This was an interesting premise but I feel that it was not executed well.
A woman moves to Switzerland with her husband and two young children. Her husband, stressed and busy with the responsibilities of his new job, leaves her alone more and more. With no one around to talk with or get support from, she begins exhibiting more and more signs of mental illness.
I was interested in the narrator, in how she viewed the world, and her life in general. Unfortunately because the book is written entirely from her point of view, you don’t know what is real and what is part of her illness. We also learn the names of minor characters- the boss, the assistant- but never the narrator or her family. That is a style that some readers prefer but it drove me nuts.
This review is longer than most of my positive reviews, because I feel as though the bones of a good book are there but the style was not a good fit for me.

Oh man. The premise of this book sounded so delightful. A mom in the verge of a breakdown. Caring for her little ones as a husband works full time. And. In a new country of all places. However this book left me feeling and reading it as just meh. And. The ending. That ending ..... I’m not sure what happened. Or. What I just read.

Kyra Wilder is definitely a writer. There are some beautifully written things in this, which add to the psychological thrill of it - you're reading beautiful words describing a terrible situation. Like this bit:

"The days melted into each other. I felt it overwhelming sometimes that I was expected, all the time, to be a person. I woke in pieces. I was a random collection of parts. One shoulder but not the other, one ear. The skin on my face was raw, peeled open. I was so tired that it was really like that. It won’t last I thought. This is a phase, this is only now and now isn’t always. This minute is only this minute and this minute is only one minute long."

This book almost...almost had it. It was a creepy read, definitely got under my skin, and I loved (and worried about) the main character so much. I worried about the kids, I worried about how isolated she was, and that all she had was the husband who was clearly not a great guy.

What threw me were the chapters written later - identified by italics, clearly of someone in a different place. It never really came together. It never jibed, and when I hit the ending I was surprised. Because someone who can write like this? You believe they will pull it together by the end, but in this case it didn't happen.

I was given an ARC of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, many thanks for this opportunity. I finished this book a few days ago and have been trying to figure out exactly how I feel about it. I’m still not sure. I’m going with 3 stars, though I think it’s more 3.5 for me.

TLDR Some of the stylistic choices and content may make this a difficult read for some people. If you can handle those, I cautiously recommend.

This book is written differently from any other I’ve read. A few differences:
1. It’s a first person stream of consciousness narrative. This means some parts are mundane and repeat so often they can be frustrating; however, I feel those moments are important for reflecting the monotony of the main character’s life.
2. The main character is never named. Nobody is (except one stranger, noticeably), but at least her family get initials. She’s never once named or addressed by her name, which is reflective of her not having an identity. Other side characters also aren’t named.
3. There are no quotation marks. I think this ties into #1, as she just seems to be talking/thinking the story.
These elements were important to the story, but could be frustrating to read. It’s hard to keep track of characters who aren’t named. Or else it’s frustrating to have to read “M’s boss’s wife” instead of a name several times within a page. No quotation marks makes it harder to recognize speech while reading, so I’d often have to reread bits once I discovered it was or wasn’t being said out loud. Overall, not enough to dissuade me from finishing but annoying. And like I said, they added certain things to the story, such as having no identity and being detached from her family.

As for the writing itself, well. Kyra Wilder is a fantastic writer and she has quite a way with words. Her writing style remind me of Madeline Miller. Not the subject matter, but the way they write lines that are so beautifully unexpected it can make your breath catch just a moment. How their writing is so effortlessly transporting. I will look forward to reading more of her works.

This novel intrigued the hell out of me because, quite frankly, I related. I think if you’ve never dealt with mental illness, this may be a hard one to finish or handle. You read as her mind slowly devolves, and I felt the way it was somehow spread out and quickly deteriorating was well done. Some of the passages are difficult to read, as she is the children’s sole caretaker and they have to deal with and are subjected to the effects of her declining mental health.

***spoilers***
Having said that, I have several issues with the story.
1. What the hell, M? Who IS this man that so casually leaves his family for weeks at a time and doesn’t even bother trying to come home. Why would his personality change so much from prior to their move? I understand working more and being overwhelmed, but he’s literally home for a couple hours a week. Who leaves their family sitting with dinner ready for hours every night like it’s nothing?? Something is off there, and it’s not explained fully by the cheating. He barely noticed when literally everything has gone to shit and his kids look malnourished, that’s kind of extreme. Yet the times he does speak, he’s concerned about her?? It just doesn’t make sense.
2. WHO IS NELL? Why did the cops show her picture at the end? I love that she’s the only person named as it truly reflects how important this stranger has become to the main character. But now I’m lost about her at the end.
3. Where did the huge bruise on her face come from? The fingerprints on her arm? I’m so confused. For a bit I thought maybe Nell wasn’t real and this was a Fight Club scenario but then the cops showed Nell’s picture at the end. So now I don’t know what to think.
4. The ending. Oh my GOD was this infuriating. It’s less “open to interpretations” and more just “ends abruptly with zero resolution.” Was the last bit real?? Did they leave happily?? If so, how the hell did we wind up in a mental hospital? Or prison? If it isn’t real, what?? Something happened, clearly. But I haven’t got a clue what it is. Are the children alive?? Who is Nell?? Somebody please read this and help me understand. Having said that, oh what a hauntingly beautiful last sentence.
**end spoilers**

Overall, while there were many frustrating aspects of this book, I’d cautiously recommend and will be looking forward to more works by this author.

Erika moves to Geneva when her husband, M gets a promotion. She doesn't speak the language and knows no one. M is gone a lot. I would say more than any person could spend at even a new job. Since we only get Erika's perspective, it is possible it only seems that way to her because she is lonely and overwhelmed.
Her children, B, and E are never referred to by their full names, just like M. Exactly what this means, well frankly I am not sure. I suppose it may be indicative of a detachment that is overtaking Erika. It seems like postpartum depression or just the reality of her life is weighing Erika down.
As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that this is not something that can easily be fixed. On the rare occasions that M is home, he fails to notice the increasingly bizarre behavior of his wife, and what might be physical or abusive neglect of his children. As soon as he leaves and Erika is responsible for the children, she grows fearful of almost everything.
If she has to leave the apartment, she takes the children out through the window, fearing the doorman. Food grows scarce as shopping becomes unbearable, garbage piles up, and day and night bleed into one another as she refuses to open the shudders. There are moments of joy scattered within the pages too. Moments when she is so proud of her husband and full of love for her family. Every seemingly happy thought or interaction ends the same way, with Erika afraid and alone.
Interspersed are chapters from an unnamed narrator. Based on the dialogue, I believed it was Erika being held in a horrible place, perhaps a jail or a mental institution? What is clear is that this person has done something horrific. If it is indeed Erika it made me question everything that happened in Geneva. Was she reliving her time there? Did M, B, and E exist at all outside her mind? Or is she just imagining this place as punishment for what she sees as her failures? What is real and what is an illusion?
The thing about this book is that many of my thoughts are just conjecture and another reader might see the same words and give them different meanings. For me, there were no easy answers and I found myself thinking about the underlying themes for days. Was I looking at a woman losing her mind, a woman trying to do the best for her family, or perhaps it was all a dream. I don't have any answers, but I could not look away from this tale.
This is one time that I hope the author shares some more insights once this is published. I think people will love or hate this book, but rarely will they land in the middle.

Ok honestly I struggled really hard with this book to stay on track and really keep reading. You are watching a mom struggle with her kids alone, really going insane while her husband is working but never ever home and supposedly cheating on her? And then you’re reading a journal where you are solidly figuring out the truth about what happened. I figured out the truth quickly. But honestly could have done without reading this one. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Little Bandaged Days is a sad and moving story about a mother caring for her two children in a new country. Told from the POV of the mother, as the book progresses, her story becomes more and more unclear and garbled. Reality starts to mix in with fantasy. As the reader, you don’t know what’s really happening and what’s just happening in her mind. I devoured this book. While it was sad and painful, I could relate to the stress of motherhood. This book was truly unlike any other book I have ever read. I highly recommend it. #netgalley #littlebandageddays #kyrawilder

The description of this book made it sound like a psychological thriller. It is not. It is all told from the point of view of someone who is quite obviously mentally ill. I found it uncomfortable and tiresome. I was not interested in finding out what she did to ultimately land in the psych ward being questioned by police. I will say, however, that the author did a very good job taking the reader inside the head of someone experiencing mental illness; it just wasn’t somewhere I wanted to be. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC for review.

I think the best way to put this book is that it simply wasn't for me.
And that's okay, that's fine.. Not everything I consume am I going to fall absolutely heels over in love with. It's not a bad thing, different tastes for different people
The premise is strong enough. A woman recently moves across the world due to her husband's burgeoning career. They have two children and because of gender roles, society, a man missing all the marks...SHE is the primary caretaker of them. And when I mean primary I mean she is in it for days upon days while her husband is off working and going to parties where he will be drenched in the smell of female perfume.
Simply put, her husband is an ass and our poor protagonist is left in a foreign country with two tiny children in tow.
You don't even have to wonder. This is an ode to her madness.
The descent into the protagonist's insanity is scary and jaw dropping. I found myself not wanting to read at most parts. The story is engaging and the prose is simply beautiful. It's delicate. So delicate that that is also one of this novel's flaws.
There is a disconnect you feel while reading. To the characters and sometimes the plot. It was confusing. The author uses initials instead of full names and I completely understand the reasoning of not knowing the full names of the characters. But it's disjointed at points and hard to keep straight of who is who.
The story reads like poetry and while it is magical it also caused frustration because at some point things can become a bit TOO vague and I start to wonder if I'm as dumb as I believe.
This is a great read however. You really feel for the main character and her struggles. The scariest part for me was when I realized I saw a lot of myself in her. I saw it and it terrified me.
For a debut book especially this was phenomenal. And while this one isn't for me I am looking forward to more of the works the author publishes. It's worth it.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I saw this book available on NetGalley. I loved the cover and the description talked about a “claustrophobic” story of a once-career woman who is struggling with two children, an absentee spouse, and a new country. As a person who has always worked full time and now has an infant at home, who has moved across the country away from everyone I know, I thought this book would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disaster.

Stylistically, the way the main character refers to her children and husband as “E”, “B” & “M” annoyed me from the get go and I couldn’t get used to it. It actually distracted me.

Storyline wise, the description says, “Who is a mother when her children are asleep? There are just too many hours to fill”. For this reason, I thought it would talk about the fact that as a new mom you can be completely exhausted but yet unable to sleep and would discuss how you handle that. It didn’t. 99% of this book goes on while her children are awake and often the line “Then we must have fallen asleep” or something similar is used to jump from one awake time to another awake time. So I’m not sure who is responsible for the whole “When your children are asleep” line in the description but wow, couldn’t be further off. The day time activities were redundant. If I had to hear about this lady popping her nipple the baby’s mouth one more time I thought I might scream.


The writing from the asylum (I’m assuming she’s in an asylum, it never really explains that.) is annoying and has nothing to do with anything, gives you no insight. I was looking for hints that she knew something was wrong with her but never got any.

There was one part I found very interesting, which was when the husband comes home and notices the apartment is a disaster, and she thinks to herself, “Its just a bit of mess from playing with the kids... but maybe it was a little out of control actually”. I wish the book would have alternated between the wife’s experience and the husband and his likely more realistic perception of the experience. THAT would have been interesting.

This book made me feel terribly claustrophobic and unsettled. I could feel the oppressive heat that the narrator felt with her very young children stuck in a hot apartment in the middle of July and August in a foreign country with a distant workaholic husband. The stinking garbage, the rotting lemons, the dog poop-you could smell it while reading this book. Post-Partum depression is real and I hated this woman's husband which she referred to as "M" in this book. I did not feel comfortable reading this book but the writing was so descriptive I would recommend to anyone who enjoys deep and soul searching fiction.

Thank you to Net Galley and publisher for a chance to read and review.

A move to Geneva, a new job for her husband, plenty of quiet time to be with her two young daughters. She should be thrilled. But her husband’s new job takes all his time, he’s never home. Erika begins to feel smothered and exhausted caring for her two very young kids. She’s losing sleep, she’s losing herself. This is a quiet, introspective novel about a woman’s loss of identity. I was a bit put off by the use of initials instead of names for some of the characters asit made them less sympathetic

Part psychological thriller partly about loneliness and routine. This book explores how monotony could be maddening. I’ve never actually read a book quite like this one before I would highly recommend it

I liked the woman's mother. I didn't like the use of initials for names. I connect to characters by names. I didn't care for some of the descriptions.