Book Review: Ordinary Hazards by Anna Bruno

Oh my goodness but this was a devastatingly beautiful book. I had no idea, for the longest time, where exactly things were going – it wasn’t a bad thing though, because I could tell we were on a journey somewhere, I just wasn’t entirely sure where, and the writing was so gorgeous that I was more than happy to go along for the ride… when we finally arrived it was startling and stunning and I literally could not turn pages fast enough to see where the train wreck would take me next.

This is a story about pain and survival and the families we make for ourselves – the writing is astonishingly good and the emotion is heartbreakingly real. From devastation to delight, every emotional aspect covered in this book resonated like a gong had been struck next to my head… I must have highlighted descriptions of feelings and turns of phrase every five pages – Bruno is a master at the manipulation of language to bare the naked desperation of emotional struggle without ever feeling maudlin or overdrawn.

The book was a marvelous, haunting, painful delight of a read and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.