Name: Strega
ISBN: 9789100180881

Johanne Lykke Holm

Nominerad till Svenska Dagbladets Litteraturpris 2020 Tillsammans med åtta andra unga kvinnor anländer Rafa till den lilla bergsorten Strega för att arbeta på det majestätiska hotell Olympic. Av den strikta personalen får de lära sig att servera och stryka, laga mat och bädda rent, men hotellet förblir öde. På lediga stunder blickar de ut över trakten, de dova bergen, nunneklostret. Men den ensliga hösten vibrerar samtidigt av undantryckt bultande liv. ”Rex visade oss hotellets olika faciliteter. Hon pekade på simbassängen och sa: Swimmingpool. Hon pekade på mangeln och sa: Pressanordning. Hon lät oss känna på handdukarnas kvalitet. Hon lät oss stryka med händerna över köksbänkens yta. Hon lät oss stoppa citronmeliss i munnen.”

Strega

armoni mayes

Strega follows a young woman named Rafa as she leaves her home to work at the Olympic Hotel in a town the book title gets its name from. Rafa is joined by eight other women of similar backgrounds and ages, and are expected to maintain the hotel for guests. The only thing is, no one ever comes to stay at the hotel. Although, one night a party is thrown with guests, and one of the women goes missing. 

Strega is like experiencing a fever dream, and I have seen it compared to The Virgin Suicides which I would have to agree with. The way the nine girls are discussed is as if they are all a single person. It is not a plot driven book, more a character study into the violence that is enacted on women in our society. This book discusses how women are tied to violence so easily, female-friendship, a possible queer relationship, and alienation. 

I enjoyed the authors writing style, it unique in the sense that it feels like a long winded ramble but its in a correct sentence format. I hate when authors write these huge run on sentences but am fine with the rambles so this is perfect. My only critique is that sometimes it was so fever-dreamy i had no idea what i was reading haha

Some of my favorite quotes: 

“I knew a woman’s life could at any point be turned into a crime scene. I had yet to understand that I was already living inside the crime scene, that the crime scene was not the bed but the body, that the crime had already taken place.”

“I was a lonely person, I had been alone all my life. One is alone even in the company of one’s mother. One speaks, and it echoes inside her.”

“I felt ugly and like a failure. Tried to understand how I was supposed to endure this long life, where one was to arrange oneself into a woman each morning.”