A review by monsterfemme
Ladders to Fire by Anaïs Nin

5.0

For me, reading this was like finally tasting some very particular kind of chocolate that I had suspected for years I would really enjoy, and then having it surpass my expectations. I can't believe no one has ever made me read Nin before; I couldn't put it down and it was entirely due to how she was writing, not the plot, which is a pretty rare occurrence in my reading life. There's a certain streak of violent heterosexuality that is disturbing but accurate; interesting explorations of femininity, masculinity, and female friendship/competition; and simply beautiful, unexpected, original metaphor. Prose poetry, basically. FYI, this book contains hella exoticizing, fetishizing, weird racist descriptions of people, starting in literally the first paragraph.