Book Recommendation #The Beautiful Indifference by Sarah Hall

Catching up on books I've been meaning to read for ages!

Hello, fellow book lovers! Whose covers are you caught between at the moment?

I mentioned in my last book post that I am currently immersed in reading various short story collections, as I’m learning about the art of the short story. To be honest, it’s been a treat. I seem to discover only more wonderful collections to devour and I can dip in and out of them whenever I like. Great when you only fancy a literary amuse-bouche before you embark on your next main dish novel.

The one I wanted to tell you about this week is The Beautiful Indifference by Sarah Hall. Well. This was a layered, thought-provoking read. Full of intrigue, soul-searching and desire, both sated and thwarted. Beautiful and disturbing in equal measure. A compelling social commentary on the power plays prevalent between men and women and how they relate, how they love, how they use each other. Consisting of a handful of short stories told from the feminine point of view.

There is at times, an element of unspoken menace or some imminent event that the character must avoid to stay safe. Sometimes, you realise they have escaped some harmful situation and are harking back with hindsight. Sometimes they’re causing the situation, sometimes they are the heroine.

Hall is excellent at “showing” and not “telling” and she does so with poignant details, images, smells, sensations. There is always some anthropological reference which tells you she knows a lot about the rural life, be it bee-keeping or animal rearing, the depth of the season’s change and omens of weather that signify what is to come.

Stories are sometimes erotic and give us a glimpse of relationships in different stages. The throes of an affair, the end of a marriage, the butterflies of a new encounter. We follow the arc of an introspective female narrative, who we may perceive as young (the question of what she must do with her eggs pops up), often in her thirties or forties, but really she is ageless.

I am also struck by the book’s front cover which says so much about it, intentional or not. We see a woman with her hands behind her back, normally considered a dominant body posture, suggesting someone comfortable within the space they find themselves in. However, we are viewing her from behind so it’s unlikely she knows we’re there. She is also nude, which makes her more vulnerable. So the meaning is flipped. The way her hands are placed gives you the suggestion they could be tied. The text is arranged on her figure in a way that infers scars or tattoos, which makes me think of a “branded” woman. In my view, this is such a powerful nuanced image that speaks volumes about the content of the stories contained within. Absolute kudos to the knowingness of whoever designed it.

Quite simply, beautifully written, unsettling and mysterious in just the right way, that makes you want to know how each tale continues beyond its end.

Have you read The Beautiful Indifference? If so, what were your thoughts? Are you a fan of the short story collection? If so, which do you recommend? Feel free to share in the comments👇🏽

#bookrecommendations #shortstorycollections #thebeautifulindifference #sarahhall