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A review by what_heather_loves
House of Beauty by Melba Escobar
3.0
"I thought about how many women felt they had spoiled their lives trying to please a third party, for doing things only to be seen doing them, rather than out of pleasure or purpose. Perhaps there were men who did the same, but I had no evidence of that."
Set in present day Bogota, Columbia, the story focuses on two women, Karen and Claire. Karen is a beauty therapist working in high class salon, House of Beauty, earning enough money to bring her four year old son Emiliano from living with her mother. Claire is a psychotherapist, returned to Columbia where she was born and grew up after years of living in France. Her friend Lucia is married to well-known self-help novelist Eduardo. A teenage woman, Sabrina, is found raped and murdered and Karen was the last person to see her alive.
Both Karen and Claire are trying to better themselves than the dismal life that men, and society, expect from them. I struggled to get into this initially, being unsure who the narrater is. However this became clear and the pace picked up, sometimes perhaps too rushed although this could be as a result of the translation. I read the end quickly, wanting to know who killed Sabrina and what became of Karen and Claire.
This is a heady tale of insecurities leading to desperate measures, murder and corruption. A tragic crime fiction story, it features violence, poverty, corruption and the consistent and institutionalised degradation of women. Dark and gritty, this is an unusual insight into a culture I was unfamiliar with.
Set in present day Bogota, Columbia, the story focuses on two women, Karen and Claire. Karen is a beauty therapist working in high class salon, House of Beauty, earning enough money to bring her four year old son Emiliano from living with her mother. Claire is a psychotherapist, returned to Columbia where she was born and grew up after years of living in France. Her friend Lucia is married to well-known self-help novelist Eduardo. A teenage woman, Sabrina, is found raped and murdered and Karen was the last person to see her alive.
Both Karen and Claire are trying to better themselves than the dismal life that men, and society, expect from them. I struggled to get into this initially, being unsure who the narrater is. However this became clear and the pace picked up, sometimes perhaps too rushed although this could be as a result of the translation. I read the end quickly, wanting to know who killed Sabrina and what became of Karen and Claire.
This is a heady tale of insecurities leading to desperate measures, murder and corruption. A tragic crime fiction story, it features violence, poverty, corruption and the consistent and institutionalised degradation of women. Dark and gritty, this is an unusual insight into a culture I was unfamiliar with.