A review by hutyluty
Machines in the Head: The Selected Short Writing of Anna Kavan by Anna Kavan

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really enjoyed the Asylum Piece stories. They felt kind of conjoined, like a novella of sorts, even if they weren't necessarily linked by logic. The later stories were less good, some of them retrod similar ground and felt a bit much whilst the more surrealist stories were missing the realist base which I tend to need to enjoy stories of that kind. The essays were interesting as a window into post-war literature and the kind of distraught, horrifying mental effects of living through a time when the world truly lost its mind (puts covid in perspective, at least a little bit). Some of Kavan's conclusions and thoughts were a little odd however, to say the least.