The Unworthy
Brilliant, chilling ... Suspenseful ... The horror is made visceral by Bazterrica’s feverish, mythic prose, translated from the Spanish by Sarah Moses ... Vivid and anguishing ... A novel filled with secrets, and part of the thrill is cracking open one forbidden door at a time.
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If there is one thing I know, it’s that Agustina Bazterrica knows how to cultivate a landscape of such horror, such intrigue, and such cunning that I’m glued to the page ... Balances fable, fiction, and fearlessness in a truly unforgettable fashion ... Body horror at its finest ... The horrific aspects of this book are balanced well with lyrical prose and some truly deep questions ... It really was the beautiful writing that had me so engaged with this plot ... The world building, too, is simply stellar. The convent is well thought out, with believable levels of hierarchy consisting of unique and terrifying sects that each serve a different purpose to the story. The use of the senses to build a feeling of deep unease is an achievement I’ve rarely seen but is done so well here ... This book is meant for everyone ... It was a true pleasure to get to read The Unworthy ... Swimming with stomach-dropping moments and unforgettable meditations on power, shame and scorn, all the while floating in a sinister world that is eerily reflective of our own.
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While the detail with which Bazterrica considers this creepy conceit is thoroughly engrossing— and often truly gross — the novel distinguishes itself by examining the brutal choices and compromises made by those who find themselves in a system that spun out of 'chaos' ... Turns an astute if despairing eye to a not-so-distant global future where small numbers of depraved elites force the desperate masses to make unimaginable compromises ... As with Tender Is the Flesh, Bazterrica’s world-building is perversely and unsettlingly entrancing ... Harrowing ... The petty cliques and struggle for survival among the unworthy make for an arresting story on their own, but the novel is truly animated by the narrator’s attempts to regain her memories ... Translator Sarah Moses’s sympathetic and fiery translation brilliantly captures the narrator’s ongoing crisis of faith ... Raises probing questions about the nature of faith and the power of abusers, and it absolutely skewers the means that organized religions employ to exert control over their flocks.
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