Hot Milk

I have been sleuthing my mother’s symptoms for as long as I can remember. If I see myself as an unwilling detective with a desire for justice, is her illness an unsolved crime? If so, who is the villain and who is the victim? Sofia, a young anthropologist, has spent much of her life trying to solve the mystery of her mother’s unexplainable illness. She is frustrated with Rose and her constant complaints, but utterly relieved to be called to abandon her own disappointing fledgling adult life. She and her mother travel to the searing, arid coast of southern Spain to see a famous consultant–their very last chance–in the hope that he might cure her unpredictable limb paralysis. But Dr. Gomez has strange methods that seem to have little to do with physical medicine, and as the treatment progresses, Sofia’s mother’s illness becomes increasingly baffling. Sofia’s role as detective–tracking her mother’s symptoms in an attempt to find the secret motivation for her pain–deepens as she discovers her own desires in this transient desert community. MY THOUGHTS: Sofia’s meandering ruminations lead us through Hot Milk , and sometimes we can flow along with her, and at other times, her ramblings are annoying and boring. At the heart of the story, however, is the conflicted relationship between Sofia and her mother Rose. Does Sofia seem too enmeshed with Rose? Does she feel guilty because Rose was left by Sofia’s father? What is the meaning of Rose’s strange symptoms that seem intermittent and almost imaginary? Then we realize that, with Rose at this new clinic in Spain, Sofia has an opportunity to go out on her own a bit and explore some of her hidden desires. She meets a strange young woman named Ingrid. Why does the somewhat pushy Ingrid fascinate Sofia so much? The fact of her aggressive behaviors that push and pull at Sofia take us through their “relationship,” and arouse some questions in Sofia about identity and desire. I liked this excerpt: “Am I self-destructive, or pathetically passive or reckless or just experimental, or am I a rigorous cultural anthropologist, or am I in love?” Reconnecting with her father in Greece turns into an unsatisfactory few days, after which Sofia must now return to Spain and her mother…and look at what is left in her life. Will her mother’s condition find a diagnosis? Will Sofia be able to plan her own life, free of her mother’s control? 4 stars.

I am a Deborah Levy fan. She can write one helluva story. The paperback was beautiful and undamaged, the story? One of her best. I saw the movie, realized I hadn't read the book, and was absolutely delighted with the story. If you have never read any of Ms. Levy's books, you are in for a treat. I cannot recommend HOT MILK enough. HAPPY READING!

The characters are odd and hard to sympathize with. I read it since it makes you curious about the outcome but not that much really happens. It leaves you with a sense of dread. My book club chose it and it may make for an interesting discussion. I look forward to our meeting.

This book has no merits to justify its place on the Booker shortlist. It is clumsily written with an unappealing first person but unfocused and inconsistent style. There is no plot to speak of, although there are constant frustrating hints that one might emerge. None of the characters is truly appealing, and along with the theme of personal failure and exploitation this makes for a dispiriting read. Perhaps most surprising is the core inconsistency in the first person narrator. She is meant to be highly educated, having almost achieved a Phd. Yet she thinks and speaks like an idiot. This is a mark of the author's basic failure to build a coherent narrative.

Deborah Levy’s sentences are so lyrical and sharp, you are constantly thinking while reading this book. Her protagonist asks questions that have no answers but that doesn’t make them less interesting. The lure of this novel is hard to describe or explain, so just read it and discover!

What a strange and wonderful book this was. The absurd, dreamlike narrative won't be for everyone, but it was most definitely for me. Of the four books on the Man Booker longlist that I've read so far, this is the one that rises above. Sofia is a young anthropology student who has spent her life taking care of her mother, Rose, who suffers from a mysterious and unexplainable illness that's arguably psychosomatic. The two of them move to a hot coastal community in Spain where Rose can attend a local clinic run by a peculiar doctor who may be her last hope. Throughout her life Sofia has struggled to forge an identity for herself, inextricably linked to her mother in an unhealthy bond, to the point where Sofia even begins to mirror some of Rose's symptoms. But while her mother is under the care of this new doctor, Sofia has the opportunity to detach and become her own person. What follows is a complex, provocative, unusual story about desire, sexuality and identity, as Sofia toes the fine line between independence and familial responsibility. Hot Milk is a dysfunctional family novel unlike any other. The prose is at once taut and mesmerizing, wry and powerful -- the kind that demands to be savored. This was my first time reading Deborah Levy, and it certainly won't be my last.

I have been pondering for days what to say about this book. It was such a weird, convoluted read. I should have related to Sophie. We are both 25, only children, studied anthropology...but she was such a weird, distant character that never felt real to me. The dialogue was strange and wooden and I often found myself asking "Who talks like this?!" But I was intrigued. I've been thinking about this book since I put it down, but I can't say if it was a good read or not. It was interesting, tangled, and I was compelled to finish it, but there were enough flaws that I hesitate to call it a good work of literature. I suppose I still don't really know what to say about it.

It is pretty enigmatic, as one reviewer has suggested. But it's also highly readable. Which is quite a feat to pull off. You may feel slightly baffled at times as to where it's all going, but, meanwhile, you can just luxuriate in the delightful prose and bide your time. I found Sophie, the first person protagonist, an engaging, thoughtful character - quirky too. The novel offers plenty of her poetic, personal observations that really shape and define her as an authentic individual. It's a beguiling voice in my opinion. There's an odd, subtly dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship underpinning the narrative. Which is okay, only I found the mother hard to fully imagine and believe. She's too sketchily drawn for such a curious character, but then she's a confounding presence in Sophie's life too - and it is Sophie's perspective we're getting, after all. I could easily read another Levy novel. This one's a great achievement.

Great sensitivity to explore the fraught relationship between a mother and her daughter- using powerful imagery and bringing the readers along in a transformative journey.

“My love for my mother is like an axe. It cuts very deep.” 25 year old Sofia has travelled to the Spanish coast with her hypochondriac mother, Rose, to treat her at the clinic of Dr. Gomez. Rose has a mysterious paralysis that manifests as per her whim. Perplexed and frustrated in equal measure, Sofia's trip is a last-ditch effort to diagnose her mother with an affliction. But is Sofia prepared for the consequence? When I finished 'Hot Milk', I got the feeling that I understood most of it but not all. I listened to a few podcasts where Levy discussed the book. There were plenty of references and allusions that went over my head. Once she had explained, I retrospectively appreciated the craft of this novel. I have found Levy's fiction to operate on a wavelength that's beyond the abilities of a casual reader, including myself. She writes as though she has connected the dots herself but doesn't wish to do the same for the reader. You can debate if she ought to but it runs the risk of dissuading the reader. Levy wrote that she wanted to give space in her book to a protagonist who was 25 but had very little figured out; who was willing to experiment; who was lost and scared to start her own life; who was, at once, frustrated by her mother's neediness but lost without her own identity of a carer to her mother. In a Goodreads review, a reader wrote that when she had met Levy for the book signing, Levy wrote in her copy of 'Hot Milk', "Is Sofia bold enough at the end?" And this question, when used as a North Star, can help structure your reading of the novel a great deal. Levy's writing is quite powerful, evocative, and full of imagery. It can sometimes leave you behind but if you have the patience to fill in the gaps, you should be good. My overall feeling about Levy's fiction is that it deserves a second read for me to truly get it. But if I have to read it twice, or more, to understand it well, does it mean the author didn't do her job well?

An exceptionally well written book with interesting characters. I give this four stars primarily for the challenging themes and concepts.

Nothing happens in this novel. If you enjoy random thought processes, characters coming in and out of a story without any purpose, random dialogue with zero action and zero plot, go ahead. Honestly the worst book I’ve read in a lonnnnnng time.