The Voices of Adriana by Elvira Navarro is a strange, dreamy little book that totally pulled me in. It follows a woman dealing with the death of her mother, but it’s not your typical grief story. Things start to unravel in a more psychological and surreal way—like you’re watching someone slowly lose their grip, but it’s written so beautifully that it sneaks up on you.

The writing is fragmented and sometimes disorienting, but that’s kind of the point—it mirrors Adriana’s state of mind. There isn’t a straightforward plot, so this might not be it if you’re looking for something fast-paced or straightforward. But it's worth the read if you like character-driven stories exploring grief, identity, and inner chaos with a bit of weirdness.

I think this novel went in a different direction that I originally thought it would. I think I had expected it from the description to kind of dwell in the first part the entire time, rather than those three different sections of present, past, and the voices. I think the voices of her mother and grandmother did a fabulous job of showing that not only is generational trauma passed down, but just who our families are constantly pervade our lives as we know them, for better and for worse. The refelctive nature of the novel is done in a very quietly elegant way--the thoughts never felt too profound or like an unreal conclusion for someone to come to in her position.