Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Rent hus

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Rent hus by Alia Trabucco Zerán

18 reviews

withlivjones's review against another edition

4.25

dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A truly harrowing read. The bitterness and resentment that the maid has kept inside her for seven years is palpable. An unlikeable but still understandable protagonist.

The ending felt somewhat abrupt, like Estela leaving and attending the riot in person was just stuck in there for no reason.

Content Warnings

goldyglockz's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

pomoevareads's review against another edition

4.0

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Clean is a confessional type of story. A housemaid in Chile is behind glass speaking to the reader about a death of the young girl in the home she worked at. We don’t know where she is and we don’t how she is involved or how the girl has died, only that she has died.

It starts off very slowly, much too slowly for me and I enjoy a slow burn. There was too much teasing about making the person listening inpatient and bored. But once the story does start to move along, somewhere around the half way point of this 264 page book, it caught my interest and maintained it until the end.

There is a general sense of unease that is not totally quantifiable. It reminded me a bit of Iain Reid’s book We Spread. The subject matter is very different but the discomfort is similar.

The character of Estela stops speaking for a while much like the child she is in charge of. She finds her voice later. There is a question of power and domestic work, of class, agency, and betrayal. Nothing is totally clear. Where does the deception lie? What is one human expected to tolerate? These are a couple of the questions that ran through my mind while reading this book.

In the story, the maid refers to her room in the house as ‘the back room’ and to the young girl as ‘the girl.’ She refers to her employers as señor and señora. She is detached from the family by her service and adheres to this by not giving names to them.

Trigger warning for harm to a dog. I think this is the part I found most difficult but it was done in a way that showed how the main character empathized with the dog.

Clean is translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes. Alia Trabucco Zeran was an International Booker Prize finalist in 2019 for her debut The Remainder.

I think this would be an excellent selection for book clubs. It feels like one I might need to contemplate a bit more.

Content Warnings