Bettie's Books
A Stuga On the Cusp of the Orust Riviera, tucked away next to a hobbit hole in the woods.
Next World Novella by Matthias Politycki, Anthea Bell (Translator)
bookshelves: one-penny-wonder, paper-read, shortstory-shortstories-novellas, under-100-ratings, published-2009, spring-2014
Translated from the German by Anthea Bell
Opening: If only it hadn't been for that smell. As if Doro had forgotten to change the water in the flowers, as if their stems had started o rot overnight, filling the the air with the sweet smell of decay.
Hah! I seemed to have liked this more than most, although I can see that the end twist may have been a bridge too far. The existential point is that nobody knows anyone full-on, not even themselves, making all relationships unstable.
Squirmy, unpalatable truth, that!
Peirene Press Short Novels:
3.5* Next World Novella
4* The Brothers
WL Sea of Ink
TR Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman
4* The Murder of Halland
5