Scan barcode
A review by casskrug
Black Vodka by Deborah Levy
3.0
i have once again been defeated by the short story form. deborah levy is one of my favorite authors so i thought this would work for me, but ultimately it fell flat. these were super short vignettes that were perfect to dip in and out of at the airport, but i don’t think the stories themselves will stick with me. my friend was reading some of them over my shoulder and pointed out that they were for the most part about affairs - there wasn’t much to care about or take away from them, and after each one we were left with this feeling of “why?” i think levy really excels at creating eccentric characters but the brevity of this book didn’t allow for that skill to show through.
the positive thing is that there are some really fantastic sentences in here, with levy’s biting voice and sparse prose style that i love so much. she has a really unique way of portraying emotions that is surprising and relatable at the same time. finding those great ideas and combinations of words felt like a treasure hunt within the middle-of-the-road narratives.
i think this is a fine book to pick up if you’re a levy completionist like me. if not, stick with her longer fiction and the living autobiography series.
“It is usual for people attracted to each other to pretend they have full and busy lives but I have an incredible facility to wade through human shame with no shoes on.”
the positive thing is that there are some really fantastic sentences in here, with levy’s biting voice and sparse prose style that i love so much. she has a really unique way of portraying emotions that is surprising and relatable at the same time. finding those great ideas and combinations of words felt like a treasure hunt within the middle-of-the-road narratives.
i think this is a fine book to pick up if you’re a levy completionist like me. if not, stick with her longer fiction and the living autobiography series.
“It is usual for people attracted to each other to pretend they have full and busy lives but I have an incredible facility to wade through human shame with no shoes on.”