A review by pagesandstages
The Antarctica of Love: A Novel by Sara Stridsberg

dark emotional reflective sad

3.25

This book is narrated by a woman who has been murdered. From her perspective, you see her memories of life, the moment of her death, and what she sees beyond it, all mixed together in vignettes that make it feel like she is living through all these moments at once. It’s brutal and tender at the same time, with stories of her children growing up in care interspersed between points in her murderer’s life and memories. The narrative style is totally unique and very whimsical while also remaining real and emotional. 

I didn’t enjoy my reading experience of this book but I think that’s more my fault for reading it at the wrong time - it’s very dark and unrelentingly hopeless which I wasn’t in the mood for, so I was left feeling disconnected for a lot of the novel. But there were moments I really felt what the characters were going through, especially when it came to watching the narrator’s children grow up and find their own lives. The discussion of who gets left behind by society and how people are just left to be forgotten was very powerful but also became a bit repetitive. I’m not sure how I feel about this: it was a weird reading experience, but overall I think it is a well-written book with a risky but impressively executed narrative style.