Amatka by Karin TidbeckMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amatka, by Karin Tidbeck, 2012
Name it! Mark it! Do not deviate!
Originally written in Swedish and translated to English in 2017, Amatka is a "soft" sci-fi novel that is "quiet," strange and has no clear ending. The story follows Vanya, who works for her city government of Essre. While on assignment to study hygiene products used in the city of Amatka, she falls in love with Nina and moves in with her.
Set in a world shaped by language, we quickly learn that things are not what they seem when Vanya's luggage melts into gloop when Vanya neglects it for too long, reciting the suitcase's name and physically inscribing it with the word "suitcase" to describe what it is. It's apparent the inhabitants of this world speak the names of things around them, calling on them to remain what they are and marking them for what they are.
Tidbeck's prose is easy to ingest and engenders the slow horror of a quiet atmosphere of slow decay, not much unlike the current state of society.
I rate this novel a 4.95 out of 5 stars.
#Amatka #KarinTidbeck #QueerLiterature #LGBTLiterature #Swedish #ScienceFiction
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