fayepullman 's review for:

Other People's Clothes by Calla Henkel

4.0

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other people’s clothes by calla henkel is a riveting story of two american art students living in berlin. scenic and the epitome of “life of the party”, this bright and fun story gradually takes a dark turn when their landlady and famed author, beatrice becks, starts stalking them, finding inspiration for her new thriller.

this was a ride. it truly was. everything about this book intoxicated me the way strong alcohols and chemicals consumed our two main characters, hailey and zoe. intoxicated them in the dead of nights and even in the broad daylight. the plot was absolutely gripping and it grows vastly intense towards the conclusion. absolutely brilliant and genius, this book is filled with not only the mystery of being the subject of fiction but also the mystery of being one’s self which we can see deeply in zoe’s character, a twenty year old woman completely conflicted by her own identity.

at first, i find myself relating to both of them in so many different ways until the dark side of each and every one of them emerges and suddenly it felt like i never knew them at all. calla henkel have done such a great job in creating yet another excellently unlikable characters for me to add to my list. zoe’s friendship with hailey, ivy, and even her relationship with jesse and holiday was simply toxic to begin with which is a lesson learned for me: choose the right circle. a lesson in which we all often tend to overlook without realising as we age. hailey too was such a compelling character. her obsession with warhol and art really mirrors my own—often ridiculous—obsession with my favourite authors and literatures.

the mystery element of it definitely starts off not as strong as the ending did yet it is still an intrinsic element to the story that made me enjoy it even more. the authentic early 2000s vibe completely adds on the spice as well. calla henkel’s brilliant writing definitely has guaranteed herself into my auto-buy list in the future. a well done debut indeed.

i had so much fun discussing about some the characters and the parts with erina as we’re reading along together. thank you to definitely books by pansing for sending me this