Sour Cherry is a modern retelling of the legend of Bluebeard, and is absolutely devastating.
Our narrator is telling her son about his father, and his long, long past. The destruction that followed him, and the many wives he buried. The reader observes these women, knowing their ultimate fate, and is slowly reduced to an emotional husk (well, I was at least).
This book is just so unbelievably sad. The way these women essentially know their fate from the offset, and choose to stay, is just strikingly true to life.
To be honest, I’d love to read this again in one sitting, just to fully appreciate the beauty and lyricism of the novel. And the unique perspective of Natalia Theodoridou as a transmasculine writer is key to the insight of this text.
California Reading 