For the longest time I thought I had read this book already. I must have picked up a book with a similar title or cover though. I realized I hadn’t read it when I watched the TV show, which is actually substantially different than the book in some ways.

In any case, I’m very glad to have gotten to it, since the voice has wonderful flow and a good balance between economy and description. It’s atmospheric, important, and adept at communicating historical information while not being entirely beholden to it.

Of course, you can imagine it’s not an “easy” read and content warnings abound, particularly Sexual assault, which has multiple dimensions in this piece. But it is also capital a About the hard subject matter whenever it is introduced.

I found this to be fantastic in every case, save for my reader kryptonite: psychic distance in the perspective always felt a bit removed. Which I think is fairly necessary, considering the subject matter. But it did curiously feel pretty difficult to feel grounded in place and person, despite it being atmospheric and rich in textured prose.