‘The air is shrivelled. No one can breathe. ‘
‘Helena sees her life in sections, like a tape-worm.’
This seems to me acutely perceptive writing. Mendelson has truly ‘felt’ and ‘seen’ the events she is endeavouring to communicate and the figurative language allows us to know what her characters are experiencing. She is also brave as she risks cleverness ( and many writers opt for simplicity in the hope that they will avoid the dreadfulness of the over-done style ) and her choice of metaphor and simile reveal the fertility of attentive intelligence.
I love the ‘shrivelled’ air. How many writers could capture familial and social awkwardness so beautifully? Just reading it again makes me tense up! Wonderfully done and an utterly engrossing novel.