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A review by ioannap_author
The Belladonna Invitation by Rose Biggin
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"The Belladonna Invitation" by Rose Biggin is a magical, sensational, and elusive book about the Parisian Belle Epoque opera world.
The book is filled with illusions and half truths, passed over moments following a narrator who is an even bigger mystery than the protagonist, the famous soprano Belladonna. The writing is lyrical and very aesthetic! It invites you to give in to your most debased desires and look behind the perfect facade the characters present. It feels like a mirror to our own reality filled with social media and posed posts with the main aim to make us envy their perfection. Even though we all know that it's a surface lie.
Illusion and different perceptions of truth are some of the most consistent themes in the book, and they are examined through various perspectives. Love. Friendship. Work. Society. We pierce through all these facades because, unlike what the characters want us to believe, their defences are not that strong, and their lies are not very well told.
The second theme that really stood out to me in the book is desire. Our narrator enters the sycophantic world of the demimonde following a desire born out of the Belladonna's illusion. F.'s truth is the most hidden and well-kept secret in the book. Other people's desires are explored through F.'s viewpoint, but, to me, it was always her why what kept me compelled in the story. Why did she give up everything? Why did she stay? Why did she allow herself to be nearly invisible to stand close to the Belladonna?
It is a difficult book to categorize, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! The story is very compelling. The mystery kept me on edge, and the characters were deliciously unethical.
The book is filled with illusions and half truths, passed over moments following a narrator who is an even bigger mystery than the protagonist, the famous soprano Belladonna. The writing is lyrical and very aesthetic! It invites you to give in to your most debased desires and look behind the perfect facade the characters present. It feels like a mirror to our own reality filled with social media and posed posts with the main aim to make us envy their perfection. Even though we all know that it's a surface lie.
Illusion and different perceptions of truth are some of the most consistent themes in the book, and they are examined through various perspectives. Love. Friendship. Work. Society. We pierce through all these facades because, unlike what the characters want us to believe, their defences are not that strong, and their lies are not very well told.
The second theme that really stood out to me in the book is desire. Our narrator enters the sycophantic world of the demimonde following a desire born out of the Belladonna's illusion. F.'s truth is the most hidden and well-kept secret in the book. Other people's desires are explored through F.'s viewpoint, but, to me, it was always her why what kept me compelled in the story. Why did she give up everything? Why did she stay? Why did she allow herself to be nearly invisible to stand close to the Belladonna?
It is a difficult book to categorize, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! The story is very compelling. The mystery kept me on edge, and the characters were deliciously unethical.