A review by vanmeers
The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica

4.75

If you loved Tender Is the Flesh, but Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird sadly wasn’t your thing, then you’ll absolutely love The Unworthy.

I went into The Unworthy not knowing much about it — I just knew I enjoyed Agustina Bazterrica’s previous two releases in english  and that I was desperate to read this.

I wasn’t completely hooked at first, mostly because religious aspects never really work for me, but damn if it didn’t fully consume me by the end of it. It’s dystopian fiction at its finest. You’re blindly thrown into the story of a post apocalyptic world in which the main character, and other young women, are living in a cultish convent — trying to survive the dangers of the new world, of the leaders of the convent, and of each other. The narrative unfolds through the main character’s diary entries and through that you see the cruelty that’s seeping through the convent, but also the slight shimmers of hope, and of the world before.

These diary entries captivates you, especially when the past is revealed, and it’s the moments of past and new revelations that really brings the story to life — and makes it worth reading. The main character isn’t easy to love, but I think she’s easy to feel a lot of love and hurt for. Her stories of the Tarantula Kids, Circe and Helena really stuck with me. All what is said, but also all that is unsaid. It’s honestly a masterpiece in storytelling in my opinion. 

It’s also, most importantly (to me), a queer story as well — it’s clear from the start and it’s even clearer by the end. Yes, it’s about the dangers of wars, technology and the destruction that comes from climate change due to mankind’s choices. But it’s also survival in a cruel world when you’re queer and it reminded me a hell of a lot of Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White. I know people have compared it to The Handmaid's Tale as well, but I’ll say the above is definitely also a case of comparison. 

Anyway, TL;DR this was definitely worth reading and Bazterrica is a phenomenal storyteller. The translation of this was also phenomenally done by Sarah Moses (who translated the previous two books by Bazterrica). It’s a book that’ll stick with me for a while after I’ve finished it. 

// Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC.