Elena Knows - Wyrms.de

Paperback, 173 pages

Published July 12, 2021 by Charco Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-9993684-3-2

(2 reviews)

After Rita is found dead in a church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.

1 edition

Stephanie Jane reviewed Elena Knows by Frances Riddle

Good, but I wanted more

3 stars

Content warning 2nd paragraph alludes to the ending

Elena Knows came highly recommended to me so I was eager to read this novel both for its storyline and for its Argentine authorship. While I did appreciate several aspects of the book, I did rather too quickly lose my enthusiasm for it overall which was was a disappointment. Elena herself is certainly a memorable character and the portrayals of her fraught relationship with her daughter rang very true. However, I found that there wasn't enough narrative to keep me gripped and, while the repeated minutiae of Elena's experiences are no doubt the depressing reality for Parkinson's sufferers, I wanted more to happen outside of this.

I do feel heartless saying that as I did sympathise with Elena, but I thought there would be more to her quest than there actually is. That said, the eventual truth was a shattering revelation.

Catship reviewed Elena Knows by Frances Riddle

I like it

4 stars

I wasn't totally in the right mood for it but I liked a lot about it. It's very slow for a long while and then there's a moment when I realised it was going to get pretty heavy. I liked the way in which it got heavy.