I would like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book even though I did not finish this book.

Loved this story, and the writing was superb. I can’t wait to read what this author puts out next. Would certainly gift this book to a friend.

This did not seem like a coming of age story for me as it did not have the pace associated with that style. The story was a bit too meandry for me. There were several areas that were very written and i genuinely enjoyed what was written but it was not for me.

I really didn't enjoy this book. I found the characters unbelievable and didn't get any tension from the plot. The scenes when Roxana was "trapped" in the apartment in Stockholm felt too long and overwrought, and I became frustrated with the development of the plot. It was disappointing as theoretically this would make for an interesting story but it felt under-developed and poorly executed.

A strange coming of age tale and a creepy story but one that you can't put down. A promising debut from a expert novelist. I look forward to more books by Lisa Locascio.

Plot: Roxana applied to a study abroad program in Paris, but due to some mistake, ends up in, what seems to her, dreary Copenhagen. She’s met at the airport by her guide, Soren, however his guidance even begins sloppily, missing the trips and visits she’s supposed to take and taking her out on the town instead, kicking off a romantic relationship between the two. When he asks her to come to his uncle’s home, a small town in northern Denmark with him for the rest of the summer, she agrees. It isn’t as she expected though: a small apartment in a dead-end town with a relationship with a stranger that quickly sours.

My thoughts: I really hate to give negative reviews to books, but – I’m sorry! – this was just a step too far for me. Rather than the coming of age novel I’d expected, or at least, as this began, it devolved into an account of a young woman with a lack of motivation to get up and do anything aside from sit around an apartment in her own filth, cleaning up only in time for Soren to return, to do nothing again the next day, the next and the next. It didn’t feel like coming of age or learning to me – it felt like someone who didn’t know what they wanted to do falling into a cycle of depression and not knowing how to escape, but these themes weren’t explored enough for it to have enough of that depth for me, only explored in parts such as flashbacks to her relationship with her friend back home and her parents – these parts for me worked really well and I would have liked to explore them in more detail. I feel like it could have been done a lot better had the time not been spent on detail that I really didn’t want to read unfortunately.

I received and ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was definitely not what I expected. It's a coming of age tale but a very raw, gritty, borderline nymphomaniac depiction of the life of the not so popular girl in highschool.
The whole thing was just a bit off for me and there were a lot of things that didn't add up. The nonchalent reactions and attitudes of Roxana's parents are somewhat unbelievable since we are told throughout the novel how close they all are. How could you not know that your daughter went to Denmark and not Paris? Wouldn't you be checking in with her bestfriend's mother periodically and spill the beans? Which leads me to another question. If Sylvie and Roxana were such good friends, why did they not communicate over the summer? My biggest question is how the heck did Roxana's parents not realize that she flushed $25,000 USD down the tube when she opted out of the whole "experience" and decided to go on her own sexcapade????
On a different track, I can identify somewhat with what Roxane was going through sexually on her trip. That being said, all the descriptions of everything, mostly all the smells, were a bit over the top for me. Granted, it's all true, however I didn't really enjoy reading about it all the time. Her relationship with Soren was also stretched in terms of believability and I didn't really care for him at all.
The one thing that I actually liked were some of the descriptions and prose that the author used. It was quite beautiful and easy to imagine. But, not a lot of time was spent describing Denmark as much as the inside of a bathroom.
The last 100 pages of the book continued to repeat the same storyline over and over. I'm also not sure that anything was really resolved in the end.
It just wasn't for me.

I can honestly say I've never read a book quite like this one...A mix of coming-of-age, erotica and women's fiction with fascinating details about Danish and Bosnian cultures. It was a hodgepodge of genres. I'm still trying to digest my impressions.

Roxanna is 18 years old and has inadvertently ended up in Denmark for a summer abroad program. Recently graduated from high school, she has never had a boyfriend. While in Denmark, she meets a 28 year old man who works for the program and they hit it off. The plot delves into an erotic component as Roxanna discovers her sexuality with this man.

I'm not sure exactly how to describe the alternating scenes between sex and culture and coming-of-age naivete except to say it was odd. In deconstructing the plot elements, i would say the cultural parts were fascinating and the scenes involving Denmark's immigration and racism issues were eye-opening. I'm not one who reads erotica so that aspect was lost on me. The coming-of-age story was okay but I think would appeal more to a younger reader than myself.

Readers that like this blend of fiction, will probably love this book. It's an interesting mix and worth the read if you're looking for something outside of the box.

A thank you to Grove Atlantic and Lisa Locascio for an ARC.

I first heard about this book-in-progress when Lisa Locascio came to teach at the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference several years ago. I’m thrilled to now discover this shimmering, character-driven debut, where Roxana, 18, arrives alone to Copenhagen because her summer study program in Paris was overbooked. Roxana meets Søren, 28, erstwhile leader of the study-abroad tour. Søren goes rogue and invites Roxana to stay with him in rural Jutland while he grapples with the next draft of his dissertation. This literary narrative, told from Roxana’s perfectly rendered point-of-view, explores a very interior rite of passage from innocence to experience.

Lisa Locascio joins a widening circle of women who write frankly and artfully about female sexual pleasure in the tradition of Marguerite Duras, Erica Jong, Anaïs Nin. Recommended for women’s book groups or for anyone hungry for an immersive and sexually explicit coming-of-age novel. Full review is on my blog Wordjourneys.

I can't say enough about Lisa Locascio's novel. To call it a "coming of age" story is underwhelming. What Open Me portrays is not only an anthology of a sexual awakening, but also an awareness of the senses and intellectual discovery. Told in the voice of a protagonist who is neither ridiculously perfect or abundantly flawed, Open Me is one of the breakthrough novels of 2018.

Roxana’s parents are in the midst of a horrible divorce. After highschool graduation she escapes to Copenhagen to attend a study abroad summer program before college begins in the fall. Her program guide meets her at the airport. Soren is a 28 year old guy, good looking with a reserved, serious demeanor that immediately intimidates and intrigues her. Roxana has little experience with men and literally zero self confidence. When their unexpected relationship begins she quickly is enamored by his every attention. Unfortunately, I found her both extreme naivete and her unhygienic habits unrealistic and unappealing. The writing and storyline were good but my hopes that it was going to pull me in at some point were dashed as it spiraled deeper off track of this supposed coming of age story.

This was a unique story about a girl coming of age and was full of twists. Great writing. I will definitely be seeking out more of this author's work!

There's this time between graduating high school and heading to college where you aren't quite sure what to do. For Roxanne, she's known that she was heading to Paris with her best friend for 8 weeks for an International Exchange program. At the last minute, Roxanne find out that she is no longer going to Paris, but instead, heading to Denmark - all on her own. She's greeted by Soren, her 28-year old guide. Leaving the exchange program to go live in a remote village with Soren, Roxanne finds her self alone and lonely. Her interest is sparked by one of the village's immigrants.

This book is...different. And that's not a bad thing, but it's just going to turn certain types of readers off. There are very poetic phrases and word usage, but there's also very descriptive passages of ...bodily function and sexual acts. While this is a story about an 18 year old girl, experiencing sexual freedom for the first time, it's not necessarily an 'erotic' novel. This is the story of a girl in that time between high school and college, on the verge of change. She learns about men, about race, about sex, about how people treat other people.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a really strange book. It started out ok and I thought there would be more about Roxanna's experiences in Denmark but as the story went on, it could have taken place anywhere. It was all relationships and confusion and unhappiness.. The writing was rather disjointed and except for Roxanna, the characters seemed rather underdeveloped. I found I really didn't care about any of them nor could I identify with any of them. Just not my kind of book.

I'm still mulling over my thoughts, but I was intrigued by this boldly-written story of 18-year-old Roxana, an American in Denmark on a study programme. She becomes sexually entangled with an inscrutable Dane with a cruel streak & forges another connection with a Bosnian asylum-holder. The detailed, intimate prose depicts Roxana's sexual awakening and fuses it with the the political. It's the latter aspect that felt forced to me, with Zlatan appearing as a fascinating character but limited to a role as a counterpoint to Søren's xenophobia. Despite that, I found it a captivating read.

Roxana Olsen was supposed to be spending the summer wandering the streets of Paris with her best friend. Instead, she ended up in Copenhagen – alone.

Her first taste of real freedom is blinding and she finds herself inexplicably attracted to her intense and much older Danish host.

But the more time that she spends with the mysterious Søren, the more she catches a glimpse at the darkness that lies behind his glacial eyes.

“I’m scared that love isn’t real.”
“I felt that way, once. I remember. The feeling is not that love is not real, but that it is impossible.” His eyes were kind, his hand was warm and dry under my chin.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“I am older than you,” Søren said, stroking my face. “I offer you what I have learned. Love is real. But it can end. That is what makes it precious.”

Set on a path of discovery – both of herself and of the world around her – Roxana finds an unlikely friend in the village outcast.

Zlatan is the man that teaches her about war, about discrimination and about heartbreak. And it is the lesson that changes her life forever.

“I have to tell you—” I almost said it then, the sound already on my tongue.
Zlatan drew me closer. “Don’t.”
“Why?”
“What you want to say doesn’t mean what you think it means.”
“I know what I feel.”
He shook his head sadly. For the first time he looked older than me. “The love you feel is for yourself, Roxana. It is your freedom speaking its joy to you.”

Open Me is a brutally honest look at what it’s really like to come of age in the modern world. Lisa’s hard-hitting and poignant prose lays bare such vast injustices like sexism and immigration. It’s graphic, it’s unsettling and incredibly beautiful.

This book will open your mind and make you realize that we aren’t so different from each other after all…

A strange coming of age tale, a girls very intimate discovery of her body and her sexuality. All told in excruciating detail.

The story revolves around Roxana a young girl who’s intention is to travel to Paris with her best friend for a study abroad program but ends up in Denmark due to a logistical mix up and for some unknown reason quickly becomes involved with Søren her intended travel guide a man she barely knows and who Roxana nonchalantly succumbs to being enslaved as his domestic hostage, a man who also happens to have deep seated Xenophobic issues, a controlling loner who basically loses his starry eyed appeal quite abruptly. Her uncomfortabilty becomes stronger the more his irrational anger comes to the fore and she starts to fantasise about escaping...right into the arms of another man! A man with his own deep seated issues. This part of the story feels like it got weirder and weirder. The author bringing to light racism and cultural estrangement but it felt a little too staged for my liking.

Honest and daring but ultimately I felt manipulated into buying into the complicated love story, I had trouble connecting with the two male characters. Roxana at least felt real with her many complex issues of self doubt, her jealousies and inadequacies, her lack of assertiveness and naïveté, some of the things I would have liked to see better explored.

The story was meant to make you feel uncomfortable but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. What I first thought was a sexual awakening story took a strange detour that sadly derailed my enjoyment of the story. It was disturbingly fascinating but not flawlessly executed.

This book was extremely confusing. Even the premise seems to jump around. At first glance, I thought that this would be a book right up my alley. A girl goes to Europe, travels around, and experiences some relationship drama. But in all actuality, I didn’t like it so much. The execution was okay, but it still didn’t make a lot of sense. The reader is just thrown into the beginning of the plot, and it is a little confusing at first. I hated Soren’s character, and I think that this book was trying to be a lot of things that it wasn’t. Overall, this book just wasn’t for me.

This was WEEEIIIRRRDDD.

That's not to say I didn't like some parts. In fact, for a while I thought this would be at least a 4 star, maybe a 5 star book. It does a lot of fascinating things and a lot of strange things, and I'm not sure how well they all fit together.

Open Me begins with Roxana Olsen planning a trip to Paris after graduation, along with her best friend Sylvie. However, a mix-up with the tour company means that Roxana is bumped from the Paris trip and offered a trip to Copenhagen instead. There, she meets the older and enigmatic Søren, whom she quickly begins a relationship with.

When Søren invites her to rural Denmark with him, Roxana accepts, but their intense sexual relationship quickly darkens, then sours, once they arrive there. Søren becomes distant and unpleasant, and Roxana retreats inside of her own head, exploring her mind and body during the long days when she is left alone in Søren's apartment.

There are multiple levels to the story. Through flashbacks (that gradually decrease in frequency), we learn about the intensity of Roxana's friendship with Sylvie. It's a complicated relationship, rife with jealousy, and I am always fascinated by messed up female friendships.

Then, on another level, the novel explores racism and xenophobia through Søren, especially looking at how the "happiest country on Earth" still has more than its fair share of racist ideology. Denmark's socialist government makes some native Danes suspicious of immigrants who may want to reap the nation's benefits without putting in the work. This part is interesting. Roxana is forced to acknowledge her own naive beliefs about racism and how the world has not moved past it.

The first Thanksgiving and Anne Frank and the Underground Railroad and the melting pot and cotton plantations and Japanese internment camps and the Trail of Tears and Aushwitz. After all that history, what else could a person think other than that it was obviously better to be good than bad to other people?


Thirdly, Open Me is a book about a woman exploring her body and sexuality in a frank (and occasionally gross) way. Some might call this an erotic novel, but it didn't do anything for me personally. I found it to be a honest and graphic depiction of sexuality and bodily functions, right down to the "yellowy mucus" that "clung in ropes". I'm glad someone is talking about this, but also YUCK.

There is a fairly large chunk of the book that consists of Roxana wandering around Soren's apartment, watching porn, masturbating, not bathing, and enjoying her own ripe aroma. Her fantasies and descriptions are shocking enough, and the writing is poetic enough (The space between my legs became the center of everything, opened like a peeled grapefruit), to stop this from being a total bore, but it's not my usual cup of tea.

Open Me is definitely a strange book. To describe it in a sentence, I would say: It's a discomfiting literary novel about sex, sexuality and racism. It will make people uncomfortable, for sure, but I can't deny there's something quite addictively fascinating about it.

Roxana is 18 years old, unsure of herself and feels denied of recognition and pleasure; alone for the first time, she reinvents herself in a racy, stifling fugue of playing house with an older man. Her decisions may seem illogical, yet she resolutely throws herself into a rash submission she experiences as freedom, and emerges with a newfound sense of her own power. Ultimately this is an exploration of female desire and sexual agency, almost transgressive in its unflinching portrayal of a girl's appetites and acts of love. A bare drama at times allegorical of a female condition of being bound to a man's will, with sex the only arena for transcendence. Set against a backdrop of present-day Denmark grappling with an immigration influx, the story's few characters are treated lovingly and with humor. Roxana is a character who will stay with me for a long time.