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_head_full_of_books_'s reviews
62 reviews

Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Clean is a monologue delivered by Estella García, a live-in maid working for an upper-middle-class family in Chile. The señor and señora—a surgeon and a lawyer—are expecting their first child, a baby girl named Julia. They seek a maid who is clean, presentable, and well-mannered. Estella, originally from the south, plans to work in Santiago for a year, save money, and return home to her mother. However, as her mother warned her, things do not go as planned.

Seven years later, Estella finds herself in an interrogation room, speaking to both the police and the reader—who, in a way, becomes part of the audience in that room. Clean is a narrative about classism in Chile but also a story of an unhappy child. From the beginning, we know that Julia is dead, and Estella is likely being questioned about it. Through her direct address to the reader, she unfolds the events leading up to this moment.

The book is masterfully written, with the author anticipating and immediately responding to the reader’s thoughts. However, it is not an easy read, particularly due to scenes involving animal cruelty—I had to take breaks and even skip parts. Yet, the story’s intensity compelled me to continue. The claustrophobic atmosphere and gripping narrative hold you captive; the only way out is to finish it. Over the years Estella has been belittled, ignored and mistreated. You want to root for Estella, to see her treated fairly, but her actions make you hesitate. No one in that house is truly “clean”—except for the house itself.

Clean left a lasting impression, and I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced