Resisting a progressive narrative – skipping between years to pause and regress, then pulling us into the immediacy of pain – Marsman is, as ever, lucid, stylish and sage in her irregularity.
Characterised by the energetic brilliance of Marsman’s thoughts – superbly captured by translator Sophie Collins – and her ability to communicate complex arguments with great subtlety and lightness of touch ... Marsman can also be very funny ... Clear-eyed.
An astonishing memoir of terminal illness ... Agonising and profoundly life-affirming ... A brilliant, playful, layered and humane plea for openness and hope in the face of her own foxhole of intolerable suffering.
Brilliant work in the face of a grave diagnosis ... I found myself delighted by this book’s intimacy even if I often found myself flummoxed by her willful uncertainty ... Wonderful—and yes, brave ... She is comfortable not knowing, and like anyone else her knowledge has limits.
