Overall, a really interesting work of autofiction! For me, the experimental style, the mixture of prose and poetry, started off strong, but kind of lost me part way through. A lot of reviews say this project seems incomplete, and I would agree. Though, I do think the idea of the stubborn archivist as curator of a narrative, especially one that spans three generations, was a perfect description of this almost stream-of-consciousness experience. Perhaps the nonlinear timeline, jumping between generational perspectives, and changing location, do more to represent the main character’s sense of displacement. I definitely want to revisit this one because I think that there’s much much more I missed.

Really enjoyed this and the unique way it went about telling its story, but it might not be to everyone's taste. Personal cultural archive of a book

-3.5 stars-


Written in the form of both prose and poetry, Stubborn Archivist sketches the life of an unnamed narrator born between two cultures, her mother being a Brazilian and father being a Brit. Told between bits and fragments of memories and events intricately picked from her life, I found Stubborn Archivist to be an unique read both in the sense of it’s crisp writing and the foreboding it left me with.

As the narrator finds herself inbetween cultures trying to figure out herself, her identity and thereby continuining with her life, I could sense the gaping hole she feels of not being wholesome enough. The book further made me question my identity and took me through a journey filled with myriad of emotions. The writing style was a bit consuming and definitely requires patience but once you get used to it, the book speaks to you in a language like no other!

A coming of age with “anonymous” narrator, STUBBORN ARCHIVIST is recounted between events that promptly illuminates her teen age, family relationships, romantic life and her trips to and fro Brazil and London as she sets out in a quest for her true sanctuary. From being viewed as a piece of “exoticism” in London to being asked to working in the offices of a TV production company, employed because of her Brazilian half nationality she finds herself amid two countries.

Named by the Guardian as one of the hottest-tipped debut novelists of 2019 and a longlisted nominee for Desmond Elliott Prize Nominee 2019 is a fresh and an unignorable voice that is both complete and unfinished at the same time!

THANK YOU Midas PR for sending across a copy of this brilliant piece of literature!