Although very short, this novella has created quite an enthusiastic fan base with many offering their opinions as to what it was really about and what it all meant.
Reviewers have assigned all sorts of explanations for the cat murders, the sleep walking, the symptoms, and more than a few have decided that somehow it’s related to misogyny and women’s issues.
Possible spoilers…beware
The beginning of this was intriguing. What was Iounn doing when she was meant to be sleeping peacefully at home alone in her bed? She does go to a very sympathetic physician who, after listening very carefully and performing tests, tries to get Iounn to seek mental health care. Which is obviously what the woman needed. She manipulated the physician and got pills (that somehow didn’t knock her out) and refused to be admitted to the psychiatric treatment center where she could have been observed, engaged in some talk therapy, given some appropriate antipsychotics, and perhaps been saved.
I listened to the audiobook while following along in the e-book. The narrator did an excellent job with the Icelandic pronunciations, which I totally appreciated. The chapters were very short. I read it in less than 2 hours. Would have been done sooner except that I keep going back to figure out what clues I was missing as I kept asking myself what was going on.
The ending was a total let down that leaves the reader to ask — what in the heck did I just read. And why? There was no message here. And this review seems almost as long as the book.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - mind bending psychological thriller, trigger: animal abuse and murder
Setting - Iceland