Recent Reading: On a Woman's Madness
Aug. 31st, 2024 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rocky41_7The week before last Libby showed me a list of books my library recommended, all books translated into English in whole or in part by female translators. I made the sore mistake of going through the whole list and added about thirty new books to my TBR. This was the first of them that I've finished! It's called On a Woman's Madness by Surinamese author Astrid Roemer, translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott. The book description is:
When Noenka's husband refuses her request for divorce, she flees her small hometown for the city, where life is simultaneously free and unfree: an open book; a closed door.
Final verdict: Thumbs up
I saw immediately why this book made it onto the list. Not only is it a phenomenal book, it's an amazing piece of translation. This book is not going to be for everyone: it's very cerebral, and it's not always clear whether what you're reading is something that's actually happening, something that is happening in Noenka's imagination, or is a metaphor for something else. The book often drops you into the middle of scenes without ever fully explaining what's going on, and it's a book that leaves a lot of itself in what's unsaid. You have to find the shape of it through the empty spaces, which demands active reading.
This book is deceptively simple if you take it only at face value, but if you look carefully at it, it's a deeply emotional work. I can only imagine the waves this made when it was originally published in 1982!
On a Woman's Madness follows Noenka's painful journey of searching for herself, out of her abusive 9-day marriage, away from her hometown, through several love affairs, and eventually into the arms of another woman. It digs into her powerful and almost overwhelming love for her mother, her complicated relationship with her father, her struggle to find and be herself as a Black woman in a rural Surinamese town at this time pushing back against the religious, historical, political, and familial restraints seeking to tie her down and make her live the way someone else thinks she ought to.
The language of the book is simple but lovely, and the book lives in and is driven primarily by the emotions of the people on the page. What plot exists moves almost solely on Noenka's feelings.
I loved this book. I skimmed reviews on StoryGraph and I know that some people found it dull or confusing, but I was really drawn in by Noenka's struggles and by the writing that required me to pay close attention to understand what was happening (this is NOT a good read for right before bed when you're already half-asleep). I was captivated by the feelings on display and I was rooting for Noenka to find some peace and happiness in her life.
I think it's a book that rewards active engagement with it, and I definitely would recommend it. However, it does deal with a number of very heavy subjects, including rape and domestic abuse, so mind your trigger warnings etc.
When Noenka's husband refuses her request for divorce, she flees her small hometown for the city, where life is simultaneously free and unfree: an open book; a closed door.
Final verdict: Thumbs up
I saw immediately why this book made it onto the list. Not only is it a phenomenal book, it's an amazing piece of translation. This book is not going to be for everyone: it's very cerebral, and it's not always clear whether what you're reading is something that's actually happening, something that is happening in Noenka's imagination, or is a metaphor for something else. The book often drops you into the middle of scenes without ever fully explaining what's going on, and it's a book that leaves a lot of itself in what's unsaid. You have to find the shape of it through the empty spaces, which demands active reading.
This book is deceptively simple if you take it only at face value, but if you look carefully at it, it's a deeply emotional work. I can only imagine the waves this made when it was originally published in 1982!
On a Woman's Madness follows Noenka's painful journey of searching for herself, out of her abusive 9-day marriage, away from her hometown, through several love affairs, and eventually into the arms of another woman. It digs into her powerful and almost overwhelming love for her mother, her complicated relationship with her father, her struggle to find and be herself as a Black woman in a rural Surinamese town at this time pushing back against the religious, historical, political, and familial restraints seeking to tie her down and make her live the way someone else thinks she ought to.
The language of the book is simple but lovely, and the book lives in and is driven primarily by the emotions of the people on the page. What plot exists moves almost solely on Noenka's feelings.
I loved this book. I skimmed reviews on StoryGraph and I know that some people found it dull or confusing, but I was really drawn in by Noenka's struggles and by the writing that required me to pay close attention to understand what was happening (this is NOT a good read for right before bed when you're already half-asleep). I was captivated by the feelings on display and I was rooting for Noenka to find some peace and happiness in her life.
I think it's a book that rewards active engagement with it, and I definitely would recommend it. However, it does deal with a number of very heavy subjects, including rape and domestic abuse, so mind your trigger warnings etc.
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Date: 2024-09-02 03:02 am (UTC)My TBR has been exploding ever since I finished school and actually have time to read again XD Getting a new library card has really helped me make progress on the list though! The problem is there are so many amazing-sounding books to read and only so many years for me to be on this earth （︶^︶）