Bitter Water Opera
A Novel

My genre of choice is typically stream of consciousness narratives from the point of view of a woman living alone / in isolation. This book falls into that category and does it very well - kept me on my toes just enough and felt very tender. It reminded me of The Wall by Marlen Houshoffer, in the mo......more

yeahhhh baby this is what it’s all about.. god and love and essence and the desert......more

Bitter Water Opera was an education on so many levels. It took me awhile to understand where we were headed. This was a read that smacked me upside the head AFTER I was done. First and foremost, and the last thing I understood (as I am often not the brightest bulb in the pack), this is a book abo......more

I do tend to love fiction that illustrates Kierkegaard’s philosophy of existential despair - and its cure. In poetic prose, our narrator Gia is here encountered deep in despair. She would appear to be in the second of the three kinds of Kierkegaardian despair, not to will to be oneself. She is aware......more

One of those books that either sticks to your ribs, or flies right in one ear and out the other. I fell into the former category, really resonating with Polek's flowery yet almost abrupt style of writing. The setting was evocative, the cultural touchstones were pretentious, but in a way that I loved......more