An intriguing concept but I was turned off by the writing style ⭐️⭐️
The blurb:
Born with a rare (and real) condition in which she suffers degrees of paralysis when faced with intense emotion, Daphne has few close friends and even fewer lovers. Like her mythic namesake, even one touch can freeze her. But when Daphne meets shy, charming Ollie, her well-honed defences falter, and she’s faced with an impossible choice: cling to her pristine, manicured isolation or risk the recklessness of real intimacy. Set against the vivid backdrop of a San Francisco flush with money and pulsing with protest, Daphne is a gripping and tender modern fable that explores both self-determination and the perpetual fight between love and safety.
The review:
This is a tale of a woman with cataplexy - which I admit I had never heard of before and immediately looked it up to find out it is a real and horrifying condition for its sufferers. I thought this was such an interesting concept to base Daphne's tale on, to think about having to live your life so in control of your emotions that you can't even allow yourself to feel them properly. Having to deaden your responses to the world around you and to those you love.
However, I'm afraid I never engaged with this book or with the characters. I get that the writer intentionally uses poetic writing styles throughout. Check out this little snippet:
"Wake, 5:40. Bleating alarm, woolly head. Foggray light through the windows, fog outside and in. Creak down from bed, espresso almost in my sleep. Shower hot as I can stand. Empty, weary calm before the day yawns open. Oatmeal. Out the door, out on the street. Damp, chilly almost-rain. Whiff of the pacific...."
I imagine that writing in this style is perhaps to demonstrate how matter of fact Daphne needs to be about her life and the world around her. But this tendency towards long lists of non sequiturs made me skim over large sections as I found them so disjointed to read. All the way through I just felt that the author was trying too hard with the style of the writing and not enough with the content. It's what I would call a 'stylish' book, one that might be studied for its specific choice of rhetorical devices, but not one that I got much enjoyment out of reading.
Adversely, I did like the story itself; Daphne's relationship with Ollie, and the impact her condition had on their blossoming relationship was definitely the strongest part of the book. But her other relationships - with her mother, her best friend and her work colleagues were never fleshed out enough for me to care about them. They never seemed to add anything to her story and it left me wondering what the point was of having them in the book.
Perhaps I'm being shortsighted. Many of you might find the lyrical and creative style of writing really engaging, but for me it was a turn off. I'll be interested to see whether I'm with or against the consensus on this one.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Daphne is published on 1st Feb 2018 by Granta Books