This is a dreamlike horror novel. You never quite know what’s going on. The female twin, Miriam, definitely has pica, and her mother, a photojournalist, definitely died in Haiti. Miriam spends time in a mental institution, and gets into university, but her brother, who applied before her and inspired her, does not. The house is apparently evil and filled with female ghosts of past generations, and her brother has an unhealthy obsession with her. Miriam has a lesbian love affair but is sickening and dying because she’s not eating. Miriam disappears. Miriam’s father does his best. He’s a chef, who pressed his unwilling wife to turn her family home into a B&B.
Because this book is so dreamlike and focusses on supernatural impressions, it’s difficult to imagine the characters living in an ordinary world. And yet, they have ordinary friends and get accepted for jobs and university. It’s amazing, the bizarre inner life of some people. One thinks immediately of mental illness.
Oddly enough, because I didn’t like the uncertainty of the book’s reality, I would read another book by this author. She has an unusual perspective and that appeals to me.
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