Wow. What a book!

‘Tender is the Flesh’ was such a sucker-punch in all the best ways, I really wasn’t sure how (or even if) you’d follow that up.

But ‘The Unworthy’ is haunting and horrific in a whole different way. 

A dystopian world, not too dissimilar to where we find ourselves in Tender, where there’s a climate crisis, the animals are dying, we’ve tumbled into lawlessness.

‘The Unworthy’ slowly reveals this world to you piece by piece. It requires you to put in work to weave it all together. It moves relatively quickly, but has this feeling of slowness due to how much work you’re putting in yourself.

There’s a lot I still don’t understand about this book. We find ourselves in a convent - but it’s unlike any conventional religion. A man, a physical human man (presumably), is god and only women are allowed to stay in the convent. Alarm bells ringing yet?

I really enjoyed seeing the sapphic representation in this one. And alongside this, seeing Lucia become more human and more relatable throughout the story. So much is stuffed into this short novel. 

I’ll almost definitely read this again to get more out of it. On the first take, it feels like a commentary on femininity, false news, controlled states and how hierarchical structures impose violence on ‘lower’ individuals. At it’s heart is the power love can grant you - the desire to look beyond the curtain and bring down systems put in place to control us.