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Carnality
In this latest novel from the award-winning author of The Polyglot Lovers, a writer searching for inspiration in Spain goes on a darkly comic, delightfully absurd journey through an underground society.
Awarded a three-month stipend to travel and work, a Swedish writer flies to Madrid, where in a bar she meets a man with an extraordinary story to tell. In exchange for somewhere to sleep and to hide out for a few days, he is willing to tell her the whole astonishing tale. What follows is an account of fantastic proportions and the existence of a shadowy Internet TV show with a certain morality clause, a threat to the storyteller's life, a diabolical nun, and the story of a girl with a missing left thumb. The tale is also the precursor to a meeting between the writer and the infernal miracle worker, Lucia—a meeting that ultimately forces the writer to make a fateful decision about her own inner essence.
Carnality is a novel about the universal need for spirituality and truth—not to mention a good story—set in the seemingly unspiritual grimy underbelly of society.
Awarded a three-month stipend to travel and work, a Swedish writer flies to Madrid, where in a bar she meets a man with an extraordinary story to tell. In exchange for somewhere to sleep and to hide out for a few days, he is willing to tell her the whole astonishing tale. What follows is an account of fantastic proportions and the existence of a shadowy Internet TV show with a certain morality clause, a threat to the storyteller's life, a diabolical nun, and the story of a girl with a missing left thumb. The tale is also the precursor to a meeting between the writer and the infernal miracle worker, Lucia—a meeting that ultimately forces the writer to make a fateful decision about her own inner essence.
Carnality is a novel about the universal need for spirituality and truth—not to mention a good story—set in the seemingly unspiritual grimy underbelly of society.
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First published August 20, 2019
299 people are currently reading
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About the author
Lina Wolff
27 books230 followersLina Wolff is a Swede who has lived and worked in Italy and Spain. During her years in Valencia and Madrid, she began to write her short story collection Many People Die Like You. Her novel, Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs, was awarded the prestigious Vi magazine literature prize, given to writers to watch out for, and was shortlisted for the 2013 Swedish Radio award for Best Novel of the Year. She now lives with her family in Sweden.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 701 reviews
July 16, 2022
This book was recommended in a New York Times newsletter so I was stunned that there were no reviews on Amazon or goodreads. A blank slate! So I read it as quickly as I could so that I could be the first to review it. Then I came back to goodreads only to find that one person has now rated it two stars, but no review.
So…. I have to whole stage to myself. Mine will be the review that all others will see. Here is my chance. People will read or avoid this book based on what I say until other reviews start popping up.
It’s too much pressure. I can’t do it. I have been given this opportunity and I have failed.
So…. I have to whole stage to myself. Mine will be the review that all others will see. Here is my chance. People will read or avoid this book based on what I say until other reviews start popping up.
It’s too much pressure. I can’t do it. I have been given this opportunity and I have failed.
April 22, 2022
This is a weird one and you need to give it a while to get going. I was willing to stick around because the title and the cover had me very curious and it was absolutely worth my while.
I love a book that I just cannot compare to any other book. There is a dark humor that underpins this book, a kind of absurdity underneath it all, though on its surface it presents itself very frankly and seriously. It is about our desire to be good, the limits to our own goodness, and the power of declaring what is good or what is evil. But this makes it sound like it is a straightforward narrative. It is, at times, and it all connects together into a mostly cohesive whole, but it was a book that I appreciated most in its strangeness.
I love a book that I just cannot compare to any other book. There is a dark humor that underpins this book, a kind of absurdity underneath it all, though on its surface it presents itself very frankly and seriously. It is about our desire to be good, the limits to our own goodness, and the power of declaring what is good or what is evil. But this makes it sound like it is a straightforward narrative. It is, at times, and it all connects together into a mostly cohesive whole, but it was a book that I appreciated most in its strangeness.
August 19, 2025
Eerie and wonderful storytelling. One thing that surprised me as I read was that, for such a unique story, it reminded me so strongly of recently read books by other authors, like The Repeat Room and other books by Jesse Ball, and What Happens at Night by Peter Cameron, and Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me by Javier Marias. if i had read only one of any of these i would say, “wow, this story is so strange and gripping and upending and unique,” but as I’ve read all of them, instead I’m thinking: “hmm, something is going on here, a new form of storytelling that transcends international boundaries, and it must mean something…” not enough to be a “movement” but still. There is a strong affinity here. For those of you reading this review and who have also read these books, let me know what you think. Do you feel the same way? What would you call this kind of story, anyway? Besides delightful, I mean! What a romp this was!
April 11, 2023
I’ll be generous and round up from 2.5. Wildly overpraised by the NYT. Compelling? Yes. Strong writing? Yes. Strange? Also yes. But not nearly strange enough, and my compulsion to keep reading was very often accompanied by exasperated sighs. Shocking how unsatisfying a book can feel while still being so readable. About as inorganic a novel as I’ve read in quite a while- all momentum derives from the author’s whims; nothing seems to arise organically from the characters, who exist solely to carry out the author’s caprices.
And geez- in 2023, the idea of an underground dark web series where people seek bloody revenge against someone because…he's committed adultery? Really?? Using epistolaries to deliver roughly 100 pages of exposition? Just no. These contrivances just don't work. Carnality is a fun read, but it left me feeling empty.
And geez- in 2023, the idea of an underground dark web series where people seek bloody revenge against someone because…he's committed adultery? Really?? Using epistolaries to deliver roughly 100 pages of exposition? Just no. These contrivances just don't work. Carnality is a fun read, but it left me feeling empty.
September 27, 2025
This is immensely weird. A deadly game show. A nun with a missing thumb. An unfaithful husband whose wife needs a heart transplant. A writer who volunteers to care for a dementia patient. That's about as much as I'll get into the plot of this novel by Swedish author Lina Wolff.
As weird as it was, it was equally readable. The story is so propulsive, the writing superb, I was carried along effortlessly. I was entertained by the dark humour and the absurdity. I enjoyed the intelligence behind it all.
There's an idea of morality that the author explores. That people straddle good and bad, due to weaknesses of human flesh, but also possess a soul, or the desire to do better. And this theme of judgment and death, too. Some humans in this book seem to task themselves with meting out extreme judgment.
I was really interested in all of it, until the epistolary section of the book began just over the halfway part (epistolary storytelling is sort of lazy or dead in comparison to what precedes it), and takes us almost to the very end. The end, which, by the way, is ambiguous, or at least was to me, and left me stranded on a leaking floatation device, in the middle of the ocean. That isn't my happy place, I get seasick easily.
3.5 stars
As weird as it was, it was equally readable. The story is so propulsive, the writing superb, I was carried along effortlessly. I was entertained by the dark humour and the absurdity. I enjoyed the intelligence behind it all.
There's an idea of morality that the author explores. That people straddle good and bad, due to weaknesses of human flesh, but also possess a soul, or the desire to do better. And this theme of judgment and death, too. Some humans in this book seem to task themselves with meting out extreme judgment.
I was really interested in all of it, until the epistolary section of the book began just over the halfway part (epistolary storytelling is sort of lazy or dead in comparison to what precedes it), and takes us almost to the very end. The end, which, by the way, is ambiguous, or at least was to me, and left me stranded on a leaking floatation device, in the middle of the ocean. That isn't my happy place, I get seasick easily.
3.5 stars
July 22, 2022
I read that Swedish writer Lina Wolff atmospherically channels other sui generis narratives, such as Mercè Rodoreda’s Death in Spring, and Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, two of my favorite and stand-out books of all time. Her postmodern style is not for everyone, as there is zip on any relation to formula, and the characters have minimal histories. Typically, authors conceive their characters’ behaviors on the childhood influences that shaped them, but Wolff dispenses with that and creates her cast from raw material, as if history is casually immaterial. She follows chaos where it leads, and she doesn’t lead them into a systematic plot. The inverse of deterministic framing, the sense of destination is torpedoed. Moreover, the moral center is a person who you will initially think is vile. Eventually, you “get” that Wolff’s structure is not to prove an equation. Instead, she demonstrates that existence is messy and mysterious. I was carried away by the narrative sensuality, Wolff’s fleshy and complex layers, the astonishing passages, and her bold, provocative images.
Quick rundown of characters and situation—there’s Lucia (meaning “light”), an elderly nun with a missing thumb and astonishing history; a middle-aged female Swedish writer named Bennedith, who is in Madrid on an award grant for three months, and who suffers from body dysmorphia; a Spanish man named Mercuro who is grieving over his serial infidelity to his ill wife, Soledad (she needs a heart transplant); and an urbane woman who joyfully cares for her Alzheimer’s-stricken husband, despite the total care that he requires.
There’s also the inclusion of a TV show called Carnality that is both a send-up of our social media climate and a malevolently-inspired lesson on prurience and punishment. Wolff combines and merges all this together, and more! You just can’t predict a thing, as far as the development of plot or the outcome. Certain themes, such as unbridled lust, repression, and our violent impulses, darkens this stark landscape with a Nietzschean nihilism and desolation. “Imagine a cross between the strength of a Belgian Blue bull and the evil of Hitler. Throw in a couple of armfuls of hatred for men and the concentrated essence of embittered womanhood, and that’s her to a tee” is an example of feminism turned on its head, images that stay with you even after you turn the last page.
Speaking of turning the last page, don’t expect the author to wrap it up, or even to put it all together. As the reader, you do the work, although Wolff will provide the finest material for you to negotiate through and navigate. Despite its enigmatic, cryptic narrative, I couldn’t put this down. Read this and leap!
Kudos to Frank Perry for his keen and lucid translation from the Swedish.
Quick rundown of characters and situation—there’s Lucia (meaning “light”), an elderly nun with a missing thumb and astonishing history; a middle-aged female Swedish writer named Bennedith, who is in Madrid on an award grant for three months, and who suffers from body dysmorphia; a Spanish man named Mercuro who is grieving over his serial infidelity to his ill wife, Soledad (she needs a heart transplant); and an urbane woman who joyfully cares for her Alzheimer’s-stricken husband, despite the total care that he requires.
There’s also the inclusion of a TV show called Carnality that is both a send-up of our social media climate and a malevolently-inspired lesson on prurience and punishment. Wolff combines and merges all this together, and more! You just can’t predict a thing, as far as the development of plot or the outcome. Certain themes, such as unbridled lust, repression, and our violent impulses, darkens this stark landscape with a Nietzschean nihilism and desolation. “Imagine a cross between the strength of a Belgian Blue bull and the evil of Hitler. Throw in a couple of armfuls of hatred for men and the concentrated essence of embittered womanhood, and that’s her to a tee” is an example of feminism turned on its head, images that stay with you even after you turn the last page.
Speaking of turning the last page, don’t expect the author to wrap it up, or even to put it all together. As the reader, you do the work, although Wolff will provide the finest material for you to negotiate through and navigate. Despite its enigmatic, cryptic narrative, I couldn’t put this down. Read this and leap!
Kudos to Frank Perry for his keen and lucid translation from the Swedish.
December 5, 2025
This plot is something else 😂
Reading Vlog with full review: [https://youtu.be/z87Modokypw](https:/...
Written review to come!
Reading Vlog with full review: [https://youtu.be/z87Modokypw](https:/...
Written review to come!
August 22, 2021
Das Lesen dieses Buches war wie eine wilde Fahrt, wo ich von einem Fettnäpfchen ins nächste getapst bin. Von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite konnte ich keine Pause machen. Es war wie als wäre man in ein Kaninchenloch gefallen, immer tiefer und kurioser ging es weiter. Das Buch lebt definitiv von den Charakteren und den besonderen Settings dazu: Eine Schriftstellerin, die eigentlich in all dem nicht verwickelt sein wollte, ein Mann, der durch einen Seitensprung alles zu verlieren droht, und eine uralte Nonne, die auf verblüffende Art und Weise das Leben von diesen beiden beeinflusst.
Das Buch wird mit "hochkomisch und tiefgründig, wild und wichtig" beworben, wo ich zustimmen kann. Es hätte zwar tiefgründiger sein können, aber so war es auch vollkommen in Ordnung. Auf jeden Fall eine unglaublich unterhaltsame Geschichte!
** Dieses Buch wurde mir über NetGalley als E-Book zur Verfügung gestellt **
Das Buch wird mit "hochkomisch und tiefgründig, wild und wichtig" beworben, wo ich zustimmen kann. Es hätte zwar tiefgründiger sein können, aber so war es auch vollkommen in Ordnung. Auf jeden Fall eine unglaublich unterhaltsame Geschichte!
** Dieses Buch wurde mir über NetGalley als E-Book zur Verfügung gestellt **
September 9, 2019
En suggestiv thrillerliknande berättelse med många bottnar och tolkningsmöjligheter. Berör flera olika spännande teman som filosofi, religion, juridik, dödshjälp, kopplingen mellan själen och kroppen (köttet) med flera. Bra språk. Perfekt bokcirkelbok tänker jag.
August 22, 2023
An atmospheric journey into the dark corners of society. Moody and dark, Carnality addresses topics such as social media dependency, illness, and what it means to love someone, with or without conditions. It explores the questions: Who gets to decide what is good and what is evil? Which evils are deserving of punishment? What happens when we blur the lines of our own morality? Do we define our stories or do our stories define us? Gritty but with the essence of a daydream, this is a novel for those who see the world not as black and white, but as a kaleidoscope of greys in which we are forever searching for someone with the same vision.
July 17, 2020
Som alltid när jag läser Lina Wolff har jag så svårt att bestämma mig för en slutgiltig uppfattning om romanen som helhet. Hon börjar alltid JÄTTESTARKT! Det är som en feberdröm, och kan i mitt tycke räknas till den mest intressanta svenska litteraturen just nu. Men sen så lyckas hon aldrig knyta ihop säcken, jag känner mig alltid lurad i slutet av boken, som att jag i början blivit lovad något hon inte kan leva upp till. Både Bret Easton Ellis och de andra hundarna och De polyglotta älskarna faller i denna fälla. Expositionen slår en med häpnad medan slutet lämnar en snopen, otillfredsställd.
I alla fall. Boken öppnar med att den (ännu namnlöse) huvudpersoner reser från Sverige till Spanien för att skriva. Efter ett misslyckat försök att ”hjälpa” ett äldre par, varav ena parten har alzheimer, flyr hon Madrid med Mercuro Cano, en riktigt vidrig man som blivit uthängd i ett obskyrt nät-tv-program för att vara ett otroget svin/kvinnomisshandlare. So far är boken spännande och intressant. Sedan förloras något. Narrativet skiftar till bara brev från en av bi-karaktärerna och romanen blir inte längre lika spännande. Jag som läsare blir istället uttråkad. Dessutom, känns det som att i just denna bok har Wolff försökt få bukt med problemet genom att knyta ihop säcken med en fin rosett, på ett alldeles för tillgjort sätt. Det blir hafsigt, och berättelsen framstår som ofärdig, som att det saknas substans i karaktärerna.
Jag vet inte vad jag tycker om boken. Dels vill jag ge credd till Wolff som är nära den mest originella svenska författaren just nu i att författa romanidéer och upplägg, men dels upplever jag att hon inte lyckas ro dem i land. Köttets tid är ytterligare ett exempel på detta.
I alla fall. Boken öppnar med att den (ännu namnlöse) huvudpersoner reser från Sverige till Spanien för att skriva. Efter ett misslyckat försök att ”hjälpa” ett äldre par, varav ena parten har alzheimer, flyr hon Madrid med Mercuro Cano, en riktigt vidrig man som blivit uthängd i ett obskyrt nät-tv-program för att vara ett otroget svin/kvinnomisshandlare. So far är boken spännande och intressant. Sedan förloras något. Narrativet skiftar till bara brev från en av bi-karaktärerna och romanen blir inte längre lika spännande. Jag som läsare blir istället uttråkad. Dessutom, känns det som att i just denna bok har Wolff försökt få bukt med problemet genom att knyta ihop säcken med en fin rosett, på ett alldeles för tillgjort sätt. Det blir hafsigt, och berättelsen framstår som ofärdig, som att det saknas substans i karaktärerna.
Jag vet inte vad jag tycker om boken. Dels vill jag ge credd till Wolff som är nära den mest originella svenska författaren just nu i att författa romanidéer och upplägg, men dels upplever jag att hon inte lyckas ro dem i land. Köttets tid är ytterligare ett exempel på detta.
November 16, 2024
My favorite novel I read this year. It’s freakin weird and I LOVE it. If this book ever gets to be made into a film, I can’t think of anyone else but Pedro Almodóvar to direct it. Yep, it’s THAT weird.
Totally unlikable characters who are completely flawed, borderline unrelatable but also completely lovable.
I’m going to read all Lina Wolff books I can find in English!
Totally unlikable characters who are completely flawed, borderline unrelatable but also completely lovable.
I’m going to read all Lina Wolff books I can find in English!
March 5, 2025
I’m kind of feeling mind blown by how good of a setup this book gives this story. The Nietzsche inspired game show felt like the main focus of the story until the POV-switch and I got more than I could have hoped for in the depth of our main character.
April 8, 2020
Den här boken var riktigt bra och underhållande. Kanske lite väl intensiv ibland, de läskiga scenerna staplades på varandra. Jag tycker hon borde skriva en tegelsten, tänk 2666 eller Ditt ansikte i morgon, alltså vi snackar runt 1000 sidor, där hon kan brodera ut historien med ännu mer omsorg. Det kanske blir Wolffs riktiga fullpoängare. Men den här får en femma nu.
Hon skriver förresten jättebra dialog!
Hon skriver förresten jättebra dialog!
August 16, 2025
It's harsh. It's molten. And it made me snicker darkly sometimes.
DON'T read a summary or synopsis or reviews ahead of time, just read the book. It's better to go in blind on this one. (I picked this one because it has very striking cover art.)
I probably can't recommend it for everyone but I was repeatedly surprised by it & would have read the entire book in one sitting had I not needed to head to a meeting. I finished it as soon as I got back home.
Wow. 4.5 stars.
(WiT 2025.)
DON'T read a summary or synopsis or reviews ahead of time, just read the book. It's better to go in blind on this one. (I picked this one because it has very striking cover art.)
I probably can't recommend it for everyone but I was repeatedly surprised by it & would have read the entire book in one sitting had I not needed to head to a meeting. I finished it as soon as I got back home.
Wow. 4.5 stars.
(WiT 2025.)
December 4, 2024
I apologize for 3 reviews in one day I’ve only now found the motivation to do them. Carnality, though, is the one I just finished and WOW. I’ll probably let it simmer before I start a new book. Because that’s what it needs. Man I’ve been reading so many good stories IM SO HAPPY😭
How to describe this twisted hallucination of a book. I’ll just follow the synopsis on the back cover honestly… to do more would be to spoil it, I think. A middle-aged woman on a writing grant to Madrid meets a man at a bar, who promises he’ll tell his odd story of an evil nun chasing him in exchange for room & board. And I stop myself there. Other characters’ lives are told to our main character so as to enrich the world, but still center her somehow. It’s long winded, but it’s entertaining. It’s wild, and it’s demented. And I LOVE IT.
This is on morality and repentance. I’m so intrigued by the Catholic principle of forgiveness, because I’ve often found it something difficult with which to reconcile. Can we ever really give it? Can we ever truly receive it? I honestly gotta ruminate on this. These are measly little thoughts that have yet to grow, but it seems this book suggests pure forgiveness is possible. It also suggests altruism is not altruistic… as the volunteer gains a sense of meaning from their good deed. Or maybe also: the only thing that makes humans not so animalistic is our sense of guilt. That’s so catholic lmfao. As you can see this is all over the place. I’ll probably journal about it more later. Maybe I’ll come back to update. Probably not.
I loved this though. Wish I bought it instead of borrowed it because this warrants a reread. And multiple. I feel like its conception will change each time.
How to describe this twisted hallucination of a book. I’ll just follow the synopsis on the back cover honestly… to do more would be to spoil it, I think. A middle-aged woman on a writing grant to Madrid meets a man at a bar, who promises he’ll tell his odd story of an evil nun chasing him in exchange for room & board. And I stop myself there. Other characters’ lives are told to our main character so as to enrich the world, but still center her somehow. It’s long winded, but it’s entertaining. It’s wild, and it’s demented. And I LOVE IT.
This is on morality and repentance. I’m so intrigued by the Catholic principle of forgiveness, because I’ve often found it something difficult with which to reconcile. Can we ever really give it? Can we ever truly receive it? I honestly gotta ruminate on this. These are measly little thoughts that have yet to grow, but it seems this book suggests pure forgiveness is possible. It also suggests altruism is not altruistic… as the volunteer gains a sense of meaning from their good deed. Or maybe also: the only thing that makes humans not so animalistic is our sense of guilt. That’s so catholic lmfao. As you can see this is all over the place. I’ll probably journal about it more later. Maybe I’ll come back to update. Probably not.
I loved this though. Wish I bought it instead of borrowed it because this warrants a reread. And multiple. I feel like its conception will change each time.
March 4, 2023
This was not the book for me. I didn't like any of the characters. They weren't relatable to me. I didn't like the story. It was really tedious and the second part is mostly the nun telling her life story which was very peculiar and unbelievable. I kept reading it hoping it would offer me something to like, but it was an icky story with icky characters. From reading other reviews I gather that the characters offer moral ambiguity to be grappled with. "What is good? What is evil? People are complex." Got it. This book is icky. I have to read Ruth Reichl again to cleanse my palate after this.
October 27, 2025
I was expecting so much more from this book. I do not know why I had such high expectations, but I did.
It took me forever to read this book. I started with the audiobook, but it just wasn't doing it for me, so I switched to the e-book.
A reality show with deadly consequences. A nun with a dysfunctional upbringing. An unfaithful husband whose wife requires a heart transplant. A writer who relocates to Spain for a few months. Some random pushy and shady people. That's all we have in the book. That's also what you can read in any blurb of the book.
Is this book strange? Debatable. If you have been reading (like I am) South American horror, this would qualify maybe a 4 on a scale from 1 to 10.
Is this book a shocking horror? Not even a bit. You could see a mile away where it was headed.
Is this book about morally grey characters? Heck yes.
Overall: unsatisfied.
It took me forever to read this book. I started with the audiobook, but it just wasn't doing it for me, so I switched to the e-book.
A reality show with deadly consequences. A nun with a dysfunctional upbringing. An unfaithful husband whose wife requires a heart transplant. A writer who relocates to Spain for a few months. Some random pushy and shady people. That's all we have in the book. That's also what you can read in any blurb of the book.
Is this book strange? Debatable. If you have been reading (like I am) South American horror, this would qualify maybe a 4 on a scale from 1 to 10.
Is this book a shocking horror? Not even a bit. You could see a mile away where it was headed.
Is this book about morally grey characters? Heck yes.
Overall: unsatisfied.
July 1, 2024
"There probably was a wound like that inside me, but everyone has a myriad of wounds inside them, and what is important is that you have something else inside you besides those wounds. Little islands where you can find peace and rest and that you can stand on as you jump across the endless quagmire of disappointments life has to offer."
A writer, an adulterer and a nun cross paths in this fever dream of a book.
With themes such as repression, lust, violence and religion this book kept me hooked from the start. This book is told in such a weird way and relies on the reader to put the pieces together. I really loved just how truly odd this book was.
A writer, an adulterer and a nun cross paths in this fever dream of a book.
With themes such as repression, lust, violence and religion this book kept me hooked from the start. This book is told in such a weird way and relies on the reader to put the pieces together. I really loved just how truly odd this book was.
November 30, 2024
An old nun, a game show, a twisted tale of morality, deception, cheating and desolation. It's delicious and twisted - two qualities I most enjoy in great books.
September 1, 2022
“The portrait he has been painting is too bizarre for her to visualize…it also occurs to her that anyone who writes knows the cliche,’Truth is stranger than fiction,’ contains a great deal of wisdom. The image of the hate-filled nun with the maimed hand is intriguing.” In Carnality, Lina Wolff asks the reader to determine what makes a person good or evil. When one helps care for an elderly dementia patient, as Bennidith does for Santiago; is Bennidith a “good” person because she volunteers to help Miranda care for her invalid husband free of charge? But when she loses patience with Santiago and screams at him, is she no longer a “good” person? Another example, L.W. provides is Mercuro Cano. A man who cheats on his wife too many times to count, although he claims he loves her and cannot live without her? L.W. allows the nun, Lucia to decide the fates of Mercuro Cano and Bennidith. AND, it is quite an interesting ride, I mean read. I will not spoil any more of the story here, pick it up and read it. You decide for yourself who is a good person.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2024
I have been waiting to get my hands on this book for quite some time so when it suddenly appeared on the shelf at the bookstore, I wasted no time in snagging it.
The book kicks off with an unnamed writer who has earned a three month long all-expenses-paid stay in Madrid. She visits the local bar and meets a man with a very strange story to tell. He is running from a ninety year old nun who is part of a shady underground TV talk show he recently appeared on. Instead of being reconciled with his terminally ill wife after admitting, and begging forgiveness for, his extramarital affairs on air, the nun is sending her henchman after him to collect her due. Feeling bad for him, the writer allows the man to crash at her place and finds herself pulled deeper than she could have ever anticipated into his dark and twisted story.
Carnality is chock full of sex, religion, humiliation, and violence. It's a book about how far people might go to receive, and provide, the salvation they think they deserve. And it's quite the little mindfuck! I loved every weird minute of it!
The book kicks off with an unnamed writer who has earned a three month long all-expenses-paid stay in Madrid. She visits the local bar and meets a man with a very strange story to tell. He is running from a ninety year old nun who is part of a shady underground TV talk show he recently appeared on. Instead of being reconciled with his terminally ill wife after admitting, and begging forgiveness for, his extramarital affairs on air, the nun is sending her henchman after him to collect her due. Feeling bad for him, the writer allows the man to crash at her place and finds herself pulled deeper than she could have ever anticipated into his dark and twisted story.
Carnality is chock full of sex, religion, humiliation, and violence. It's a book about how far people might go to receive, and provide, the salvation they think they deserve. And it's quite the little mindfuck! I loved every weird minute of it!
May 19, 2021
The worst thing about reading a new novel by Lina Wolff is that once I start, I cannot stop, and with every page I turn, I get one step closer to having to wait probably years until I can once again have the pleasure of reading a new novel by Lina Wolff for the first time.
August 11, 2022
Truly scrumptious and delicious. An Almodóvar-ian rabbit hole set in Madrid. Carnality is about the limits of flesh and the lengths we go to find our sanctity and maybe lose our sanity. Really strong characters, scene. Thoroughly enjoyed. Yum.
October 16, 2019
Wow. E de nått jag vill ge Wolff så är de ett TACK för att hon får mig att tänka på ett nytt sätt
November 26, 2023
Carnality: feeling morbid sexual desire.
Technically I could just say that the novel’s title and leave it there and let you find out the rest but the theme of carnality does work on many levels.
The book begins with a journalist going to madrid. On the way she meets an odd gentleman who has an odd backstory; he is on the run from being killed as he was exposed for being a double cheat on an internet gameshow called… carnality, of which one of the hosts is a nun. At the same time the journalist tries to help an Alzheimer’s patent but that doesn’t work out so her situation is not dissimilar to the man.
The duo try run away but that doesn’t work out either, which leads to the second half of the book where we get the nun’s point of view. Here the theme of carnality is firmly wedged into this section. Not only do we find out how she became the host of the Carnality gameshow but how life events from her youth led to it.
The book itself is rather messy (well it is definitely messy but im talking metaphorically) – The first half drags a bit but then the second half picks up a lot, which leads to a sloppy conclusion. Carnality is still a good read but not one that I will remember.
Technically I could just say that the novel’s title and leave it there and let you find out the rest but the theme of carnality does work on many levels.
The book begins with a journalist going to madrid. On the way she meets an odd gentleman who has an odd backstory; he is on the run from being killed as he was exposed for being a double cheat on an internet gameshow called… carnality, of which one of the hosts is a nun. At the same time the journalist tries to help an Alzheimer’s patent but that doesn’t work out so her situation is not dissimilar to the man.
The duo try run away but that doesn’t work out either, which leads to the second half of the book where we get the nun’s point of view. Here the theme of carnality is firmly wedged into this section. Not only do we find out how she became the host of the Carnality gameshow but how life events from her youth led to it.
The book itself is rather messy (well it is definitely messy but im talking metaphorically) – The first half drags a bit but then the second half picks up a lot, which leads to a sloppy conclusion. Carnality is still a good read but not one that I will remember.
May 28, 2025
I loved the vibe of this book. An unhinged nun. She's so wonderfully intriguing, and she's not like the other nuns you could imagine . . . I loved her reflections and the moment in which she takes the book's protagonism. I didn't like the man being introduced first, you would think his thoughts would be all we'd see throughout the book. But gladly the nun saved the experience of reading this. In this book, everything was possible, and that was what really kept me entertained. I don't think everything made sense, that's why I gave it three stars, but I believe it to be a fun non story . . .
August 24, 2022
Like the previous reviewer (hi Gary), I purchased this book as soon as I saw it listed on the New York Times’ list of books to read that week. I bought it immediately and also wanted to be the first review. I had some other things I was reading at the time, so it took me a little longer than planned, and I missed out. Unlike the previous reviewer, I will take up the gauntlet and write a review of the book (no disrespect, Gary. I’ve been there) but it will also be a little bit about me, like everything is.
I’m a huge fan of translated works and I know some Swedish, courtesy of my finlandssvensk ex who didn’t know that cute is a compliment more often than a term of infantilization. I love religious iconography and nuns are so freaky! Harvesting organs is also very freaky and a little unsettling which I love. So this book seemed like a win before I even started. And in many ways it was.
I loved the thrill of this story and the idea of a secret television show that can only be accessed via the blockchain and cryptocurrency. It’s kind of random, especially when a real and practicing nun is involved, but I went with it. At the first mention of some of the more strange/black market operations, I hesitated but I decided that this book would be and had to be worth it.
There are some really great lines and little bits of dialogue. I will share some of my favorites with you here:
“I’ve got a complex.” “About what?” “Everything.” (p. 164) relatable. iconic. me.
“This confirmed my theory that infidelity depends on a secret emotional charge and if you can drain that charge of excitement, both adulterers will then see themselves in the full light of their sordid behavior and their mendacity” (p. 268) Ruin the fun! They’re fucking in your apartment? Go secretly fold their clothes! The three-dimensional chess that Sor Lucia played is second to none.
One more: “I have always believed enemies are a good thing. Loyal in their hatred and constant in the wickedness of their intent, your enemies will always be there, waiting. (p. 284) Where would I be without my enemies? Probably lonely with the knowledge that no one is thinking about me.
Now the novel itself: Bennedith is such a fascinating character. I love a protagonist who doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing. She’s going with the flow and letting unhinged things happen in her life. She’s taking everything that people say at face value. Literally how! That’s so brave. But she’s also human. She gets mad at people with terminal illnesses. She accepts randos into her life for the plot. She’s having a hot girl summer gone wrong. Aren’t we all. It’s all a little silly and uncanny and kind of amazing. This is a novel of persecution, even when there’s no one on your tail. Or is there? And it’s also about the things we carry with us into our old age: the things we can’t forget because they’re physically with us, the things we saw that scarred us, the love that doesn’t die, the desire for a legacy of our own choosing, "the catastrophe we carry inside us" (p. 151). Really great story.
On to the gripes! I had some trouble figuring out the reason for the perspective shift to Sort Lucia. I love an epistolary novel but I want there to be a good reason for the shift and I don’t want it to be used as a way for a character to provide a lot of backstory that the author struggled to fit into the narrative through other means. Her long letters sometimes seemed like a writing exercise to hear about the formative years of a character you haven’t fleshed out, and then perhaps Wolff just inserted it entirely intact without considering the implications on the structure of the book. I could see her justifying it by saying that Bennedith was…shall we say…indisposed at the time…but I’m not totally buying it. At the same time, it was some of my favorite writing in the book and almost all the lines I recorded were from those sections.
Mercuro’s story was told in a similarly long chunk that absorbed about 100 pages of the beginning of the novel. Because I found him annoying and irredeemable like everyone who watched Carnality the TV show, I was reading only for the plot background and I had hoped that his story would be unreliable once we had someone else’s account. Unfortunately, I don’t think he lied even once. Why couldn’t he have lied about some stuff? It certainly would have been in character.
When that much of a plot comes from storytelling of the characters, whether in letters or as trauma dump, it leaves very little to happen in-scene, in-the-moment. Much of the true action happened in the span of a single day or so and served only to set up for the next character to spill their background tea. We (me) want more of the good juicy stuff that happens when people are doing real things.
I’m really glad I decided to get this book (even though it was so newly released in America that I had to order it on Amazon; none of my regular bookstores had it in stock and couldn’t order it yet). The cover is awesome and the translation is really good. I’d love to try to read this again in a couple years, in the original Swedish. Time to log back on to Duolingo so that I don’t text my ex boyfriend “tänker du någonsin på mig” just to try to get in some conversation practice.
As a final complaint (looking at you, Goodreads) I would like to state that there are precisely 357 pages of story in this book and I would love if the book page reflected that. I’m literally considering becoming a Goodreads librarian just so that I can add the edition I have (paperback ISBN 9781635420746, not kindle edition) and save everyone else the headache. I am such a benevolent queen! 4.5 stars.
I’m a huge fan of translated works and I know some Swedish, courtesy of my finlandssvensk ex who didn’t know that cute is a compliment more often than a term of infantilization. I love religious iconography and nuns are so freaky! Harvesting organs is also very freaky and a little unsettling which I love. So this book seemed like a win before I even started. And in many ways it was.
I loved the thrill of this story and the idea of a secret television show that can only be accessed via the blockchain and cryptocurrency. It’s kind of random, especially when a real and practicing nun is involved, but I went with it. At the first mention of some of the more strange/black market operations, I hesitated but I decided that this book would be and had to be worth it.
There are some really great lines and little bits of dialogue. I will share some of my favorites with you here:
“I’ve got a complex.” “About what?” “Everything.” (p. 164) relatable. iconic. me.
“This confirmed my theory that infidelity depends on a secret emotional charge and if you can drain that charge of excitement, both adulterers will then see themselves in the full light of their sordid behavior and their mendacity” (p. 268) Ruin the fun! They’re fucking in your apartment? Go secretly fold their clothes! The three-dimensional chess that Sor Lucia played is second to none.
One more: “I have always believed enemies are a good thing. Loyal in their hatred and constant in the wickedness of their intent, your enemies will always be there, waiting. (p. 284) Where would I be without my enemies? Probably lonely with the knowledge that no one is thinking about me.
Now the novel itself: Bennedith is such a fascinating character. I love a protagonist who doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing. She’s going with the flow and letting unhinged things happen in her life. She’s taking everything that people say at face value. Literally how! That’s so brave. But she’s also human. She gets mad at people with terminal illnesses. She accepts randos into her life for the plot. She’s having a hot girl summer gone wrong. Aren’t we all. It’s all a little silly and uncanny and kind of amazing. This is a novel of persecution, even when there’s no one on your tail. Or is there? And it’s also about the things we carry with us into our old age: the things we can’t forget because they’re physically with us, the things we saw that scarred us, the love that doesn’t die, the desire for a legacy of our own choosing, "the catastrophe we carry inside us" (p. 151). Really great story.
On to the gripes! I had some trouble figuring out the reason for the perspective shift to Sort Lucia. I love an epistolary novel but I want there to be a good reason for the shift and I don’t want it to be used as a way for a character to provide a lot of backstory that the author struggled to fit into the narrative through other means. Her long letters sometimes seemed like a writing exercise to hear about the formative years of a character you haven’t fleshed out, and then perhaps Wolff just inserted it entirely intact without considering the implications on the structure of the book. I could see her justifying it by saying that Bennedith was…shall we say…indisposed at the time…but I’m not totally buying it. At the same time, it was some of my favorite writing in the book and almost all the lines I recorded were from those sections.
Mercuro’s story was told in a similarly long chunk that absorbed about 100 pages of the beginning of the novel. Because I found him annoying and irredeemable like everyone who watched Carnality the TV show, I was reading only for the plot background and I had hoped that his story would be unreliable once we had someone else’s account. Unfortunately, I don’t think he lied even once. Why couldn’t he have lied about some stuff? It certainly would have been in character.
When that much of a plot comes from storytelling of the characters, whether in letters or as trauma dump, it leaves very little to happen in-scene, in-the-moment. Much of the true action happened in the span of a single day or so and served only to set up for the next character to spill their background tea. We (me) want more of the good juicy stuff that happens when people are doing real things.
I’m really glad I decided to get this book (even though it was so newly released in America that I had to order it on Amazon; none of my regular bookstores had it in stock and couldn’t order it yet). The cover is awesome and the translation is really good. I’d love to try to read this again in a couple years, in the original Swedish. Time to log back on to Duolingo so that I don’t text my ex boyfriend “tänker du någonsin på mig” just to try to get in some conversation practice.
As a final complaint (looking at you, Goodreads) I would like to state that there are precisely 357 pages of story in this book and I would love if the book page reflected that. I’m literally considering becoming a Goodreads librarian just so that I can add the edition I have (paperback ISBN 9781635420746, not kindle edition) and save everyone else the headache. I am such a benevolent queen! 4.5 stars.
October 29, 2025
an oddball of a book that's right up my alley. while I do believe the author could've taken the fabulous concepts further, the prose was just top notch 👌
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