We are guided through the mind and experiences of an unnamed narrator who suddenly finds herself in a terrain comprised of numerous thresholds ... Throughout Grove, the natural environment serves as a catalyst for memory that allows the narrator to continue her work of mourning ... [The novel demonstrates] that the many turns and returns of memory can become part of a "path" to "be on"—that, in other words, it is possible to move ahead precisely by circling back.
What makes Grove so noteworthy is the keening, perfectly weighted clarity of Kinsky’s prose; Caroline Schmidt’s elegantly considered translation is meticulous but never overstated ... Grove is a story of an existence stilled by loss, but the promise of life, and with it renewal and hope, pulses gently but steadily at its heart.
Poetic and painterly, a meticulously observed contemplation of the world that was, the world that is, and the world that might have been and the boundaries that join and define them ... A philosophical jewel seeking revelation in interstices, absences, ruptures, and the passages between existence and memory.
... an exquisite and elusive diaristic work comprised of entries analogous to a researcher’s field notes ... Her observations of the landscapes are vivid and historicized...but the narrator’s descriptions of people, in particular a portrait of the narrator’s late Italophile father, are the most moving ... To call this a plotless novel would be a misunderstanding: Kinsky is a photographer’s novelist; her prose unravels like a roll of film as visual meditation. The true beauty of this work emerges with patience and contemplation.
