Orpheus Builds A Girl

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About halfway through, the switching POVs stop adding anything to the story and make things feel repetitive. We follow the story of Wilhelm Von Tore and Luci told through the eyes of Gabriela (Luci's Sister) and I love that we get the two different perspectives to the story.

Parry’s deft mastery of dual narrators and unflinching attention to macabre and horrifying detail makes for a read both unsettling and compelling. She tells the story of her sister Luciana, fearless and full of life, and the madman who robbed her from her grave. When Wilhelm emigrates to America he carries with him a vision of a dark-haired beauty, presented to him in his dreams by his beloved late Grandmother.From between the cracks in Wilhelm's story Gabriela recounts her own memory of her sister Luciana, a fiery and difficult young woman, and the madman who robbed her from her grave. But through the cracks in Wilhelm’s story there is another voice, that of Gabriela, and she will not let this version of events go unchallenged. A secure home is the first step in addressing the cruel cycle of poverty to ensure people can fulfil their potential. From the start Parry is able to create something unsettling in the chapters devised through von Tore's descriptions; there is something remarkably twisted and self-gratifying in the doctor's chapters of his youth that only become more questionable once the two character's lives become intertwined.

The most interesting thing about this book was that it was based on a real life case and I found myself really drawn into the story - shocked and disturbed by what I was reading and constantly looking details up to find out if they were true. It gave me the creeps, it made me angry, I couldn’t stop reading it and I was bereft when it was done. But there's another voice in this story: Gabriela, and she will not let this version of events go unchallenged. I’m excited to see what else Heather publishes, so I can be left pondering more of life’s horrors in what feels like a productive, somehow beautiful, way. These parts of the narrative are countered by the sister (Cuban immigrants) of this Nazi's future wife who he takes from her grave and revives.Orpheus Builds a Girl is superbly creepy from the start, Parry expertly lacing unsettling details through her narratives.

Gabi's chapter's are filled with something else unsettling, herself being unsettled and anxious throughout her life; always thinking of keeping her family together and ooking out for her younger more robust and adventurous sisters. Once the ball starts rolling on Wilhelm gross experiments as he tries to “revive” Luci it’s very engrossing as well as just plain gross lol.The other narrator was okay but also annoying and I didn't even really fell sorry for the sister dying of tuberculosis. It is a horror novel which is very understated as there's no real scares or supernatural elements, rather the point of view of the doctor is so calm and collected that it really creeps you out how he speaks about Luci (the sick sister) and in his growing delusion the horror becomes more and more disgusting until you find yourself needing to take a break from the book. It’s a modern take on classic Gothic fiction, and while it certainly owes a debt to the likes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it breaks new ground of its own and will chill readers to the bone. Based on the true story of Carl Tanzler, this is a shocking, thought-provoking and exciting new horror that does what the best do, pushes the boundaries of the genre. Throughout events out of their control both von Tore and Gabi's families end up in Florida, removed from their homes and dispossessed in a foreign country, a fact von Tore uses against Luci and Gabi, seeing their Cuban heritage as more foreign than himself as a German, urg, racism.

As the reader I didn’t get a good sense of who Luci was as a person before she dies, beyond her being rebellious and boy crazy, the author didn’t offer much else. My jaw would hang open in horror whilst reading Wilhem’s account and then in contrast I’d be blinking away tears reading Gabriela’s story. Disturbing and compelling in equal measure’ The Big Issue ‘A chilling story of deranged infatuation, medical abuse, coercion and power’ The Skinny ‘Heather Parry is a literary star of the future. I liked the writing style and most definitely would read from Heather Parry again, this one just didn’t work for me personally!As he reflects on his life his main memory is his beloved Luci, love of his life and the woman he vowed to stay with forever.