beautiful soup reviewed Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
the light does not dim and continues to travel
5 stars
This book got me. I didn't think it was going to get me, but it did. Finished it while ugly sobbing in the staff breakroom. I would read it again immediately, but I'm also not emotionally prepared to read it again.
Adina is an alien. She's sensitive to certain noises. She's asexual. She is almost always entirely alone, and very rarely feels understood. She sends reports on human behavior back home to Planet Cricket Rice through an old fax machine. It's been a long time since I found a character in a novel so powerfully and profoundly relatable.
At the end this turns into a novel about grief and loneliness and it tore my heart out. "Maybe the part of you that wants to be alone is bigger than the other parts of you." Just stab me directly in the heart next time Bertino. This one is for all the …
This book got me. I didn't think it was going to get me, but it did. Finished it while ugly sobbing in the staff breakroom. I would read it again immediately, but I'm also not emotionally prepared to read it again.
Adina is an alien. She's sensitive to certain noises. She's asexual. She is almost always entirely alone, and very rarely feels understood. She sends reports on human behavior back home to Planet Cricket Rice through an old fax machine. It's been a long time since I found a character in a novel so powerfully and profoundly relatable.
At the end this turns into a novel about grief and loneliness and it tore my heart out. "Maybe the part of you that wants to be alone is bigger than the other parts of you." Just stab me directly in the heart next time Bertino. This one is for all the people out there who don't feel at home in this world. I hope we find a place to belong to.
