Reader Score
76%
76% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 10 reviews on
Bernardine Evaristo is an author and academic.
On my summer reading list - writers daring to be different: The Black Flamingo, a YA verse novel by @DeanAtta about a mixed-race drag queen; That Reminds Me by Derek Owusu, a fragmented memoir & the daringly experimental Exquisite Cadavers @meenakandasamy https://t.co/y2r6taRIHn
We are the 'greatest literary show on Earth'.
Meena Kandasamy, an anti-caste activist, poet, novelist and translator, deconstructs trauma and violence, most notably in her books of poems, Touch and Ms Militancy, as well as her three novels, The Gypsy Goddess, When I Hit You, and Exquisite Cadavers. https://t.co/peePMxfyt1
"Kandasamy is needling us gleefully, making the margins a space of defiance, and the repossession of authorial prerogative. She is showing us the sleight of hand in slow motion, and grinning from ear to ear as she does so. . . . Exquisite Cadavers is a backflipping rebuke to the nexus of culture- and capital-making which would seek to backhandedly praise her bravery over her craft, and thereby keep her pushed to the sidelines. It is a joy." -- LA Review of Books
"It's wonderful, a different view of difference." --LitHub
"Slyly funny and profoundly thoughtful. It is common for critics and readers to belittle women by assuming they write out of catharsis rather than to create. Exquisite Cadavers is not just a fierce rebuttal. It's a work of brilliance." --Financial Times
"Fascinating . . . The cleverness of Kandasamy's bricolage is that it allows her to explicitly separate fiction and memoir, while ensuring they're intimately intertwined." --Guardian
"Kandasamy achieves the unachievable in this genre-defying, brilliant and satisfying double narrative. She subverts the mainstream by inserting her self into the margins of this timely novella. In doing so, she adds depth and intensity to an already gripping story of a mixed-race millennial couple grappling with identity, unexpected parenthood, zero-hour contracts and nearsightedness within academia. There is nothing Kandasamy can't do." --Zeba Talkhani, author, My Past is A Foreign Country
"Urgent, searing."--The New York Times Book Review on When I Hit You
"Kandasamy's thoughtful deep dive into the nature of abuse and its effects is a call-to-action to believe and support all women."―Booklist (Starred review) on When I Hit You