Author: Lisa Tuttle
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ 4.5 / 5
Medium: Paperback
Length: 93 Pages
Genre: Horror(ish) Fiction
Synopsis
A widowed writer begins to work on a biography of a novelist and artist—and soon uncovers bizarre parallels between her life and her subject’s—in this chilling and singularly strange novella by a contemporary master of horror and fantasy.
My Thoughts (Spoiler-Free)
I had to read this book twice to fully appreciate it. This book landed among my to-be-read list almost randomly, as I was looking around for books that aren’t high fantasy to expand what I read. I knew it was a small one so I didn’t think much of it. Because of this, I suspect my first read was a little too casual. It left me far too perplexed and unsure about what I even read. So I went over it again. And it was certainly worth it.
This part of the review is spoiler-free, but I would still recommend going into this little book blind. Not knowing anything about it beforehand would certainly add to the experience.
It is wonderfully written, with a story that’s quite intriguing but at the same time unsettling, despite the simplicity of the premise. It’s an account of an author facing writer’s block trying to get out of it by writing the biography of another artist and writer she admires. That’s where the simple nature of the story stops and slowly, more mysterious elements get added. Small strange events start unfolding that make the narrator question what’s even real and how far little coincidences can go before they aren’t coincidences after all. Tuttle managed to put quite vivid imagery and detail in the small number of pages, whether it comes to describing art, places or people. The best way I’ve heard this book described is it’s clever without trying to be too smart.
Along the story and the weird and eerie nature of the book, Tuttle also explores the way female artists and writers are often overshadowed by their male counterparts, or even men they are associated with. In the book, Helen has the makings of any prominent artist and novelist, but she’s best known as being the subject of a male artist’s panting. Her own work is hidden away under the cloud of obscurity.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. Its length is perfect for the story within and at no point did I think it was dragging or uninteresting. That said, if you’re looking for true horror, despite its genre, you might leave a bit disappointed, even with the ending.
Spoilers Ahead
The ending left be baffled enough the first time I read the book that I had to read it again to make sense of it. From what I understood, the book is part of a big time loop that Helen and the narrator are stuck in. And each time the two visit the island, the narrator gets transported back into a young Helen in the 1920s. What happens to the true Helen then? Given the little hints that old Helen was dropping for the narrator, it would seem as if the time loop has already happened at least once. Has it been more than once? Twice? Thrice? A thousand times, like Groundhog Day? The narrator wrote this book so that at some point, she can break out of the loop, which I suppose she succeeds in doing given the epilogue? Quite mind-bending stuff, if you ask me.
Kavi Reads 
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