A review by sammiseah
The Bonnet by Katarína Kucbelová

emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.75

I’ve been reading a bunch of books in parallel, so it wasn’t clear which would be my first read of 2025, but I’m glad it’s this one.

For years, my father-in-law and I have been exchanging books as Christmas gifts. It seems like he has made it his mission to find every single book by Slovak authors that have been translated into English and I’ve been consuming them vicariously in the void between Christmas and New Year’s. There’s something about these books that makes me wonder a lot about the Slovak language. The words and thoughts flow a little differently and I can’t place it. Is it something inherent in the language? Is it the books that end up being translated to English? Is it a wider European literary style? 

This year’s read was interesting, to say the least. A poet from Bratislava decides to learn how to make a folk bonnet from an old lady in Šumiac (in central, rural Slovakia), one of the last people alive who still knows how to make one. It’s social commentary about Slovakia + handicrafts (bobbin lace making is mentioned multiple times !!!) + feminism over the years + the author’s own personal reflections on family and life. I’ve probably said too much at this point. I learnt a lot and it was a great journey meeting Iĺka.