A review by saranies
Melmoth by Sarah Perry

3.0

This book looks at the horrors of normal people doing what they think is right but instead is an atrocity. Melmoth is the witness to it all. It was tough to read; it's bleak and cold and I'm not sue that I got everything from it that the author wanted me to.

SpoilerI felt like the Helen storyline was actually unsatisfactorily resolved. The man who took the blame for her misdeeds in the Philippines went to a pretty horrific prison and sought her out in Prague upon his release. He said he wanted to see that it wasn't a waste but... it was? She tortured herself and didn't do anything big picture to atone for what she did, just took on personal suffering. I'd be pretty pissed if I had taken on this huge sacrifice, refused to give up hope, and then came out of it to find the person I sacrificed it for had wasted her life.