In a small, sleepy town, a mediocre witch, in a mediocre marriage, tries to pass on her gifts to her twin daughters, who, it becomes immediately apparent, have skills far beyond her own.
Artfully rendered by her longtime translator, Jordan Stump ... It bears few time stamps tying it to the moment of its creation. NDiaye’s terrain is psychological; her preferred form a singular mash-up of horror, fairy tale and fable ... Classic NDiaye. Taut, spellbinding and strange, it unfolds with the disturbed logic of a fever dream, showcasing its author’s recurring preoccupations ... NDiaye, a specialist in characters in extremis, chronicles Lucie’s mounting panic with exacting precision, her sentences charting a welter of feeling.
Written in engrossing stream of consciousness prose, this translated novel offers a subtle, haunting meditation on motherhood, marriage, and the tension between nurturing and trapping family members.
NDiaye’s novel will keep readers engrossed with its supernaturalism mixed with suburban bourgeois banalities. Anyone interested in late 20th-century French culture and literature will find this book entertaining but also bittersweet.
