Reviews

Das Alphabet der Puppen by Camilla Grudova

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savaging's review against another edition

4.0

This was a book about odd little knick-knacks, breathing life into inanimate objects. It was also one of the more brutal books I've read recently. It has the sort of casual violence of old undisneyfied fairy tales, or the kind children enact with their toys when they think no one's watching.

Follow-up question: is Kafka's "In the Penal Colony" just about his anxiety over sewing machines? This book led me to believe I should be more fascinated by and worried about sewing machines.

jessicarosee's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5. Camilla Grudova suceeds in creating twelve short (spanning at times only a single page) stories that capture grotesquely feminine experiences that are both infinitely imaginative and disgusting. (aka my fav literary genre) Recurring motifs and themes, such as sewing machines, bodily deformities, gelatinous substances ranging from the sticky residue on infant fingers after handling old fruit jam to the sickly-sweetness of golden syrup, insects, Uncommon sex, and the contrasting naïvety and eroticism of the Feminine, form throughlines across The Doll’s Alphabet. I enjoyed most of the stories, only one or two not resonating with myself. Surprisingly, I enjoyed this more the Grudova’s novel I read earlier this year, Children of Paradise, which I rated three stars. I think, however, upon a reread I could now more fully appreciate the influences in her later work. My favourite stories were Waxy, Agata’s Machine, and The Mouse Queen.

isobelflindall's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

really weird /pos!!!

Content Warnings

njc0620's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

2.0

kiraascottie's review against another edition

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5.0

Reading Grudova's work is like falling upside down into a grimy, torrid underworld crowded with absurdities and the putrid banalities of existence. Her odd and endearing caricatures are hard to shake, long after the last page has been read, and the inescapable filthy squalor leaves an unwashable film. I love it.