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beytwice's review
3.0
A very different kind of read for me; I can appreciate all the elements this book portrays, motherhood and paranoia merging credibly into one. I liked the abstract writing style for what it was worth, and an eerie tone was successfully delivered throughout. However the book felt inconsistent in all these factors which ruined a lot of the immersion for me. Sometimes the writing style felt forced or abstract for the sake of it, the suspense sometimes silly, the plot sometimes lost in the tone it was delivered. No doubt the book is executed well, I just felt it could have been executed better in all of its contents.
mybooksandkidsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Little Bandaged Days by Kyra Wilder
This is quite the book. Strangely fascinating and terrifying at the same time. This book is beautifully written almost completely in one mother’s inner thoughts and perceptions.
A mother moves to Geneva with her husband and two small kids. She quickly realizes that this situation is not what she signed up for. Spending hours, days and weeks alone with her kids she slowly descends into loneliness and madness. As a mom I could scarily relate to some of her feelings like watching the clock tick by slowly and then all of the sudden the day flies by. Or being terrified of falling asleep while your supposed to be watching your toddler.
It made me feel like I was stuck on a spinning ride and could not get off. Not what I’d call my kind of enjoyable book really, but it definitely sucked me in and I couldn’t put it down. The writing is so unique and her metaphors are eye opening.
Thank you to @mandagroup and @abramsbooks for my copy!
I’m very curious to hear others thoughts on this one! Let me know if you’ve read it, I would love to discuss.
#littlebandageddays #kyrawilder #arc #review #bookreview #bookrecommendations #readanddiscuss #letsread #bookstagram #canadianbookstagrammer #bookish #loveofreading #readmore #books #momsbooks #mybooks #findtimetoread
This is quite the book. Strangely fascinating and terrifying at the same time. This book is beautifully written almost completely in one mother’s inner thoughts and perceptions.
A mother moves to Geneva with her husband and two small kids. She quickly realizes that this situation is not what she signed up for. Spending hours, days and weeks alone with her kids she slowly descends into loneliness and madness. As a mom I could scarily relate to some of her feelings like watching the clock tick by slowly and then all of the sudden the day flies by. Or being terrified of falling asleep while your supposed to be watching your toddler.
It made me feel like I was stuck on a spinning ride and could not get off. Not what I’d call my kind of enjoyable book really, but it definitely sucked me in and I couldn’t put it down. The writing is so unique and her metaphors are eye opening.
Thank you to @mandagroup and @abramsbooks for my copy!
I’m very curious to hear others thoughts on this one! Let me know if you’ve read it, I would love to discuss.
#littlebandageddays #kyrawilder #arc #review #bookreview #bookrecommendations #readanddiscuss #letsread #bookstagram #canadianbookstagrammer #bookish #loveofreading #readmore #books #momsbooks #mybooks #findtimetoread
snwdngo's review against another edition
2.0
Having all internal dialogue, no actually conversations is really weird in a book. It also bothered me the whole way through that only Erika had a name. This was a true decent into madness and I believe that was expressed through the writing style but it was very difficult to read and made my head hurt. I don’t plan on reading this again and can’t in good faith recommend it.
mystikai's review against another edition
4.0
The book is a little strange because the main character never divulges the names of her husband and children, just mentioning them by an initial. E, B and M. I have never seen this in a book before.
It was quite a dark book, the MC’s mental health declined when she moves to Geneva with her husband and he is working all hours while she is looking after her small children.
I could relate on some level and I am sure a lot of readers could. It was sometimes an uncomfortable, heartbreaking and intense read.
It was quite a dark book, the MC’s mental health declined when she moves to Geneva with her husband and he is working all hours while she is looking after her small children.
I could relate on some level and I am sure a lot of readers could. It was sometimes an uncomfortable, heartbreaking and intense read.
achoward's review against another edition
2.0
Little Bandaged Days follows Erika, mother of two, moving to Geneva, Switzerland with her husband.
The books takes a rather strange construct, with Erika identifying and interacting with other people by using their initials - including her children. I suppose this is some kind of experiment about Erika pushing people away, but it got fairly annoying the deeper into the book I made it. These sorts of literary experiments can be done well and give a good payoff at the end, but this book fell short for me.
Erika doesn't know the language, and makes no effort at all to learn it. She allows herself to become more and more isolated from the world in which she finds herself, and while I get it's supposed to be about a woman slowly losing her grasp on her own mental health, I just can't feel terribly sorry for anyone who knows they need to change x in their lives in order to have a better life, but makes zero effort to change anything at all to get to that betterment, or at least make progress on it.
This popped up for me in the mystery/thriller category, but it's clearly a general/women's fiction novel. It reads as if someone stepped up for a dare of writing about a woman spiraling into mental illness with the extra challenge of not naming names.
I did not like the ending, which I will not spoil, and this really sums up my review of this book: didn't like it. Clearly, it was not for me. Sorry.
Two stars out of five.
Thanks to Abrams and NetGalley for the review copy.
The books takes a rather strange construct, with Erika identifying and interacting with other people by using their initials - including her children. I suppose this is some kind of experiment about Erika pushing people away, but it got fairly annoying the deeper into the book I made it. These sorts of literary experiments can be done well and give a good payoff at the end, but this book fell short for me.
Erika doesn't know the language, and makes no effort at all to learn it. She allows herself to become more and more isolated from the world in which she finds herself, and while I get it's supposed to be about a woman slowly losing her grasp on her own mental health, I just can't feel terribly sorry for anyone who knows they need to change x in their lives in order to have a better life, but makes zero effort to change anything at all to get to that betterment, or at least make progress on it.
This popped up for me in the mystery/thriller category, but it's clearly a general/women's fiction novel. It reads as if someone stepped up for a dare of writing about a woman spiraling into mental illness with the extra challenge of not naming names.
I did not like the ending, which I will not spoil, and this really sums up my review of this book: didn't like it. Clearly, it was not for me. Sorry.
Two stars out of five.
Thanks to Abrams and NetGalley for the review copy.
bc7ate9's review against another edition
3.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 this was a very strange and unsettling book. It’s basically a stream of consciousness from a mother slipping into madness. Her husband works too much and she’s left to care for 2 small children in a country where she isn’t able to communicate. It’s weird and the end is very abrupt. I liked it.
laurenallen13a's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
3.0
ephemeris_of_books's review against another edition
4.0
Once, E. reached for her cup too soon while I was still squeezing and measuring and pouring lemon and sugar and water, and the sticky sweet juice spilled on the counter, on the floor. “That’s ok,” I said. “That’s ok. Look, we can clean it up.” And I was smiling. “All we have to do is get the towel wet and kneel down on the floor and find every little drop. We can do that,” I said. “We can be so clean and tidy and good.” There was so much smiling to do. So much teaching and smiling and not minding, wiping and drying, sorting, smiling and not minding a bit.A couple with two young kids relocates from the US to Switzerland for the husband’s fancy new job. From the moment they arrive in the country the husband is ushered off to one important meeting after another. Meanwhile, the mother is left to care for their children in a tiny temporary apartment.
From the outset, I found the tone of the book chilling and creepy. The mother is so sickly sweet and constantly smiling that it instantly made me feel uneasy. Despite the tone, everything seems great at first. She is excited for their new life in Switzerland, learning French and trying desperately to be the perfect mother. However, things soon start going downhill. Her husband spends less and less time at home, flying off to business trips and (supposedly) spending his nights at work. The strain from the inescapable, all-encompassing duties of motherhood, exhaustion from sleepless nights and lack of contact with the outside world slowly start chipping away at her sanity and self-worth. The feelings of claustrophobia and isolation settle in.
While it’s a short book, her descent into madness is gradual and well-paced. It starts with the little things: forgetfulness, misplacing objects. However, soon she begins acquiring more alarming habits which pile up over time. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact time the balance tips because the changes are so slow as to be nearly imperceptible. The scary thing is that there is nobody there to tell her that her behaviour is not normal, to offer her a reality check or a helping hand.
The writing is absolutely exquisite. It perfectly captures the feelings of claustrophobia and suffocation, both with the images of the dark, sweltering, terribly confining apartment and the sensation of time passing too slowly to endure. I was often uncomfortable reading it, but I guess that was the intent.
I think this book would benefit a lot from being read over only a few sittings. In this way, the changes in the mother’s mental state would offer an especially stark contrast.
booklvrkat's review against another edition
2.0
I feel like I dropped into a manic nightmare with this story. It felt like it started in the middle, and the ending made no sense to me. The imagery is amazing, the detail in which the author puts us in this state is just *wow*. I couldn't start another book when I finished this one because I was still involved in the book, trying to figure it out, wanting to run until I was out of breath from it. I thought it would be more.
Thank you to NetGalley & The Overlook Press
Thank you to NetGalley & The Overlook Press