A review by tonyzale
Loop by Brenda Lozano

3.0

Loop goes around and around, its narrator trapped in a waiting game. She fills her days filling the pages of her “Ideal” notebook (the Mexican equivalent of a Moleskine), waiting for her boyfriend, Jonas, to return from an open-ended trip. Can silence and distance bring them closer together? She wants to believe it, but her words can’t hide her doubts. No idea is explored once in this book, she circles over topics, drawing connections between everyday topics inspired by her surroundings: what the meaning of art is in a Mexico ravaged by violence, why a mysterious dwarf keeps popping up in her neighborhood, how brand names can take on a life of their own, the way an electric pencil sharpener represented adulthood to her as a child. Jonas’ journey is by airplane, hers by armchair, and it’s unclear which covers more ground.