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Inquietud
Olivia llega, acompañada de sus hijos, a un chateau, situado en la campiña francesa, dónde ella pasó su infancia y actualmente vive su madre. Tras años de ausencia, Olivia se rencuentra con su madre, su hermano y la esposa de este, que acaba de regresar del hospital. En una atmósfera de misterio y desasosiego, el frágil universo familiar deberá encarar el horror de la muerte y los fantasmas del pasado. En su interior, Olivia todavía lidia con los secretos acerca del hombre cruel y violento con el que se casó años atrás.
95 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2008
28 people are currently reading
1845 people want to read
About the author
Julia Leigh
8 books64 followersJulia Leigh (b. 1970) is an Australian novelist, film director and screenwriter.
Born in 1970 in Sydney, Australia,[ Leigh is the eldest of three daughters of a doctor and maths teacher. She initially studied law but shifted to writing. For a time she worked at the Australian Society of Authors. Her mentors included leading authors Frank Moorhouse and Toni Morrison.
Leigh is the author of the novels The Hunter and Disquiet, which received critical acclaim. The Hunter was adapted into a 2011 feature film starring Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O'Connor. Leigh also wrote the screenplay Sleeping Beauty about a university student drawn into a mysterious world of desire. She made her directorial debut with this screenplay in 2011 Sleeping Beauty starring Emily Browning. Her film was selected for the main competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Born in 1970 in Sydney, Australia,[ Leigh is the eldest of three daughters of a doctor and maths teacher. She initially studied law but shifted to writing. For a time she worked at the Australian Society of Authors. Her mentors included leading authors Frank Moorhouse and Toni Morrison.
Leigh is the author of the novels The Hunter and Disquiet, which received critical acclaim. The Hunter was adapted into a 2011 feature film starring Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O'Connor. Leigh also wrote the screenplay Sleeping Beauty about a university student drawn into a mysterious world of desire. She made her directorial debut with this screenplay in 2011 Sleeping Beauty starring Emily Browning. Her film was selected for the main competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 464 reviews
August 4, 2022
Is this neurosis or psychosis? Are we looking inward or looking at ourselves looking inward? What are we looking at? Who is doing the looking? What are these perceptions we are receiving? Is the subject-object duality collapsing because we have no insides anymore? This book blurred all the lines for me. I read it in a feverish daze and the moment I put it down, I wondered if I’m the sort of person that needs to see flaws in a person for them to become desirable to me. Are we all like that, just looking for holes within the wholes, constantly feeling claustrophobic within the boundaries of our own finitude?
December 1, 2008
while the story is good; it reads like an ian mcewan or william trevor, i really have to stop myself from reading tiny little books because i always want more... the main "ew" of the story is fully dealt with, but there are some matters regarding ancillary characters that i would like to know more about... only big girl books from now on!!
December 15, 2008
This novella may be read in an evening. I can't argue that the writing itself was very good, and that it read like a film.
I will say that I wasn't particularly moved by the story of a woman who, with her two children, fled her abusive husband and unexpectedly arrived on her estranged mother's doorstep. The woman's brother, his wife, and their stillborn baby joined them shortly thereafter.
How did the character deal with the loss of her baby? By dragging it around with her for days and days. What doctor would actually tell people that it would be beneficial to drag one’s dead baby around for two days before burying it? And of course the woman wouldn’t let anyone near her or “the bundle” (as it was known) after the two days were up. Sure, you can’t put a time limit on grieving, but how did I know that was going to happen?
Yes, I felt sorry for her loss, but I also wanted to snatch the bundle away when she wasn’t looking and bury it in the grave they had dug in the family plot. At one point the kids wanted ice cream, so their mother opened the freezer door to get some, and found a pillow and bedding instead.
Overall, I felt Leigh was trying too hard to evoke the title of her novella. Instead of living up to it, I found much of the book to be ridiculous, and even laughable. In fact, I think I felt the most empathy for the matriarch of the family, who had to live with these people.
I will say that I wasn't particularly moved by the story of a woman who, with her two children, fled her abusive husband and unexpectedly arrived on her estranged mother's doorstep. The woman's brother, his wife, and their stillborn baby joined them shortly thereafter.
How did the character deal with the loss of her baby? By dragging it around with her for days and days. What doctor would actually tell people that it would be beneficial to drag one’s dead baby around for two days before burying it? And of course the woman wouldn’t let anyone near her or “the bundle” (as it was known) after the two days were up. Sure, you can’t put a time limit on grieving, but how did I know that was going to happen?
Yes, I felt sorry for her loss, but I also wanted to snatch the bundle away when she wasn’t looking and bury it in the grave they had dug in the family plot. At one point the kids wanted ice cream, so their mother opened the freezer door to get some, and found a pillow and bedding instead.
Overall, I felt Leigh was trying too hard to evoke the title of her novella. Instead of living up to it, I found much of the book to be ridiculous, and even laughable. In fact, I think I felt the most empathy for the matriarch of the family, who had to live with these people.
February 5, 2019
My first taste of Australian author Julia Leigh's work was with the novella Disquiet. It sounded wonderfully Gothic, and has been lauded by the likes of Toni Morrison, who calls its author a 'sorceress', and goes on to proclaim: 'Her deft prose casts a spell of serene control while the earth quakes underfoot.' Leigh has been compared to the likes of both Ian McEwan and J.M. Coetzee; indeed, Coetzee himself praises the film-like quality which almost every scene that Leigh creates has. Leigh was also included as one of the 'twenty-one writers to watch in the twenty-first century' on a list created by the Observer. The blurb of Disquiet, which was first published in 2008, describes it as 'a haunting, mesmerising tale of a family in extremis' - just the kind of story I love.
The protagonist of Disquiet is a woman named Olivia. At the outset of the novella, she arrives at her mother's chateau in rural France, along with her two children, Andrew and Lucy. She has told nobody that she is coming, and is escaping an abusive marriage in Australia, where she and her children live. Also at the house, arriving just after Olivia, is her brother Marcus and his wife Sophie, who has just given birth to a stillborn baby girl, Alice. Sophie particularly is 'struggling to overcome her devastation', and has brought Alice with her, swaddled with a blanket, to stay in the house until she can bear to let go: 'Sophie, in a new dress and neatly made up, had brought along the bundle and was cuddling it in the nook of her arm. She still wore her hospital ID bracelet as if at any minute something could go horribly wrong.'
From the outset, the family dynamics are odd, and offbeat. Nobody seems quite comfortable with anyone else. It is soon suggested that none of the family have met Andrew or Olivia before, but this element of the story is never fully explained, or even addressed. Although their names are divulged at the beginning of the book, they are referred to as 'the woman', 'the boy', and 'the girl' throughout, whereas all of the other characters are only addressed by their given names. Olivia's husband is barely mentioned, but when he is, she calls him 'the Murderer', something which goes unexplained.
When we first meet Olivia, Leigh describes her thus: 'The woman was dressed in a tweed pencil skirt, a grey silk blouse and her dark hair was pulled back into a loose chignon, the way her mother once used to wear it. Her right arm was broken and she'd rested it in a silk-scarf sling which co-ordinated unobtrusively with her blouse. By her feet, a suitcase. The children - the boy was nine, the girl was six and carrying her favourite doll - were saddled with backpacks and they each guarded a small suitcase of their own.' Leigh's descriptions continue in this manner, at once revealing and prudent, sparse and multilayered. When Olivia and the children reach the house, Leigh writes: 'The stone stairs leading to the chateau were wide and shallow and worn like soap. The woman took hold of the doorknocker - it was a large bronze ring running through the nose of a great bronze bull - and weighed it in her hand. Knocked.'
In Disquiet, the French countryside is not glorified in any way; there is almost a sense of grittiness, of darkness to it. It is described as both 'empty' and 'ugly', which I found an odd contrast to the descriptions given of the grounds of Olivia's mother's house, which are lush and green. There is a real sense of place revealed as the novella goes on; the house is old, cold, and imposing, rather like 'Grandmother' who inhabits it. I particularly enjoyed Leigh's portrayal of the house's interior, and the way in which it often leads to exposing her characters. When Olivia arrives and is shown upstairs, for example, Leigh writes: 'Her room - was never her room. It was another guest room, similarly furnished. She drew the curtains and loosened her hair, freed her arm from its sling. She undressed, dropping all her clothes in a pile on the floor. Crawled onto the bed. Lay belly down, face on the pillow. There was a loop in time; she was already dead. And then she must have sensed the children standing in the doorway for - with great effort, turning her head and opening one eye - she saw reflected in the mirror that, yes, the children had been spying, how long she could not be sure, but they had no doubt seen their mother lying on the bed, the white plain of her back covered in rotten yellowed bruises.'
A lot within Disquiet remains unsaid, and there are very few neat conclusions. For me, this made for a far more interesting read than something which has been neatly tied up. I liked the sense of ambiguity which Leigh has included. The structure too, which tells the story in a series of short, interconnecting snatches of prose, worked well. There is a lot of sadness present in this novella, as is perhaps understandable given that the only action in the story revolves around baby Alice's funeral, but there are some glimpses of tender moments too.
There is an unsettling feeling which builds as the novel progresses, and I found this effective. I love the power which shorter works can have, and Disquiet is certainly a novella which demonstrates both strength and control. Depth and dark humour can be found throughout, and for me, the reading experience was certainly a disquieting one.
The protagonist of Disquiet is a woman named Olivia. At the outset of the novella, she arrives at her mother's chateau in rural France, along with her two children, Andrew and Lucy. She has told nobody that she is coming, and is escaping an abusive marriage in Australia, where she and her children live. Also at the house, arriving just after Olivia, is her brother Marcus and his wife Sophie, who has just given birth to a stillborn baby girl, Alice. Sophie particularly is 'struggling to overcome her devastation', and has brought Alice with her, swaddled with a blanket, to stay in the house until she can bear to let go: 'Sophie, in a new dress and neatly made up, had brought along the bundle and was cuddling it in the nook of her arm. She still wore her hospital ID bracelet as if at any minute something could go horribly wrong.'
From the outset, the family dynamics are odd, and offbeat. Nobody seems quite comfortable with anyone else. It is soon suggested that none of the family have met Andrew or Olivia before, but this element of the story is never fully explained, or even addressed. Although their names are divulged at the beginning of the book, they are referred to as 'the woman', 'the boy', and 'the girl' throughout, whereas all of the other characters are only addressed by their given names. Olivia's husband is barely mentioned, but when he is, she calls him 'the Murderer', something which goes unexplained.
When we first meet Olivia, Leigh describes her thus: 'The woman was dressed in a tweed pencil skirt, a grey silk blouse and her dark hair was pulled back into a loose chignon, the way her mother once used to wear it. Her right arm was broken and she'd rested it in a silk-scarf sling which co-ordinated unobtrusively with her blouse. By her feet, a suitcase. The children - the boy was nine, the girl was six and carrying her favourite doll - were saddled with backpacks and they each guarded a small suitcase of their own.' Leigh's descriptions continue in this manner, at once revealing and prudent, sparse and multilayered. When Olivia and the children reach the house, Leigh writes: 'The stone stairs leading to the chateau were wide and shallow and worn like soap. The woman took hold of the doorknocker - it was a large bronze ring running through the nose of a great bronze bull - and weighed it in her hand. Knocked.'
In Disquiet, the French countryside is not glorified in any way; there is almost a sense of grittiness, of darkness to it. It is described as both 'empty' and 'ugly', which I found an odd contrast to the descriptions given of the grounds of Olivia's mother's house, which are lush and green. There is a real sense of place revealed as the novella goes on; the house is old, cold, and imposing, rather like 'Grandmother' who inhabits it. I particularly enjoyed Leigh's portrayal of the house's interior, and the way in which it often leads to exposing her characters. When Olivia arrives and is shown upstairs, for example, Leigh writes: 'Her room - was never her room. It was another guest room, similarly furnished. She drew the curtains and loosened her hair, freed her arm from its sling. She undressed, dropping all her clothes in a pile on the floor. Crawled onto the bed. Lay belly down, face on the pillow. There was a loop in time; she was already dead. And then she must have sensed the children standing in the doorway for - with great effort, turning her head and opening one eye - she saw reflected in the mirror that, yes, the children had been spying, how long she could not be sure, but they had no doubt seen their mother lying on the bed, the white plain of her back covered in rotten yellowed bruises.'
A lot within Disquiet remains unsaid, and there are very few neat conclusions. For me, this made for a far more interesting read than something which has been neatly tied up. I liked the sense of ambiguity which Leigh has included. The structure too, which tells the story in a series of short, interconnecting snatches of prose, worked well. There is a lot of sadness present in this novella, as is perhaps understandable given that the only action in the story revolves around baby Alice's funeral, but there are some glimpses of tender moments too.
There is an unsettling feeling which builds as the novel progresses, and I found this effective. I love the power which shorter works can have, and Disquiet is certainly a novella which demonstrates both strength and control. Depth and dark humour can be found throughout, and for me, the reading experience was certainly a disquieting one.
February 6, 2009
I had decided early on not to write here about books that I didn't like - and there are quite a few. But I guess a rant, now and then, is good - and this book has truly annoyed me a great deal, not only because it's simply bad, but also because it has gotten some inexplicable rave reviews that seem to have turned this novella into a kind of hip gothic book to read. Leigh has one thing for her: she knows how to write, she uses words with some style and a certain elegance. But that doesn't save her book from ridicule. The story -even if one takes it in the context of a deliberately grotesque, gothic, over the top unreal reality, something that actually could have been enthralling- is not believable one second. It is, rather, laughable for its excesses that fall flat when you wish they'd thrill the imagination, and it doesn't make much sense, whatever expectations you have when you pick a book that tries very hard (way too hard) to say something about life and death. Is it a metaphor? a metaphysical novel? a fantasy? An exercise in style? An homage? A Gothic nightmare? No. It's just... nothing. But it's nothing that is terribly pretentious: Leigh thinks she's writing something important, deep, poetic, disturbing, shockingly macabre, morbidly humourous, and she hammers it to you without grace nor particular psychological skills. The truth is, she's just writing a very bad novella, that falls apart almost from the beginning and doesn't go anywhere. The comparison with Ian McEwan, made on the jacket, is insulting for the great British writer, who's such a master, and who'd never have written such a silly story in such a way. And Leigh, as gifted as she may be with words (the only redeeming thing about her work) is nevertheless definitely not on McEwan's level when it comes to style and literary talent. She actually sabotages herself by constantly using some tiring, overused tricks that are not one bit original nor effective -like, for instance, calling constantly her heroine "the woman", instead of using her name, as if that was enough to give weight to a character who has no consistency and is not the least interesting. Thank God, Disquiet is a very short book - the only reason why I decided to finish it. That it got some great reviews is maddening, especially considering that there are so many books out there of much more worth, but which don't get talked about. I guess Leigh's publisher has a good publicist.
December 2, 2023
Una familia en la que cada integrante está librando una batalla y a la vez vuelven a reunirse y convivir, luego de que algo se haya roto dentro de ellos.
Son arrastrados por una neurosis, los roles maternos quedan salvajemente expuestos y está el debate entre perseverar o aceptar la desilusión, entre la cordura y la cruel realidad o la demencia y el limbo.
Una novela en donde lo que se sobreentiende es mejor que lo que se puede decir.
Son arrastrados por una neurosis, los roles maternos quedan salvajemente expuestos y está el debate entre perseverar o aceptar la desilusión, entre la cordura y la cruel realidad o la demencia y el limbo.
Una novela en donde lo que se sobreentiende es mejor que lo que se puede decir.
December 7, 2008
The word "disquiet" is defined as: "1. lack of calm, peace, or ease; anxiety; uneasiness." And I can't think of a better title for this haunting book. The novella is tiny, a pamphlet-ish work that can be read in around an hour-and-a-half. But the strange and uneasy feeling you get from the book lasts much longer. It's not horror by any means, but it feels constantly strange and mysterious. You are invited to spend some time with a family "in extremis", and the short time you spend with them is, well, disquieting. It has all the hallmarks of a gothic haunted house piece, yet there are no ghosts or creatures hiding around the corner, and it takes place in the days of cell phones. The book is strangely beautiful, and filled with characters that seem both alien and interestingly relatable at the same time. I loved it... and I'm incredibly grateful not to be a part of that family.
November 8, 2009
2.5 stars...show me on the dollie where the bad book touched you.
the pros:
1. the claustrophobia in conjunction with the surrealist approach to setting. the juxtaposition of a state of the art freezer in an ancient french chateau. i felt like i should be in the fifties until uncle marcus pulled out a cellphone to enjoy a little phone sex / mid-mornin' masturbation with his mistress. yeah. i just wrote that.
2. writing like a bad dream. i guess the phrase i'd use to describe this book is "gothic nightmare" - it is VERY surreal and very gloomy in tone. the dialogue is sparse and frank, characters infrequently get named (most are "the woman" or "the boy"). episodes move like ghosts and nothing is clear cut or defined. plus, did i mention it's uber-creepy???
3. the woman's foul-mouthed children. okay, the scene with the Grandmother and the cat? It reminds me of a very similar scene that happened between my sister and my nana at a showing of "The Producers"...the moments of humor here (or the sheer ridiculousness of trying to explain "the plot" to anybody) make this a better book than it should be.
the cons:
1. sophie and "the baby" - oh. sweet. merciful. zeus. this plot point (if you can really call it that)bothered me to the point where i was just uncomfortable reading it. Imagine Jodi Picoult or V.C. Andrews and the subject of birth. Making this worse, the parallel between Sophie and her baby and the girl and her doll.
2. The disservice to the character of "the boy" - He could have been something special. Instead, he was just another screwed up member of the family.
3. The permeating feeling of death - Alice, the Grandmother, the "murdered" woman (who I was convinced was going to off herself or the Grandmother or the children or all of 'em). Death makes this novella so much more claustrophobic than it already is - which artistically I guess could be good, but well, just wasn't for me.
4. The Names: Sophie, Alice, Violet, Olivia - these were all potential baby names for me at some point. I was highly disturbed to see them get played out here. HIGHLY disturbed.
5. Art without Substance - The whole novella ends up feeling manufactured for a very specific design. It is artful, but loses any semblance or hope of achieving any deeper meaning because it becomes too concerned with its "art." What we have here is the artistic equivalent of a twinkie.
6. Shock Value: How much of this book was constructed with "shocking the reader" in mind. There was the Steinbeck-or-Morrison worthy "nursing" scene, for example. Or the aforementioned "Naughty-Uncle-by-the-Lake" scene. Or the "Freezer"...which by the way will haunt me until the day I die. Again, I guess I just didn't see the point here.
the pros:
1. the claustrophobia in conjunction with the surrealist approach to setting. the juxtaposition of a state of the art freezer in an ancient french chateau. i felt like i should be in the fifties until uncle marcus pulled out a cellphone to enjoy a little phone sex / mid-mornin' masturbation with his mistress. yeah. i just wrote that.
2. writing like a bad dream. i guess the phrase i'd use to describe this book is "gothic nightmare" - it is VERY surreal and very gloomy in tone. the dialogue is sparse and frank, characters infrequently get named (most are "the woman" or "the boy"). episodes move like ghosts and nothing is clear cut or defined. plus, did i mention it's uber-creepy???
3. the woman's foul-mouthed children. okay, the scene with the Grandmother and the cat? It reminds me of a very similar scene that happened between my sister and my nana at a showing of "The Producers"...the moments of humor here (or the sheer ridiculousness of trying to explain "the plot" to anybody) make this a better book than it should be.
the cons:
1. sophie and "the baby" - oh. sweet. merciful. zeus. this plot point (if you can really call it that)bothered me to the point where i was just uncomfortable reading it. Imagine Jodi Picoult or V.C. Andrews and the subject of birth. Making this worse, the parallel between Sophie and her baby and the girl and her doll.
2. The disservice to the character of "the boy" - He could have been something special. Instead, he was just another screwed up member of the family.
3. The permeating feeling of death - Alice, the Grandmother, the "murdered" woman (who I was convinced was going to off herself or the Grandmother or the children or all of 'em). Death makes this novella so much more claustrophobic than it already is - which artistically I guess could be good, but well, just wasn't for me.
4. The Names: Sophie, Alice, Violet, Olivia - these were all potential baby names for me at some point. I was highly disturbed to see them get played out here. HIGHLY disturbed.
5. Art without Substance - The whole novella ends up feeling manufactured for a very specific design. It is artful, but loses any semblance or hope of achieving any deeper meaning because it becomes too concerned with its "art." What we have here is the artistic equivalent of a twinkie.
6. Shock Value: How much of this book was constructed with "shocking the reader" in mind. There was the Steinbeck-or-Morrison worthy "nursing" scene, for example. Or the aforementioned "Naughty-Uncle-by-the-Lake" scene. Or the "Freezer"...which by the way will haunt me until the day I die. Again, I guess I just didn't see the point here.
July 19, 2022
For what it is (a short, devastatingly realistic domestic horror), this book is perfect. The writing is exquisite, not a word wasted, and while the style holds the narration at a distance from the characters, that makes it more effective, not less.
The story follows a woman fleeing an abusive marriage with her two young children, from Australia to her family home in France. As she arrives, her brother and his wife also return home from the hospital with their newborn baby - but things are not right.
There's a focus on the terror of the mundane here that reminded me strongly of Shirley Jackson, in particular The Road Through the Wall. A lot of little images that layer into a picture that's going to haunt me for a long time.
The story follows a woman fleeing an abusive marriage with her two young children, from Australia to her family home in France. As she arrives, her brother and his wife also return home from the hospital with their newborn baby - but things are not right.
There's a focus on the terror of the mundane here that reminded me strongly of Shirley Jackson, in particular The Road Through the Wall. A lot of little images that layer into a picture that's going to haunt me for a long time.
August 6, 2008
I'm not sure when a novella has been more aptly titled. I read it today at the bookstore (it will be available in bookstores in November 2008), and while blurbs compared it to other, more contemporary writers, Shirley Jackson sprang to mind for me.
An abused young mother returns to her family homestead with her two children, and is joined there by her brother and his wife who have just experienced the stillbirth of their first child. More is unsaid than said, but in sparse, brooding snippets a deeply disturbing portrait of a family and their inner demons emerges.
My initial reaction is that I wished the story were more fleshed out, but that arises from my own preference for novels over short stories and novellas. Brilliant in its restraint, and yes, disquieting.
An abused young mother returns to her family homestead with her two children, and is joined there by her brother and his wife who have just experienced the stillbirth of their first child. More is unsaid than said, but in sparse, brooding snippets a deeply disturbing portrait of a family and their inner demons emerges.
My initial reaction is that I wished the story were more fleshed out, but that arises from my own preference for novels over short stories and novellas. Brilliant in its restraint, and yes, disquieting.
December 7, 2008
I admit it, I don't "get" this book. It's beautifully written, a wonderful eerie style, but you get to the end and think "...and?" I don't have to have endings spelled out for me, it's nice to read in between the lines and figure out what's going on, but I think Leigh went a little TOO far in that respect, for me anyway. Everybody has the lightest sketch of a background, and you end up wanting a LOT more information, not in a pleasant, "I wonder what was going on with so and so" kind of way, but more in an annoying "well for crying out loud, all those little tidbits and we don't find out ANYTHING?" kind of way. Pity, I enjoyed the book, but the whole time I was waiting for the TEENSIEST bit of a resolution, and you don't even get that.
January 13, 2009
This very short book was heavily hyped on both the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly Best of 2008 lists, but I was incredibly underwhelmed. Random bits and pieces of creeping dread are thrown in from time to time and nothing is ever explained and there is no plot. A dead baby is introduced, carried around and buried without much comment. An extramarital affair, spousal abuse, and murders both past and future are alluded to but never explored. So, in short, about 100 pages of gothic atmosphere that goes nowhere. And this is great because.....?
October 28, 2017
Normalerweise stehen die alten Anwesen, in denen düstere Dinge geschehen und Familienkonflikte schon lange schwelen, in England. In diesem Fall ist der Schauplatz ein französisches Château, in dem eine alte Frau lebt. Ihre beiden erwachsenen Kinder tauchen auf: Ihr Sohn kommt mit seiner Frau aus dem Krankenhaus zurück, ihre Tochter kehrt nach vielen Jahren Abwesenheit mit ihren Kindern zurück. Dann gibt es das Personal: Die geheimnisvolle Ida, und die beiden Hausmädchen - Zwillinge, die selbst noch fast Kinder sind.
Von Anfang an macht sich eine morbide Atmosphäre breit. Die Personen, auch als ihre Namen bekannt sind, werden selten mit diesen genannt, sondern oft heißt es „die Frau“, „der Junge“. Alles wirkt verlangsamt, wie in diesen Zeilen: „Sie ging auf eine Art, als habe sie schon tausend Meilen hinter sich gebracht und als sei die Diele Ausgangspunkt für weitere tausend Meilen, die noch immer vor ihr lagen. Das Telefon steht auf einer runden Kommode in einer Nische. In Augenhöhe hing ein Hirschkopf und vermittelte zeitweise den Eindruck, er sei der eigentliche Gesprächspartner.“
Das Buch hat mehr Atmosphäre als Handlung, alles ist unwirklich, traurig, gedämpft, morbid. Dabei stellen sich beim Lesen einige Fragen nach den Konflikten in dieser Familie, den Motiven der Figuren – beantwortet werden sie nicht. Das spielt aber auch keine Rolle, denn wegen der Handlung liest man dieses Werk sicher nicht. Dabei kann ich mir gut eine Verfilmung des Romans vorstellen kann. Es müsste ein Film sein, der mit sehr stimmungsvollen Bildern arbeitet, lange in Kameraeinstellungen verharrt, wenig Dialog hat. Allerdings fürchte ich, dass es für viele Zuschauer kein befriedigender Film wäre, da das Ende so vieles offen lässt.
Von Anfang an macht sich eine morbide Atmosphäre breit. Die Personen, auch als ihre Namen bekannt sind, werden selten mit diesen genannt, sondern oft heißt es „die Frau“, „der Junge“. Alles wirkt verlangsamt, wie in diesen Zeilen: „Sie ging auf eine Art, als habe sie schon tausend Meilen hinter sich gebracht und als sei die Diele Ausgangspunkt für weitere tausend Meilen, die noch immer vor ihr lagen. Das Telefon steht auf einer runden Kommode in einer Nische. In Augenhöhe hing ein Hirschkopf und vermittelte zeitweise den Eindruck, er sei der eigentliche Gesprächspartner.“
Das Buch hat mehr Atmosphäre als Handlung, alles ist unwirklich, traurig, gedämpft, morbid. Dabei stellen sich beim Lesen einige Fragen nach den Konflikten in dieser Familie, den Motiven der Figuren – beantwortet werden sie nicht. Das spielt aber auch keine Rolle, denn wegen der Handlung liest man dieses Werk sicher nicht. Dabei kann ich mir gut eine Verfilmung des Romans vorstellen kann. Es müsste ein Film sein, der mit sehr stimmungsvollen Bildern arbeitet, lange in Kameraeinstellungen verharrt, wenig Dialog hat. Allerdings fürchte ich, dass es für viele Zuschauer kein befriedigender Film wäre, da das Ende so vieles offen lässt.
November 12, 2023
Lo que hace Leigh no se parece a nada. Su manera de escribir es muy visual —algo lógico cuando descubres que además de escribir, dirigió una película— y a ratos tiene cierto aire onírico que, aunque sutil, contribuye a la sensación de enrarecimiento que provoca esta historia donde una mujer vuelve a la casa familiar acompañada de sus dos hijos. Una casa que parece congelada en el tiempo, donde los secretos se condensan en el aire haciéndolo irrespirable. Todos los miembros de esta peculiar familia —niños incluidos— parecen guardar celosamente sus secretos y al mismo tiempo son cómplices entre sí, tejiendo una trama inquietante.
Un libro irrepetible.
Una escritura envolvente.
Una historia que aplasta el corazón.
Un libro irrepetible.
Una escritura envolvente.
Una historia que aplasta el corazón.
September 16, 2012
This book is full of lush description and finely rendered moments but there is no substance, here. There is nothing to hold onto. Disquiet is a slim novel that is far too slim. Too much goes unsaid. The characters are rather flat and narrow, save for the children who are quite well drawn. By the time we reach the climax, it is all deeply unsatisfying because we haven't been given a reason to care enough about anyone involved. This is one of those books that falls desperately short of its potential.
July 18, 2024
A la casona donde crecieron, en Francia, llegan dos hermanos. Por un lado, Olivia y sus dos hijos, huyendo de un matrimonio violento en Australia, y, por el otro, Marcus junto a su esposa Sophie y su bebé, que murió al nacer. La enorme casa se convertirá en el escenario donde las dos mujeres lidiarán con sus respectivas pérdidas, cada una herida a su manera. La primera, con un brazo roto y el cuerpo lleno de golpes, negándose a retomar el contacto con su marido; la segunda, negándose a enterrar a su hija muerta. ¿Pero cuánto tiempo debería durar el luto? ¿Y cómo afrontar el hecho de que la vida sigue adelante?
Es una novela breve pero intensa. La prosa de Leigh avanza con una serenidad salpicada de brillo poético que contrasta con lo doloroso de su relato. Y funciona muy bien. El resultado es un libro duro pero hermoso.
Es una novela breve pero intensa. La prosa de Leigh avanza con una serenidad salpicada de brillo poético que contrasta con lo doloroso de su relato. Y funciona muy bien. El resultado es un libro duro pero hermoso.
December 23, 2025
Not quite a happy ending but better than it could’ve been. Made me wonder how much time we spend trying to recover lost love
November 22, 2023
"Pero era demasiado tarde. La mujer cruzó la habitación y abrió la puerta del freezer, apenas un poco. Vio el satén rosa. Cerró de golpe. El niño también había visto algo - de reojo, algo de color -, pero no supo bien qué; quizás había visto algo, quizás no, quizás hubiera un motivo para la reacción de su madre, quizás no."
___________________________
Una mujer llega junto a sus dos hijos, de 9 y 6 años, a la casa donde creció en Francia escapando de un marido abusivo. Sin embargo, no los recibe un ámbito cálido, de contención, sino que una casa fría casi en penumbras, muchas puertas y recovecos, y una madre-abuela distante. El ambiente es tenso y perturbador desde el inicio, pero las cosas se oscurecen más cuando llega Marcus, el hermano de la mujer, junto a su esposa Sophie. Vienen directo del hospital donde nació Alice. Alice está con ellos, en brazos de Sophie, muerta. Y ellos no quieren enterrarla.
En Desolación el horror se observa y no se menciona, como si no hubiera palabras que lo pudieran describir, o bien quizás porque no se necesitan palabras. El narrador es extremadamente distante; no se involucra con los sentimientos ni pensamientos de los personajes. Los ambientes hablan más que ellxs. Entonces, unx se vuelve un testigo de lo que sucede. Todxs dicen poco, todxs esconden algo, todxs parecen saber lo que el otrx esconde, lo que no menciona. Pero nadie, ni Julia Leigh, lo pone en palabras.
Desolación es una novela breve, de menos de 100 páginas, que aborda principalmente la temática del duelo. Lo particular, en mi opinión, es la voz que observa y que no se involucra. Entonces, como lectorxs, intentamos ir comprendiendo qué es lo que pasa por dentro. Mood perturbador y acechante. Personajes apáticos, cerrados, heridos, y una casa en donde se hace difícil respirar.
Mucha energía de Escorpio.
___________________________
Una mujer llega junto a sus dos hijos, de 9 y 6 años, a la casa donde creció en Francia escapando de un marido abusivo. Sin embargo, no los recibe un ámbito cálido, de contención, sino que una casa fría casi en penumbras, muchas puertas y recovecos, y una madre-abuela distante. El ambiente es tenso y perturbador desde el inicio, pero las cosas se oscurecen más cuando llega Marcus, el hermano de la mujer, junto a su esposa Sophie. Vienen directo del hospital donde nació Alice. Alice está con ellos, en brazos de Sophie, muerta. Y ellos no quieren enterrarla.
En Desolación el horror se observa y no se menciona, como si no hubiera palabras que lo pudieran describir, o bien quizás porque no se necesitan palabras. El narrador es extremadamente distante; no se involucra con los sentimientos ni pensamientos de los personajes. Los ambientes hablan más que ellxs. Entonces, unx se vuelve un testigo de lo que sucede. Todxs dicen poco, todxs esconden algo, todxs parecen saber lo que el otrx esconde, lo que no menciona. Pero nadie, ni Julia Leigh, lo pone en palabras.
Desolación es una novela breve, de menos de 100 páginas, que aborda principalmente la temática del duelo. Lo particular, en mi opinión, es la voz que observa y que no se involucra. Entonces, como lectorxs, intentamos ir comprendiendo qué es lo que pasa por dentro. Mood perturbador y acechante. Personajes apáticos, cerrados, heridos, y una casa en donde se hace difícil respirar.
Mucha energía de Escorpio.
September 14, 2017
The bones, they will outlast you. And one day they too will - crumble. Everything will be transformed: this is what happens. The earth is thriving. All you can do now is be gentle with yourself. The child's life is - done. The child is no longer suffering. She will remain in your thoughts. I do not believe in any soul, God is not the mystery, but I say - open your heart to those around you. Do not miss this chance. That's all.'
This was a used book store find, the very slim and attractive novella taking its place alongside a few other quick reads, such as Ethan Frome. Unfortunately, this book just didn't work for me. The story has promise though I just couldn't find interest in the way it was being told, or the odd allusions selected.
'Yes?' Grandmother's voice sounded scratch and far-away, as though she were an astronaut or a mountain guerilla.
...or the overly artsy attempts at being profound.
They stared at one another without speaking and between them passed an understanding of the unsung miracle of the door - one moment a person wasn't there, and the next moment...there.
Disquiet has a very strong underlying theme that has great promise in that it deals with love and loss - the presence of something, and the taking away of that thing. The story revolves around the death of a child and the parent's difficulty in letting that child go. There are various sub-plots that flesh out the family dynamics though none of them are interesting and generally add nothing to the narrative. The majority of the book is the somewhat surreal and mostly mundane description of the home, and the characters reactions to what is going on, all of which is generally uninteresting and serve to pad a short story into a novella.
They will learn. So, the marvelous capacities of children. Imagine if we could be children again. I would speak five languages. Mandarin. Even Hungarian. Though maybe I wouldn't feel the need to. Impossible to know. Sometimes I wish I'd never stopped somersaulting.
This was a used book store find, the very slim and attractive novella taking its place alongside a few other quick reads, such as Ethan Frome. Unfortunately, this book just didn't work for me. The story has promise though I just couldn't find interest in the way it was being told, or the odd allusions selected.
'Yes?' Grandmother's voice sounded scratch and far-away, as though she were an astronaut or a mountain guerilla.
...or the overly artsy attempts at being profound.
They stared at one another without speaking and between them passed an understanding of the unsung miracle of the door - one moment a person wasn't there, and the next moment...there.
Disquiet has a very strong underlying theme that has great promise in that it deals with love and loss - the presence of something, and the taking away of that thing. The story revolves around the death of a child and the parent's difficulty in letting that child go. There are various sub-plots that flesh out the family dynamics though none of them are interesting and generally add nothing to the narrative. The majority of the book is the somewhat surreal and mostly mundane description of the home, and the characters reactions to what is going on, all of which is generally uninteresting and serve to pad a short story into a novella.
They will learn. So, the marvelous capacities of children. Imagine if we could be children again. I would speak five languages. Mandarin. Even Hungarian. Though maybe I wouldn't feel the need to. Impossible to know. Sometimes I wish I'd never stopped somersaulting.
March 31, 2014
Upon finishing this book, I said to myself, "Wonderful, another brilliant novella with a shitty cover."
And my, it is a shitty cover.
But the more I think about it, the more I realize: it's impossible to design a cover that adequately captures the power of every action, every word, spoken or unspoken, that flows through these pages. An unsettling premise, stylized to the moon, and shaking your every instinct as a human being who, presumably, has loved and yearned.
No wonder the jacket designer went, "Ah fuck, here's a chateau. Send it to the printers."
Buy this title from Powell's Books.
And my, it is a shitty cover.
But the more I think about it, the more I realize: it's impossible to design a cover that adequately captures the power of every action, every word, spoken or unspoken, that flows through these pages. An unsettling premise, stylized to the moon, and shaking your every instinct as a human being who, presumably, has loved and yearned.
No wonder the jacket designer went, "Ah fuck, here's a chateau. Send it to the printers."
Buy this title from Powell's Books.
January 31, 2009
A beautifully written novella. It is as though she took great care to craft every sentence. Her writing provides just enough details to let you fill in the rest with your imagination. As I read the story played in my mind like a soft and provocative foreign film. The characters are damaged and sad, particularly Sophie, a woman who brings home her stillborn child and has a difficult time letting go. I would love to see this as a film.
June 29, 2017
A novella about a prodigal daughter's return home. In conjunction with her return to her mother's palatial sprawl, her brother and his wife seek solace at the mother's house after losing a child.
This is a short book, but it offers a lot to ponder. A book about loss and grieving and coming to find where you belong.
This is a short book, but it offers a lot to ponder. A book about loss and grieving and coming to find where you belong.
January 28, 2018
the title is quite apt, but not in the eerie/creepy/unsettling way usually meant, for this reader anyhow... frankly, not much happens, but there sure is an odd sense something happened, something is happening somewhere else, or something might happen, at some point... the boy and girl are arguably the best parts of this taut tale... at turns violent, macabre, unnerving, wily, mature, childish, and entirely unknown quantities... the woman has suffered, that is evident, and not just in the obvious ways... not quite sure i want to know what is occurring with her and her brother, Marcus... the miscarriage, which has multiple meanings if you really think about the word, was less morbid than i hoped... i liked the writing style, it just works here... a thinking book, maybe not so popular in today's world of ultraexplicitviolence, but i would argue more effective for what it lacks...
March 5, 2025
100 pages of nothing
January 18, 2024
Tremendo relato. Es increíble que en tan pocas páginas puedan condensarse tantos sentimientos. Las imágenes pueden ser tan crudas que rozan lo absurdo, pero que aún así logran un aura de verosimilitud que envuelve la historia y la hace adictiva.
Definitivamente una lectura de la que no salís indemne, quieras o no una página, un párrafo o una oración te va a calar hasta los huesos.
Definitivamente una lectura de la que no salís indemne, quieras o no una página, un párrafo o una oración te va a calar hasta los huesos.
January 1, 2024
Qué bella representación de la muerte, el duelo y la oscuridad del alma. Precioso libro, casi como una película. 🖤
September 13, 2018
This review can also be found on my blog.
cw domestic abuse; stillbirth
I found this novella in a local thrift shop and picked it up on a whim. I thought the cover was nice and the story sounded interesting -- and told myself that even if I didn’t like it, I’d only be working through 120 or so pages. I’m glad I went for it because this is one of those hidden gems that I probably never would have found otherwise. It’s simply written, but hauntingly beautiful. It’s a little odd in a way I can’t put my finger on, but also in a way that really piqued my interest. I definitely recommend it and know I’ll be picking it up again sometime.
cw domestic abuse; stillbirth
I found this novella in a local thrift shop and picked it up on a whim. I thought the cover was nice and the story sounded interesting -- and told myself that even if I didn’t like it, I’d only be working through 120 or so pages. I’m glad I went for it because this is one of those hidden gems that I probably never would have found otherwise. It’s simply written, but hauntingly beautiful. It’s a little odd in a way I can’t put my finger on, but also in a way that really piqued my interest. I definitely recommend it and know I’ll be picking it up again sometime.
December 15, 2008
Reading a novella like this is like watching a great little movie late at night. It was a couple of hours of intense reading and mystery with characters that are immediately interesting and somehow lost in life's tougher tragedies, a terribly abusive husband (the murderer), a stillborn birth that almost destroys a distraught mother, accidents waiting to happen to young curious children on a large estate where there is a lake and leaky boats. It all happens in an old and almost abandoned and yet manicured estate in France. It reminded me of the setting for horror shows from my youth where there are boogeymen hiding in the shadows. The elderly mother is in a wheel chair and is formally caring for her middle aged children who have come to recuperate from their recent tragedies and yet she isn't really emotionally available to them, somewhat mystified by their immature and stupid lives. The main character, "the woman" seems like she is dying and trying to get her children set up with their inheritances and perhaps even to recruit her brother to become their parents since her life is basically over.
The crazy and perhaps most terrifying element of the story is that the mother of the stillborn is literally hanging on to the dead baby and won't let it go to the point where the baby is going rancid and disintegrating. There is some kind of metaphor here for the state of the family, hanging on to something that has long since died.
And yet, by the end, there is a plan and redemption and we pretty much have a successful future course that will work for everyone.........and yet, do we and will it really work?
I love the novella. It's a great little escape into a very complex and yet believable world laid out very poetically.
The crazy and perhaps most terrifying element of the story is that the mother of the stillborn is literally hanging on to the dead baby and won't let it go to the point where the baby is going rancid and disintegrating. There is some kind of metaphor here for the state of the family, hanging on to something that has long since died.
And yet, by the end, there is a plan and redemption and we pretty much have a successful future course that will work for everyone.........and yet, do we and will it really work?
I love the novella. It's a great little escape into a very complex and yet believable world laid out very poetically.
August 27, 2010
Every now and again, I discover a perfect little book, and Disquiet, by Julia Leigh, is one of those.
It is a novella of a mere 121 pages, but it is utterly compelling. I read it in an evening, and could not sleep afterwards until I had settled my thoughts about it. No wonder that on the blurb Toni Morrison calls Julia Leigh a ‘sorceress‘ whose ‘deft prose casts a spell of serene control while the earth quakes underfoot’…
To read the rest of my review, please visit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...
It is a novella of a mere 121 pages, but it is utterly compelling. I read it in an evening, and could not sleep afterwards until I had settled my thoughts about it. No wonder that on the blurb Toni Morrison calls Julia Leigh a ‘sorceress‘ whose ‘deft prose casts a spell of serene control while the earth quakes underfoot’…
To read the rest of my review, please visit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...
June 21, 2015
Short, creepy and beautifully written, Disquiet wound up leaving me more puzzled than discomforted. It's a speedy read though, and Leigh is an excellent writer, whose sentences are enough to justify this otherwise odd book.
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