A review by lauralhart
Little Bandaged Days by Kyra Wilder

5.0

I quickly finished this one, and wow. It's quiet and lovely, until you notice—just barely—that something seems off. Claustrophobic is a great word to describe the second half of the novel, and I would also say dissociative and dark. The narrator is obsessive and panicked, really panicked. I was surprised and a little disturbed to see how easily I morphed into the narrator while reading, how easily I sympathized and identified with her. Her world was so easy to visualize, and it was all so clear. I'm a sucker for the "stranger in a strange land" type of story, and this one did not disappoint. It really is, like I told my boss, about the emptinesses and what's not there, even though the effect of the story is claustrophobic. It isn't exactly plot-driven; rather, it's a compounding of days and actions that slowly start to change their meaning and ultimately lose it. I think that's brilliant. I also thought the writing was lovely. I kept underlining passages as I read, and they stuck with me long after I'd moved on.