Sly, rewarding ... Throughout this slender novel, Rubert’s style offers a welcome respite from the minimalism which attenuates so much contemporary fiction. Her sentences are audacious, on tiptoe and reaching. There are wisdoms on every page, shimmering like silica in the sidewalk.
This is a strange, slim novel that forces humor, tenderness, and dread to sit shoulder to shoulder at the same table in uncomfortable camaraderie ... In the best possible way, this is a deeply unsatisfying tale, purposely 'mis-narrated' ... Rubert’s deft narrative, so much more highly crafted than it claims, frustrates our craving for boundaries, for cutting off toxic parents, for knowing, finally, what happened.
In Rupert’s well-written debut, translated by Sanches, a lot happens, with much foreboding and insinuations; at the same time, not much occurs, which is perhaps the very nature of growing up.
