A Certain Slant of Light

EDIT: I wrote this review at 1am as soon as I finished the book, and twenty minutes later, I already feel like it's vague, awkward, and doesn't fully capture my feelings, but I'm gonna leave it stand until I write something better.

I adored this book, and read it extremely quickly (for me). It fits a lot into 200-ish pages, and has some truly gorgeous writing, and yet still felt streamlined and efficient.

This is an odd review for me because, on the surface there are quite few things about this novel that shouldn't work, and it feels strange to be writing 5-star review mentioning what might be considered flaws, but something about this book was more than the sum of its parts, and everything that worked and and spoke to me outweighed any quibbles I might have had.

There are definitely some parts of this book that could have valid criticism laid against it. Some may find certain messages a bit heavy handed, and there could be a lot said about consent and bodily autonomy, and while I didn't need some of the messy ends to be tied up, I can see it bothering others. I think these grey areas were handled in such a way that reading those parts felt appropriately and intentionally uncomfortable, though maybe a little easily dismissed. But overall, it all hung together just so, for me personally.

The supporting characters around Helen were written with varying degrees of depth and complexity, but given the economy of the book's length, they all served their purpose. James was likeable, but was kept at enough of a distance that I was never 100% sure of his intentions, which I thought was quite well done and clever, and really served to add to the build of tension. But, Helen herself was wistful and charming, and her observations of her hosts in particular were bittersweet and heartfelt.

Ultimately, I thought it was a beautiful story, and it's ruminations on loneliness and grief touched me in particular.