literaryelephant's reviews
1060 reviews

It took me a little while to warm up to it, but once in I was completely engrossed and in the end I think there's a lot to love here. The three main perspectives are tied loosely together by place, and more firmly by the various forms of male violence visited upon the female protagonists; the methods may change over time, but the sense of entitlement to women's time, energy, and even their lives stands as firm as the Bass Rock in the background. It's a relentless, infuriating tale, enticingly gothic in tone, and so seamlessly linked. I'm astonished this missed the Women's Prize list last year.

What an incredible piece of investigative journalism. This book is so thorough, so aware of its own limitations, and so reflective upon the social issues that have shaped and do shape the way the way this tragedy is viewed that it is both immediately gripping and deep enough to hold the reader's attention beyond the closing of the cover. I was hooked immediately, constantly surprised and impressed by the avenues of thought it followed, and sad to reach the end.

Incredible. Melchor turns reader assumptions about these characters upside down, gradually revealing deeper layers of violence and pain, rumor and superstition.