It shames me to admit that I’ve never read Helen DeWitt before so I was glad to see her included in the wonderful New Directions storybook series. What starts as a fairly prosaic fictional memoir of a teenage girl’s childhood experience with her fabric dealer/designer mother soon takes on sinister overtones. A note arrives from her editor claiming that she is failing to deliver on their agreed narrative about the girl’s traumatic history. It is jarring and a little confusing, but also a relief to know the book won’t continue in the frankly unremarkable way it starts.
THE ENGLISH UNDERSTAND WOOL by Helen DeWitt
THE ENGLISH UNDERSTAND WOOL by Helen DeWitt
THE ENGLISH UNDERSTAND WOOL by Helen DeWitt
It shames me to admit that I’ve never read Helen DeWitt before so I was glad to see her included in the wonderful New Directions storybook series. What starts as a fairly prosaic fictional memoir of a teenage girl’s childhood experience with her fabric dealer/designer mother soon takes on sinister overtones. A note arrives from her editor claiming that she is failing to deliver on their agreed narrative about the girl’s traumatic history. It is jarring and a little confusing, but also a relief to know the book won’t continue in the frankly unremarkable way it starts.