A brisk novel that perfectly captures the essence and mood of a woman adrift, as she seeks solace in sexual encounters and thoughts of suicide. Moving between Barcelona, Belgium and Scotland, there is no real sense of place or plot, but a narrative - of family, love and societal expectations - that is intense, dark and acerbic. This is a short book with short chapters, yet at no point is the reader made to feel short-changed.
I had the bachelorette pad all to myself. A top-floor apartment in the city center: perfection. I read day in and day out. Then came the internet boom, affording me unforeseen access to lesbians. Most of them weren't ugly, which resulted in a lot of sex - sex that was by and large good, but also sex that was so-so, and sex that was downright dire. Still, I couldn't seem to fall in love. I basically made friends, most of whom ended up as my lovers. Now and then, a lover would fall in love with me and I'd have the impression that life was staring me dead in the eye in its most unflattering wig. There's nothing worse than feeling like you belong entirely to someone else, having to hear that you're key to their happiness or unhappiness, reduced to a Lego block.
