main character is difficult and flawed. As the story progresses you look back on her life alongside her and feel those regrets and losses. Loss of life, love, independence, youth, beauty, it’s all there.
It’s beautifully written, you float through the story as Vesta speculates if a murder has occurred. She creates a list of suspects in her mind that slowly seem to merge with reality. I think that’s the main takeaway, you’re left not knowing what is real and what is memory or imagined… like I said, it broke my brain.
I’m left frustrated but also in awe of the ability to write such a book. It’ll stick with me.
I loved it, I hated it, I didn’t want it to end, I couldn’t wait to finish it. It was complex and tense, heartbreaking and sinister. I guess you could argue it encompassed how it feels to be a woman, specifically an older woman looking back on her life.
I can’t give too much away and I’m loathed to just label this as a book where ‘a woman goes off the deep end’ as that would do it a disservice. It’s nuanced and a slow burn.
The main character is difficult and flawed. As the story progresses you look back on her life alongside her and feel those regrets and losses. Loss of life, love, independence, youth, beauty, it’s all there.
It’s beautifully written, you float through the story as Vesta speculates if a murder has occurred. She creates a list of suspects in her mind that slowly seem to merge with reality. I think that’s the main takeaway, you’re left not knowing what is real and what is memory or imagined… like I said, it broke my brain.
I’m left frustrated but also in awe of the ability to write such a book. It’ll stick with me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death