Cover 7

Sordidez

Sordidez

2023 • 158 pages

I sat with this one for a couple of days before writing this review. Unfortunately for me I didn't really enjoy this one much and it's mostly because the blurb gave me entirely the wrong impression. From the blurb I assumed Vero would be THE main character not just one of them and in my opinion the one with the least memorable arc. I'm not a fan of multiple POVs especially in short form and I wouldn't have picked up this novella had I known that it was a multiple POVs sort of deal.

That being said, the writing is really beautiful and often quite powerful, each character has their own voice, Condé is clearly a talented writer, and I would have probably loved this book if it had been treated more like individual short stories set in the same universe but as it is the structure left me feeling like nothing was complete and deeply dissatisfied. I'm not going to rate this one because I'm really just not the right audience for this novella and I'll keep cursing at this trend of misleading blurbs.

Editing this review a couple of months after I initially posted it in order to add: I found myself actually recommending this book a few times because of the quality of the writing and I'm thinking of reading it again to see if I get a different mileage when approaching it with a completely different set of expectations.

Thank you to Stelliform Press and Booksirens for the opportunity to review this book.

June 13, 2023Report this review