Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing for sending me a digital ARC to review!
This book exceeded my expectations in so many ways but most notably with the blend of genres as the story progresses. Initially, we follow our protagonist, Sasha, as she worries about her relationship with her piano teacher, Ackermann, in what feels like a typical literary novel exploring grief. We do not learn much about Ackermann except for what Sasha, whose opinion is most certainly biased, believes of him, making her somewhat of an unreliable narrator. When Ackermann is found shot dead, we see Sasha wrestle with whether she has the right to obsess over him and the emergence of an almost thriller/mystery-like plot as she begins to question everyone around her about the circumstances surrounding his death.
Sasha as a character is sometimes wildly unreasonable but also strangely relatable for her grief as she mourns a man she loved all by herself. Watching her seek comfort in slightly strange and perhaps morally questionable ways endeared her to me and made the story all the more propulsive to read.
Polek also weaves interesting commentary on faith and religion as we see Sasha both rely on her faith and disregard it for things like her love for Ackermann whenever it suits her. This facet of her character was very interesting but did sometimes take me out of the story as it felt slightly tacked on, as if the story is trying too hard to be didactic. Despite this, I really enjoyed this book, especially in the third part as the story reaches its most absurd refrains.
Almost a perfect 4 star read.

I really liked this! Such a fascinating story and very strong writing. The story details are fresh and specific and you would not expect them to work together but they do. You get the impression you are reading from a very clever and masterful writer. I loved Polek's previous novel, Bitter Water Opera. I think about Part 1 of that book all the time. It's so taut and brisk. I'm sure I'd love Imaginary Museums and I can't wait to read it next. Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher - I'm super grateful for the early review copy.

"She'd learned through her practice that some degree of restraint was necessary to communicate legible emotion." Polek is one of the few legitimate heirs (would be dumb to say heiresses...) of Ingeborg Bachmann and Fleur Jaeggy. This is a spectacular novel, unshowy about its erudition, attentive to the physical and psychic reality of the world. I loved Bitter Water Opera too but there is a marked development in Polek's mode of questioning, here, that makes Ackermann feel like a fruitful evolution.