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A review by corinnekeener
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
2.0
I have loved and evangelized Moshfegh's novels [b:My Year of Rest and Relaxation|36203391|My Year of Rest and Relaxation|Ottessa Moshfegh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1513259517l/36203391._SX50_.jpg|55508660] and [b:Eileen|23453099|Eileen|Ottessa Moshfegh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479545528l/23453099._SX50_.jpg|43014905]. This one just doesn't clear the bar for me.
After the death of her husband, Vesta Gul moves to a cabin in a secluded wooded area. On a walk through the woods with her beloved dog, Charlie, she comes across a note that seems to suggest there has been a murder of a young woman named Magda. It features many of the standard Moshfegh-isms. The imagery is grimy, the humor is dark, Vesta has weird eating habits, people are mean.
Instead of working like a detective novel, the book feels more like the process of writing a novel. The center section is literally a writing exercise as Vesta's obsession with the note leads her to invent an elaborate backstory for Magda and her life in the small town where they live. It's... not fun to read. I don't know why I should care that what this person is narrating is made up when I am reading a novel that is, by definition, a narrative about a made up thing, but I'll repeat: it's not fun to read. Later parts pick up as her paranoia increases, but it's too little too late. For a 150ish page book, it felt both rushed and bloated.
There are also a suspicious number of similarities between Death in Her Hands and [b:Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead|42983724|Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead|Olga Tokarczuk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547225640l/42983724._SY75_.jpg|8099373] by Olga Tokarczuk. Both feature first person narration by older women living in relative isolation in the woods with(out) their dogs, Eastern European backgrounds, Blake poems feature prominently, mysterious deaths/disappearances. I'm not saying it's ripped off, but I'd genuinely be shocked to hear Moshfegh hasn't read Drive Your Plow.
I hear the publication of the novel has been pushed back to August due to COVID-19 related publishing/manufacturing issues. I did read an uncorrected proof provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley, so I suppose there's time for changes (fingers crossed?).
After the death of her husband, Vesta Gul moves to a cabin in a secluded wooded area. On a walk through the woods with her beloved dog, Charlie, she comes across a note that seems to suggest there has been a murder of a young woman named Magda. It features many of the standard Moshfegh-isms. The imagery is grimy, the humor is dark, Vesta has weird eating habits, people are mean.
Instead of working like a detective novel, the book feels more like the process of writing a novel. The center section is literally a writing exercise as Vesta's obsession with the note leads her to invent an elaborate backstory for Magda and her life in the small town where they live. It's... not fun to read. I don't know why I should care that what this person is narrating is made up when I am reading a novel that is, by definition, a narrative about a made up thing, but I'll repeat: it's not fun to read. Later parts pick up as her paranoia increases, but it's too little too late. For a 150ish page book, it felt both rushed and bloated.
There are also a suspicious number of similarities between Death in Her Hands and [b:Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead|42983724|Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead|Olga Tokarczuk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547225640l/42983724._SY75_.jpg|8099373] by Olga Tokarczuk. Both feature first person narration by older women living in relative isolation in the woods with(out) their dogs, Eastern European backgrounds, Blake poems feature prominently, mysterious deaths/disappearances. I'm not saying it's ripped off, but I'd genuinely be shocked to hear Moshfegh hasn't read Drive Your Plow.
I hear the publication of the novel has been pushed back to August due to COVID-19 related publishing/manufacturing issues. I did read an uncorrected proof provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley, so I suppose there's time for changes (fingers crossed?).