ENTERTAINMENT REALM

<em>Katherine Carlyle</em> by Rupert Thompson. Other Press| October 2015| 304 pages| $16.95| ISBN: 9781590517383

<strong>RATING: *****/5*</strong>

“If I’m to pay proper attention, if this is to work, there’s no option but to disconnect, to simplify. From now on, life will register directly, like a tap on the shoulder or a kiss on the lips. It will be felt.”

Didn’t know what was sometimes happening and why but wanted to keep reading because of the writing quality. Rather haunting and definitely unusual. Katherine Carlyle was born through IVF. This haunts her throughout her life [“I tell him about my conception in a London hospital. I was an IVF baby. Does he know what that means? He nods. I tell him I was frozen. I was stored for eight years before I was finally implanted in my mother. I was put together– formed– but then I had to wait in the cold, with no knowledge of how long that wait was likely to be, or whether it will ever end.”] and as a college freshman she decides she’s going to disappear in an attempt to come to terms with this. Katherine leaves Rome for Berlin as a stop point to her end point. She’s not merely going to disappear, she plans to travel to an intensely cold climate in an attempt to get close to her own frozen, isolated beginning. It’s tough to describe except to say it’s part mystery and part personal exploration. A strange story –in a good way– with gorgeous writing and an intriguing story-line.

<em>FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from Other Press. </em>