Indelicacy by Amina Cain is a short, quick book and could definitely be read in a day if you are so inclined. I think it’s interesting when authors write novels with ambiguous settings, and in this book the time period and the city are never revealed. The story follows Vitória, a cleaning woman at a museum, whose marriage to a wealthy man raises her out of poverty. After marriage, despite her newfound privilege, she still doesn’t feel entirely liberated, instead finding herself repressed by her new role of wife. She wants to write, and spend all of her time writing, particularly about the art she used to covet at the museum. Ambition is a major theme - she is entirely devoted to her chosen art form.

Vitória cherishes her friendships with other women, though she’s very detached from other people, and even when she is with other women or her husband, she is still somehow alone. I had the impression that she tolerates her husband but does not care for him at all, and how their relationship came to be is vague. The writing has a dreamlike quality that is somewhat claustrophobic. There isn’t much plot -  it’s a lot of observations and stream-of-consciousness moments.

I don’t know… I wanted to love this, because I love the idea of it - I think the combo of the passive writing style, opaque characters, and lack of plot made it hard for me find something to cling on to. I’m not a writer, and I’m not as dedicated to anything as Vitória is to writing, so I found it hard to understand her. In some ways this book reminded me of White on White by Ayşegül Savaş, but it didn’t manage to leave a strong impression like that one did. It left me wanting more.