Before I jump into the review, the blurb did this book dirty. This isn't a novel, but four interconnected short stories which the blurb conveniently skips out. Also the blurb is only for the first story? Make it make sense. I don't know who decided to market it like this but I was so confused listening to the audiobook. I could barely grasp onto the second story because it was such a sudden departure from the first and even the following stories. Apparently many other readers felt this way and agree that the second story is the weakest of the lot. 

Hence my experience was ruined a bit and the review is written keeping that in mind.

Terrace Story is a beautiful book and quite different from anything I've ever read. My words cannot do justice to the number of themes explored around family, space, the balance of loss and gain in life, loneliness, death and so much more. The author has a beautiful writing style which had me hooked from the beginning. I loved the first story and was thoroughly invested in the characters and their lives. It was a magical realism story about a terrace that doesn't exist and how the family of three plus Stephanie become truly happy in an imaginary space. But what happens when that space disappears and takes someone along with it?

The second story was an absolute blur to me. I remember it being just strange and talking about death and jealousy but I literally couldn't make head or tail of it. I almost dnfed it.

But the third story got us back on track by delving into the backstory of Stephanie, the girl who creates spaces. It was a touching exploration of what it means to be someone who can create so much space but doesn't have the pleasure of anyone to share it with. I love how this story explored the equilibrium of life and the consequences of Stephanie's power. We truly see the forces that shape this girl and dictate her decisions in the first story. In think the aftermath of the first story explored here was brilloiant and I especially loved reading about the idea of parallel worlds.

And lastly, we have the third story which takes a time skip and takes a turn towards sci-fi. It's more or less an interview held by Rosie, the daughter, of an old woman who hails from a parallel world applying to move to the suburbs. I dare not say that I was able to grasp all the intricacies of the worldbuilding here but I was on board for the most part and thought that it was quite a nice way to wrap up a couple loose ends and bring this collection to an end.

All in all, this is a piece of work unlike any I've ever read. It is definitely thought-rovoking and engaging and it's the perfect kind of book to re-read and annotate. Unfortunately the physical copy costs an arm and a half so that's not happening for me.

And a special shoutout to the audiobook narrator, they did a splendid job <3