The Hearing Trumpet

A truly odd and unusual book from the artist Leonora Carrington. I guess she shares with Wyndham Lewis the distinction of being among the very few who were both an artist and a writer. This is a crazy ride, from plotting relatives to plots in an “Old Ladies Home”, with stops along the way for a bizarre history of an Abbess who definitely didn't play by the rules, and odd detours into unusual personal histories. But it's fun. Definitely not for the traditional reader.

This was so bizarre but really enjoyable. Marian is a fun narrator; I loved how everything that happens in the book just... is. It's kind of hard to sum up, but it's really great. The afterword by Tokarczuk is really good too. I think I'll need to read this a couple times to really love it, but I think I definitely could. (This time I also used the audiobook, and Sian Philips' narration is really good! I knew I loved her.)