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canadiantiquarian's review against another edition
4.0
An intriguing and utterly unique exploration of womanhood through the guise of one woman who remembers nothing and lacks the drive to find answers and define and shackle herself.
cais's review against another edition
5.0
"And yet...and yet...I have to admit to a certain nameless excitement, a change in temperature in tune with the weather. It could almost be called a quickening in the blood. Quite literally, as though my blood circulation had speeded up, gathered momentum, to cause a tingling sensation through my body. I do not know what to do about it."
Nelly, completely befogged, finds herself in a hotel room with a lot of money and seemingly no identity other than the (false?) name she signed in with. Initially, she doesn't recognize her own mirrored reflection. In a dreamlike state, Nelly wanders about town, every encounter strange and confusing. Yet she carries on with the everydayness of life, acting the part that seems right for the moment. For Nelly this strangeness is sometimes amusing, sometimes frightening, often boring. Memories, imaginings and current experiences seem to overlap, but what is what and which is which?
Some will read this as a sort of amnesiac thriller, or as a peek into the experience of mental illness or dementia. Maybe. Really, this book is an extraordinary exploration of the concept of the Self, of our reliance on others for a sense of identity and how much of our past we are chained to when considering who we are today. How much of memory do we rework in order to fit in with our current concept of who we are? Can we choose to forget large parts of our lives and, if so, do we have responsibilities to those who were part of what we have edited out of the story of ourselves? Memory is tricky, but we rely on it so heavily.
Figes doesn't solve all the mysteries in Nelly's life, but certainly makes Nelly very alive on the page, even if the sense of that life is unsettling. Drifting along with Nelly in her haze was delightfully eerie. If you liked Eimear McBride's "Strange Hotel" (I did), this book might interest you.
Nelly, completely befogged, finds herself in a hotel room with a lot of money and seemingly no identity other than the (false?) name she signed in with. Initially, she doesn't recognize her own mirrored reflection. In a dreamlike state, Nelly wanders about town, every encounter strange and confusing. Yet she carries on with the everydayness of life, acting the part that seems right for the moment. For Nelly this strangeness is sometimes amusing, sometimes frightening, often boring. Memories, imaginings and current experiences seem to overlap, but what is what and which is which?
Some will read this as a sort of amnesiac thriller, or as a peek into the experience of mental illness or dementia. Maybe. Really, this book is an extraordinary exploration of the concept of the Self, of our reliance on others for a sense of identity and how much of our past we are chained to when considering who we are today. How much of memory do we rework in order to fit in with our current concept of who we are? Can we choose to forget large parts of our lives and, if so, do we have responsibilities to those who were part of what we have edited out of the story of ourselves? Memory is tricky, but we rely on it so heavily.
Figes doesn't solve all the mysteries in Nelly's life, but certainly makes Nelly very alive on the page, even if the sense of that life is unsettling. Drifting along with Nelly in her haze was delightfully eerie. If you liked Eimear McBride's "Strange Hotel" (I did), this book might interest you.
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