This book was haunting to me. Teasingly magical, but bitingly real. The story follows Vera. A young woman in her little village growing up and becoming a mother. In this place that is always on the forefront of women’s minds, just as it inevitably is to all women at some point in life. However, being a mother for women here could mean losing yourself. Literally vanishing into thin air one day. Still, they all look forward to motherhood and embrace the challenges and requirements that their community superstitions entail. Then a stranger comes to town, and Vera can’t help but to be curious about Elsewhere.
In this story things are never quite as they seem. Are the mother’s vanishing into thin air due to some unknown transgression? Is it possible to be a perfect mother? What happens to them when they go? Is this an analogy for motherhood in general? For all women who live their moment in younger years, (many of which choose to be mothers) and then inevitably begin to live their lives only for their children - so they slowly fade? There is so much to think about and reflect on. It was a wonderful and unusual story, and I’m so glad I got the chance to read it!
In this story things are never quite as they seem. Are the mother’s vanishing into thin air due to some unknown transgression? Is it possible to be a perfect mother? What happens to them when they go? Is this an analogy for motherhood in general? For all women who live their moment in younger years, (many of which choose to be mothers) and then inevitably begin to live their lives only for their children - so they slowly fade? There is so much to think about and reflect on. It was a wonderful and unusual story, and I’m so glad I got the chance to read it!