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"With toiletries, hairbands, and notebooks in her bag, and at her mother's instruction, a nineteen-year-old girl leaves her parents' home and the seaside town she grew up in. Out the train window, Rafa sees the lit-up mountains and perfect trees-and the Olympic Hotel waiting for her perched above the small village of Strega. There, she and eight other girls receive the stiff black uniforms of seasonal workers and move into their shared dorm. But while they toil constantly to perform their role and prepare the hotel for guests, none arrive. Instead, they contort themselves daily to the expectations of their strict, matronly bosses without clear purpose and, in their spare moments, escape to the herb garden, confide in each other, and quickly find solace together. Finally, the hotel is filled with people for a wild and raucous party, only for one of the girls to disappear. What follows are deeper revelations about the myths we teach young women, what we raise them to expect from the world, and whether a gentler, more beautiful life is possible. In stimulating and uninhibited imagery, Johanne Lykke Holm builds a world laced with the supernatural, filled with the secrecy and potential energy of girls on the cusp of womanhood. An allegory for the societal rites and expectations of women and the violence we too easily allow, Strega builds like a spell that keeps exerting its powers long after reading"--… (more)
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User reviews
Holm’s style is gaunt, inscrutable, and deeply remote, despite the first person narration. The book is devised in a very literary fashion, extremely descriptive but ultimately enigmatic, forcing you to observe the character’s inner reflections from afar. The focus of the prose is sensory, with constant mention of taste, scent, the physical consciousness of touch. Holm thrusts you straight into the bones of the story, and finishes just as abruptly, leaving the reader reeling. Reading this novel feels like sinking into a hypnotic dream, brimming with sensory images and dark suggestions.
I listened to Milana Zilnik’s Notturni (Dreaming of Chopin) I & II while reading this book, and found that her classical crossover albums greatly enhanced the atmosphere and experience.
The atmosphere of Strega is very unique, almost claustrophobic. The reader shares the daily life of the young women, witnessing the work they do everyday, seemingly without any purpose as no guest ever comes . The days are calm, and peaceful, and the girls just enjoy each other’s company. Until something very dark happens. The reader never knows exactly what happened to the missing girl, but clues are left along the way.
Strega is a very slow novel. Johanne Lykke Holm takes her time to establish her background story, weaving a tale with gothic elements. I loved the slow pace of the story. It is a slow ride where you take the time to contemplate the landscapes. It is strange. Very strange. Full of esoteric elements. Certainly a deep read that stays with you afterwards, still wondering what exactly happened.