A review by shorshewitch
The Simple Art of Killing a Woman by Patrícia Melo

dark sad tense fast-paced

4.5

This is a very difficult book. Extremely heavy in what it wants to tackle. And yet I finished it in a day. Sometimes when I read such books, I think we read them despite our personal triggers because we owe it to those who are no more. The book is a song for all women who have experienced violence at the hands of patriarchy and misogyny, racism, capitalism and war. Patricia Melo hasn't minced any words. The book wavers between magical realism and actual cases of murder and investigation of women in Acre, Brazil. The translation is fluid, even though I suspect it might have been tough considering the variable format of the book. 

There is a point on page 101  if you are reading the Kindle copy (chapter L) at which I laughed and cried and laughed more and cried more because in all the ugliness the catharsis of that moment was electrifying. DM me if you feel that moment too.