lenadena 's review for:

The Faces by Tove Ditlevsen
4.0

The Danish Silvia Plath writes the darkest “fictional” story about a woman who hears voices and sees disfigured faces, landing her in an asylum.

I had to make notes of the characters for the first few chapters because there are 3 Danish names that start with a G. To save you the same headache, here are some character descriptions:

Lise: main character, mom to Hanne(17), Mogens(teenager), and Soren(7).
Gert: Lise’s current and second husband
Gitte: Housekeeper/nanny (early 20s? Unclear)
Grete: Gert’s mistress from work (30s)
Asger: Lise’s ex-husband
Nadia: Lise’s best friend

The author ended up committing suicide later in life, so it’s unsettling to know that some of the mental health issues in the story could be autobiographical. Did I mention it’s dark?

(R) for sexual references and dark themes

Trigger warnings: cheating, gaslighting, severe depression, suicide