»We always confuse our own viewpoints with those of others.«
What do we really know about ourselves? And about others? When the book starts, Xane Molin is 14 years old and experiencing a dramatic summer with her best friend. By the end, she’s a grandmother making one last attempt to change the course of what remains of her life’s journey.
By telling each chapter from a different perspective, Eva Menasse dissects the biography of a woman in her many roles, depicting her as a mother and daughter, as a friend, tenant and patient, as a fleeting acquaintance and an unfaithful wife. Menasse has an unerring eye for women in society, for their human weaknesses and their loveable qualities. Refracted through many different lenses, the novel paints a picture of a woman’s life and of the society she lives in.
The title is borrowed from the natural sciences: There are not only crystals with a clear symmetrical structure, but also some that are fractured and seemingly irregular. The same is true of life’s journey: It is intricate, difficult to predict and only recognizable in its entirety from a distance.
A bold, poetic, funny and disturbing novel that casually raises questions about perception and reality.
