Clean | Litsy

Clean | Alia Trabucco Zer�n

so-so

Soft pick. The MC repeatedly chastising the reader/listener during an account of her involvement with the family who employed her as a housekeeper & nanny got annoying and cheesy. Not a suspense thriller or mystery either.

Cathythoughts I wasn‘t a big fan of this either. 3d

Cathythoughts And especially when I was expecting a good thriller. Why is it so hard to find a good thriller these days ?!! I love all the older ones we read, but where are the modern ones. 3d

Tamra @Cathythoughts agreed. That must be why I find a writer like Fremlin so much fun to read. Honestly, even gothic classics are more thrillerish! 3d

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Billypar I haven't read this, and @Cathythoughts I don't read too many thrillers in general, but I've come to realize that many books marketed as "literary-mystery" or "literary- thriller" are definitely light on the mystery and/or thrills. Have you tried Melanie Finn? I've read two from her (The Gloaming and The Underneath), and I think she is a true hybrid: there's an appeal for literary types, but she also knows what a good thriller should do. 3d

Tamra @Billypar I think you hit the nail on the head! “Literary thriller!” Something with suspenseful narrative drive that is well written. Meat on the bones, so to speak. 😄 Thank you for the recommendation! 3d

Cathythoughts Yes, that‘s why I love Fremlin too. Thankyou @Billypar I‘m definitely going to try Melanie Finn 👍🏻 and really appreciate your recommendation. I read a couple that @batsy suggested awhile back by Christoffer Carlsson , Under The Storm , and Blaze Me A Sun. Both great. Looking forward to trying M Finn now. We‘ll have to keep each other posted on any good ones 👍🏻😁 2d

Tamra @Cathythoughts thanks for the reminders about those two - I have them marked TBR. 😊 (edited) 2d

35 likes7 comments

Mattsbookaday

Clean | Alia Trabucco Zer�n

pick

Clean, by Alia Trabucco Zerán (2023, transl. 2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Premise: A maid tells her story to the police when she comes under suspicion for the death of her employers‘ daughter.

Review: There‘s a lot about this that worked really well: I loved the premise, appreciated the way the class dynamics were presented in the Chilean context, and enjoyed main character‘s crisp point of view. ⬇️

Mattsbookaday But I just wanted more from the story; everything leads up to the death of a child, which somehow ended up feeling underwhelming and largely disconnected from the narrative. 6d

8 likes1 comment

The_Penniless_Author

Clean | Alia Trabucco Zer�n

so-so

Soft pick for me. Not buying into the blurbs describing this one as "suspenseful" or a "mystery". It is, however, one of the better renderings I've encountered of the inner-monologue of someone stuck in a repetitive, monotonous, unappreciated job (of which I have personal experience, albeit not for as many years as the narrator or without a reasonable expectation of escape). Not something I'm likely to return to, but well-written and nicely paced.

Cathythoughts I wasn‘t a fan either , I agree it was not suspenseful or the thriller I was expecting. But I finished it. 5mo

37 likes1 comment

squirrelbrain

Clean | Alia Trabucco Zer�n

pick

This was a fascinating listen as we hear a story from Estela, a maid to a middle-class family, as we know straight away a child has died and that Estela is telling her story from a locked room.

I thought some of the impact was lost at the end, with the introduction of the wider political unrest in Chile, but I wish I knew more about this background and its relationship to the socio-economic structures of the country before listening,

Cathythoughts Great review. I thought it was a strange upsetting book. I read on , but I felt pretty freaked out by it. I didn‘t really like it. But maybe there‘s more to it than I understood. 7mo

sarahbarnes I have this one on my list but haven‘t felt compelled to get to it yet. Great review. 7mo

Caroline2 Argh I‘ve had the hardback of this on my shelf for agesss but wished I‘d known it was about a child dying. 🤦‍♀️ (I hate anything about kids dying or parental grief). (edited) 7mo

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squirrelbrain It‘s not *really* about the child @Caroline2 but there is a part that you‘d really struggle with. (And also it‘s not just a child that dies) 7mo

Caroline2 😟 Can I have a spoiler please? Just wondering whether I should read it or give it away? (edited) 7mo

squirrelbrain @Caroline2 - there‘s a dog as well. 😢 Which, for me, was sadder as it‘s ‘on the page‘ so to speak. I think it sounds to me like you should give it away. 7mo

Caroline2 @squirrelbrain Noooo!! Not a poor doggy! Ok, yep, thanks for the heads up, I‘m shipping it off outta here! 😉 👍 7mo

66 likes7 comments

janeycanuck

Clean | Alia Trabucco Zer�n

pick

I expected more of a traditional mystery/thriller but I don‘t think that‘s a good representation. It‘s a bit dense and can get quite heavy (a child dies - we learn that very early on and the book unravels how we got there.) It feels more about class and agency than what happens to the child. It‘s interesting just not what I expected.

43 likes

Cathythoughts

Clean | Alia Trabucco Zer�n

pan

I feel bad panning a book, but I really didn‘t like this one. I did not find it thrilling or suspenseful, rather more of a trudge feeling ( but maybe that‘s the idea) Set in Santiago , Chile. The story of a housekeeper and the family she works for. I didn‘t bail though, I wanted to find out what happened… and I was reading it on a train, so I was stuck with it and propelled forward. The first half was good. Maybe a So-So 👍🏻

BarbaraBB You have better books waiting for you 😀 8mo

Ruthiella I rarely bail too. I‘m always hoping there will be some payoff at the end…😬 8mo

LeahBergen I‘m like @Ruthiella , too. 😐 8mo

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Cathythoughts @BarbaraBB I do ! ♥️ 8mo

Cathythoughts @Ruthiella @LeahBergen I‘m pretty good to bail… 🙈 no problem to me. But, I kept going with this one and I‘m not entirely sure why …Anyway, I have a lot of promising books on my stack and I‘m very excited about that. 😘😘 8mo

squirrelbrain I was listening to this last week, but paused it for now due to the Tournament of Books longlist. I‘m sure I‘ll go back to it eventually. 8mo

Tamra Yay for that beautiful stack you have waiting! 8mo

Cathythoughts @squirrelbrain Oh good. I‘d love to hear another opinion 👍🏻 8mo

Cathythoughts @Tamra Yahoooo 😁 8mo

sarahbarnes I was curious about this one, but now I‘m not in a rush to get to it. 8mo

Cathythoughts @sarahbarnes I just didn‘t like the feelings it gave me especially in the second half.. but it was interesting too. 8mo

Tamra Oh, I‘m so glad to see I‘m not alone one this one! 😅 This definitely isn‘t a thriller or mystery. 3d

66 likes12 comments

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