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A review by megelizabeth
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
"We are all, Esme decides, just vessels through which identities pass: we are lent features, gestures, habits, then we hand them on. Nothing is our own. We begin in the world as anagrams of our antecedents."
I will never, ever get over this book. It's disjointed and trippy as hell and downright odd at times - and it's also completely fucking devastating. It got under my skin in a way no other book has in a long time and I just know that what happened to Esme will haunt me forever. The mystery of what got her institutionalised draws you in and, when you find out, you wish you never had because it's almost beyond comprehension and at the same time so frighteningly imaginable...and that's got to be a sign of a truly brilliant book.
I will never, ever get over this book. It's disjointed and trippy as hell and downright odd at times - and it's also completely fucking devastating. It got under my skin in a way no other book has in a long time and I just know that what happened to Esme will haunt me forever. The mystery of what got her institutionalised draws you in and, when you find out, you wish you never had because it's almost beyond comprehension and at the same time so frighteningly imaginable...and that's got to be a sign of a truly brilliant book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Rape, and Misogyny
Moderate: Incest, Death, Child death, and Infidelity