Scan barcode
A review by corita
Little Nothing by Marisa Silver
4.0
Little Nothing by Marisa Silver is a complex, layered fairy tale. The story’s delight is that it subverts traditional and modern storytelling with unpredictable twists and turns.
At its heart, this is a tale of Pavla and Danilo’s unrequited love and their personal transformative journeys. When they have their palms read and are told, “One of you will be brave and one of you will be a coward,” the ideas is key and stuck with me as I read.
There’s much to love about this story. The writing is lovely and vivid. I savored the complexity of this open-ended story and found the exploration of personal transformation in extreme adversity gripping.
Pavla’s shapeshifting allows her to transcend the horrors of her life and find power when she has none. The love story is not a typical Hollywood tale because Danilo and Pavla are too broken to imagine the other feels the same.
Fairy tales should have an internal logic that fits the story world. Pavla’s first transformation felt strange and unbelievable. It lacked internal story consistency. In addition, most of the novel is relentlessly bleak and heartbreaking. Often, I wished for a moment of respite and hope.
This book isn’t for everyone. Little Nothing is often in your face with the grisly aspects of Pavla and Danilo’s lives. If you prefer the Brothers Grimm to Disney, if you love gritty, ambiguous tales, if you jump for joy at open-ended stories, you’ll enjoy Little Nothing.
At its heart, this is a tale of Pavla and Danilo’s unrequited love and their personal transformative journeys. When they have their palms read and are told, “One of you will be brave and one of you will be a coward,” the ideas is key and stuck with me as I read.
There’s much to love about this story. The writing is lovely and vivid. I savored the complexity of this open-ended story and found the exploration of personal transformation in extreme adversity gripping.
Pavla’s shapeshifting allows her to transcend the horrors of her life and find power when she has none. The love story is not a typical Hollywood tale because Danilo and Pavla are too broken to imagine the other feels the same.
Fairy tales should have an internal logic that fits the story world. Pavla’s first transformation felt strange and unbelievable. It lacked internal story consistency. In addition, most of the novel is relentlessly bleak and heartbreaking. Often, I wished for a moment of respite and hope.
This book isn’t for everyone. Little Nothing is often in your face with the grisly aspects of Pavla and Danilo’s lives. If you prefer the Brothers Grimm to Disney, if you love gritty, ambiguous tales, if you jump for joy at open-ended stories, you’ll enjoy Little Nothing.