Within the first chapter we meet our protagonist: a young woman of British and European descent. She grapples with the contradiction of her own existence of both colonized and colonizer. She is on a plane on the way to Marbella, Spain to revisit a site of childhood trauma. When she was seventeen, she lived along in Marbella and fell under the spell of a charming and manipulative older man who also happened to be her stepmother's nephew. The book will alternately tell the story of Arezu's first summer living in Spain when she begins this affair with Omar and of her return two decades later.
The writing immediately grabs you and it's full of reflections on complex topics like desire, consent, colonization, violence, trauma, and human connection. The author explores the grey areas - how the narrator can still have positive memories of her abuser. It won't be a light or casual read but the first look is promising.
The writing immediately grabs you and it's full of reflections on complex topics like desire, consent, colonization, violence, trauma, and human connection. The author explores the grey areas - how the narrator can still have positive memories of her abuser. It won't be a light or casual read but the first look is promising.