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The Voice in My Ear
The first work of fiction from award-winning poet Frances Leviston offers a frighteningly perceptive slice of contemporary womanhood
Ten women, all called Claire, are tangled up in complex power dynamics with their families, friends, and lovers. Though all are different ages, and leading different lives, each is haunted by the difficulty of living on her own terms, and by her capacity to harm and be harmed.
Claire is a teenaged babysitter left alone with a strange little girl and her imaginary friend. She is a woman trying to escape her elderly mother by employing an android carer. Claire is a young TV journalist wrecking her first big interview. Claire’s boyfriend discovers more than he bargains for when he begins to read her diary.
And no matter her age or background, Claire is living in the shadow of a monstrous mother.
With startling insight and understanding, Frances Leviston offers a frighteningly perceptive slice of contemporary womanhood. In forensic, indelible prose that is often bleakly funny, The Voice in My Ear reveals a brilliant new voice in fiction – and invites us to consider our own place in the relationships that define us.
Ten women, all called Claire, are tangled up in complex power dynamics with their families, friends, and lovers. Though all are different ages, and leading different lives, each is haunted by the difficulty of living on her own terms, and by her capacity to harm and be harmed.
Claire is a teenaged babysitter left alone with a strange little girl and her imaginary friend. She is a woman trying to escape her elderly mother by employing an android carer. Claire is a young TV journalist wrecking her first big interview. Claire’s boyfriend discovers more than he bargains for when he begins to read her diary.
And no matter her age or background, Claire is living in the shadow of a monstrous mother.
With startling insight and understanding, Frances Leviston offers a frighteningly perceptive slice of contemporary womanhood. In forensic, indelible prose that is often bleakly funny, The Voice in My Ear reveals a brilliant new voice in fiction – and invites us to consider our own place in the relationships that define us.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 19, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 15, 2020
I found the idea of The Voice in My Ear irresistible. It's a set of ten stories, all about women called Claire, which promises 'a frighteningly perceptive slice of contemporary womanhood'. The stories are of varying lengths; the style remains similar throughout, though a couple have speculative elements. We know the Claires are different people – not one woman at different stages of her life – because of the differences in their families, mainly the number and gender of siblings. The blurb says that all the Claires are 'living in the shadow of a monstrous mother'; I don't think this is demonstrably true of every story, but it's certainly a detail that pops up in a lot of them, as does the idea of Claire having had an inappropriate relationship with a teacher as a teenage girl.
Though there are no bad stories in the book, the three strongest are placed together, in the middle. In 'With Them Intercede for Us All', Claire #5 returns to an unnamed Greek island which she previously visited as a teenager. She wanders the now-deserted hotel she stayed in, lost in memories of what happened to her and her friend Jane there. The story is a poignant one, filled with nostalgia and pathos. The climax is, perhaps, not the reveal of that incident in the past, but the moment that Jane chooses to tell a different story and therefore severs her friendship with Claire, leaving her with nothing but guilt and bewilderment.
In 'Would You Rather', Claire #6 is an angry teenager babysitting a little girl, Elizabeth Harmer, who has a heart condition. Claire wants to invite a boy to the house; Elizabeth wants to play with her imaginary friend, Scarlet. The scene turns into a kind of chaotic comedy of errors in which everything goes wrong (Claire ends up watching Elizabeth's parents' homemade porn, getting the video stuck in the tape player, and possibly unintentionally poisoning Elizabeth, all just as the Harmers are returning home). But there's also an undercurrent of dread, an eerie figure lurking in the corners: 'I had the weirdest feeling then that Scarlet was in the room after all...' It gave me the same feeling as Hilary Mantel's 'Comma', one of my favourite short stories.
Best of the bunch is the thoroughly brilliant 'Muster's Puppets Presents...'. The protagonist is not Claire #7, but her mother Joan, who runs a B&B. The two have a difficult relationship, so Joan's preparations for a family dinner, at which she will meet Claire's new partner, are laden with apprehension. The dinner is a disaster. Amid the chaos, Joan is reminded of an odd episode from Claire's childhood, when she became obsessed with puppets and carried around a homemade one for weeks. The strangeness ramps up when, later that evening, a guest turns up with a puppet and insists on speaking through it... The story strikes just the right balance between funny and terrifying; it culminates in a completely indelible scene. It is also the strongest story in the book in terms of its portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship.
Leviston is also a poet, something that's often evident in the musicality of the language; there are some beautiful sentences and clever, amusing descriptions. I love this, for example: 'a bewildering, unnatural silence that had settled over Joan's head like one of those hoods you put on falcons'. And this: 'Tessa's was not a clean shyness. There was something furtive and greasy in it, something Joan didn't want to know.' (Both from 'Muster's Puppets Presents...')
I went into The Voice in My Ear assuming it would be a novel-in-stories or, to borrow Nina Allan's phrase, a 'fractured novel'. The fact of the main characters sharing a name can't fail to give this impression; furthermore, the blurb describes it as a 'work of fiction' rather than a story collection. So if there's a problem with the book, it's that no connection immediately presents itself. At first, I couldn't form any sense of a joined-up meaning from the stories. It was only when I skimmed back through it a second time that something began to emerge.
Though it's brief, the title (and first) story, 'The Voice in My Ear', might be the key. Claire #1 is a newsreader delivering a report that is to be her 'big break'. She's reporting on the suicide of a 15-year-old who had been in a romantic and sexual relationship with her physics teacher. During a panel discussion, Claire goes off-message and gets into a heated argument with an activist; the story ends as she appears to be cut off by producers (the 'voice in her ear'). This is a thorny topic, and the story didn't really convince me to take Claire's side; it gives the impression that Claire believes more blame lies with the girl's parents than with the teacher himself. I wonder, though, if this is the point. Claire is unable to judge the story objectively because of her own experience. Many of us might have a version of this in our own lives.
There's a lot to unstitch, and I don't think I could get my head around it all even if I read the stories ten times. I'm left with a thousand thoughts and some unanswered questions. (Why does the book end on such a negative note, with the perspective of Claire's deeply unpleasant boyfriend David in 'No Two Were E'er Wed'?) While its purpose might have eluded me, The Voice in My Ear is nevertheless fascinating. Recommended if you enjoy short stories with multiple meanings and a hell of a lot of texture.
I received an advance review copy of The Voice in My Ear from the publisher through NetGalley.
TinyLetter
Though there are no bad stories in the book, the three strongest are placed together, in the middle. In 'With Them Intercede for Us All', Claire #5 returns to an unnamed Greek island which she previously visited as a teenager. She wanders the now-deserted hotel she stayed in, lost in memories of what happened to her and her friend Jane there. The story is a poignant one, filled with nostalgia and pathos. The climax is, perhaps, not the reveal of that incident in the past, but the moment that Jane chooses to tell a different story and therefore severs her friendship with Claire, leaving her with nothing but guilt and bewilderment.
In 'Would You Rather', Claire #6 is an angry teenager babysitting a little girl, Elizabeth Harmer, who has a heart condition. Claire wants to invite a boy to the house; Elizabeth wants to play with her imaginary friend, Scarlet. The scene turns into a kind of chaotic comedy of errors in which everything goes wrong (Claire ends up watching Elizabeth's parents' homemade porn, getting the video stuck in the tape player, and possibly unintentionally poisoning Elizabeth, all just as the Harmers are returning home). But there's also an undercurrent of dread, an eerie figure lurking in the corners: 'I had the weirdest feeling then that Scarlet was in the room after all...' It gave me the same feeling as Hilary Mantel's 'Comma', one of my favourite short stories.
Best of the bunch is the thoroughly brilliant 'Muster's Puppets Presents...'. The protagonist is not Claire #7, but her mother Joan, who runs a B&B. The two have a difficult relationship, so Joan's preparations for a family dinner, at which she will meet Claire's new partner, are laden with apprehension. The dinner is a disaster. Amid the chaos, Joan is reminded of an odd episode from Claire's childhood, when she became obsessed with puppets and carried around a homemade one for weeks. The strangeness ramps up when, later that evening, a guest turns up with a puppet and insists on speaking through it... The story strikes just the right balance between funny and terrifying; it culminates in a completely indelible scene. It is also the strongest story in the book in terms of its portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship.
Leviston is also a poet, something that's often evident in the musicality of the language; there are some beautiful sentences and clever, amusing descriptions. I love this, for example: 'a bewildering, unnatural silence that had settled over Joan's head like one of those hoods you put on falcons'. And this: 'Tessa's was not a clean shyness. There was something furtive and greasy in it, something Joan didn't want to know.' (Both from 'Muster's Puppets Presents...')
I went into The Voice in My Ear assuming it would be a novel-in-stories or, to borrow Nina Allan's phrase, a 'fractured novel'. The fact of the main characters sharing a name can't fail to give this impression; furthermore, the blurb describes it as a 'work of fiction' rather than a story collection. So if there's a problem with the book, it's that no connection immediately presents itself. At first, I couldn't form any sense of a joined-up meaning from the stories. It was only when I skimmed back through it a second time that something began to emerge.
Though it's brief, the title (and first) story, 'The Voice in My Ear', might be the key. Claire #1 is a newsreader delivering a report that is to be her 'big break'. She's reporting on the suicide of a 15-year-old who had been in a romantic and sexual relationship with her physics teacher. During a panel discussion, Claire goes off-message and gets into a heated argument with an activist; the story ends as she appears to be cut off by producers (the 'voice in her ear'). This is a thorny topic, and the story didn't really convince me to take Claire's side; it gives the impression that Claire believes more blame lies with the girl's parents than with the teacher himself. I wonder, though, if this is the point. Claire is unable to judge the story objectively because of her own experience. Many of us might have a version of this in our own lives.
There's a lot to unstitch, and I don't think I could get my head around it all even if I read the stories ten times. I'm left with a thousand thoughts and some unanswered questions. (Why does the book end on such a negative note, with the perspective of Claire's deeply unpleasant boyfriend David in 'No Two Were E'er Wed'?) While its purpose might have eluded me, The Voice in My Ear is nevertheless fascinating. Recommended if you enjoy short stories with multiple meanings and a hell of a lot of texture.
I received an advance review copy of The Voice in My Ear from the publisher through NetGalley.
TinyLetter
January 12, 2022
Dieci racconti : tutte le protagoniste si chiamano Claire e sono ragazze sull’orlo di una crisi di nervi, o semplicemente donne immerse nella vita quotidiana, dove però non sempre i conti tornano (anzi, forse mai). Frammenti che esplorano in modo analitico e originale le pieghe dell’esistenza, quando il gioco di luci e ombre nutre l’immaginario e solleva dilemmi senza mai offrire soluzioni.
1. La voce dentro - La prima Claire è una giornalista che va in TV per il suo primo servizio importante: intervista una rappresentante del comitato genitori della scuola superiore contro un caso di abuso sessuale piuttosto scabroso di un insegnante verso un’allieva. Ma le domande poste da Claire alla genitrice sollevano altre questioni, mostrano una diversa e complementare prospettiva e sono piuttosto scomode. Intanto Claire ignora la voce dalla regia che insistentemente le dice di smetterla. (Forse è la sua voce dentro a guidarla davvero).
2. Sangallo - Una figlia racconta in prima persona il tentativo di emanciparsi dalla madre confezionando da sola un vestito da damigella in pizzo sangallo per le nozze dell’ odiata cugina… e ovviamente incontra una serie di difficoltà. “Mentre lei si dedicava le solite faccende al piano di sotto, io giacevo ribelle e infelice nella camera della mia adolescenza, sotto lo stesso soffitto che avevo fissato per anni, abbozzando progetti che appassivano e morivano davanti alla sua esistenza abitudinaria”.
3. Patience - Claire è una giovane donna che accudisce una madre caratterizzata da un plateale narcisismo. Deve assentarsi per lavoro e assume una badante robot dal significativo nome di Patience, del tutto simile a un essere umano, che si rivela perfettamente adeguata al suo ruolo.
4. L’uomo della camera numero 6 - Un uomo vestito di tutto punto è disteso sul letto della camera di una locanda, la figlia della proprietaria gli porta un whisky. La ragazza osserva: “Aveva un viso molle, da rospo, i capelli grigi avevano bisogno di una spuntatina.” Lui sembra immerso nella desolazione interiore, cerca di trattenerla per un po’ chiacchierando con lei e la convince a provare il suo profumo.
5. Insieme con loro intercedi per tutti noi - Claire torna nell’isola greca dove era stata a quindici anni con l’amica Jane (“Claire un disastro, Jane magnifica”) e cerca di ripercorrere con la memoria quello che era accaduto allora, quando entrambe erano innamorate di un giovane di nome Kostas .
6. Le due possibilità - La narratrice è una ragazza adolescente che lavora come babysitter e intanto è alle prese con il primo innamoramento e le relative pulsioni sessuali, accese dalla scoperta di certe videocassette in casa dei suoi datori di lavoro. Le due possibilità sono riferite a un gioco fatto a scuola in cui viene posto un dilemma e l’interlocutore deve decidere tra due alternative entrambe tremende.
7. Muster e i suoi burattini presentano - Proveniente da un lontano ricordo, riacceso dalla visita di Claire al b&b dei genitori, il teatro dei burattini si anima in modo spaventosamente surreale nella mente di Joan, la madre di Claire. “Non era questa la follia? Credere in una versione degli eventi che non coincide con le versioni degli altri?”
8. Una fonte - Claire, giovane universitaria, partecipa al concorso per diventare direttrice annuale del giornale della scuola con un rischioso articolo di denuncia sulle molestie sessuali degli studenti verso le ragazze che puliscono le loro stanze. Così scopre che questa è una pratica tacitamente subita e accettata da tutti.
9. Plight - Claire ragiona sulla sua famiglia: il fratello maggiore perbene Columm e lo scapestrato Dean. Lei sta nel mezzo, ma tutti e tre hanno dei problemi. Plight è il nome di una installazione artistica e significa “situazione critica”: quella della loro famiglia, appunto.
10. Non si sposarono mai - David trova il diario di Claire sotto il materasso; lei descrive le sue varie relazioni sessuali estreme e lui metodicamente continua a leggerlo riflettendo su di lei. A poco a poco la lettura del diario si sostituisce al suo rapporto reale con la ragazza.
1. La voce dentro - La prima Claire è una giornalista che va in TV per il suo primo servizio importante: intervista una rappresentante del comitato genitori della scuola superiore contro un caso di abuso sessuale piuttosto scabroso di un insegnante verso un’allieva. Ma le domande poste da Claire alla genitrice sollevano altre questioni, mostrano una diversa e complementare prospettiva e sono piuttosto scomode. Intanto Claire ignora la voce dalla regia che insistentemente le dice di smetterla. (Forse è la sua voce dentro a guidarla davvero).
2. Sangallo - Una figlia racconta in prima persona il tentativo di emanciparsi dalla madre confezionando da sola un vestito da damigella in pizzo sangallo per le nozze dell’ odiata cugina… e ovviamente incontra una serie di difficoltà. “Mentre lei si dedicava le solite faccende al piano di sotto, io giacevo ribelle e infelice nella camera della mia adolescenza, sotto lo stesso soffitto che avevo fissato per anni, abbozzando progetti che appassivano e morivano davanti alla sua esistenza abitudinaria”.
3. Patience - Claire è una giovane donna che accudisce una madre caratterizzata da un plateale narcisismo. Deve assentarsi per lavoro e assume una badante robot dal significativo nome di Patience, del tutto simile a un essere umano, che si rivela perfettamente adeguata al suo ruolo.
4. L’uomo della camera numero 6 - Un uomo vestito di tutto punto è disteso sul letto della camera di una locanda, la figlia della proprietaria gli porta un whisky. La ragazza osserva: “Aveva un viso molle, da rospo, i capelli grigi avevano bisogno di una spuntatina.” Lui sembra immerso nella desolazione interiore, cerca di trattenerla per un po’ chiacchierando con lei e la convince a provare il suo profumo.
5. Insieme con loro intercedi per tutti noi - Claire torna nell’isola greca dove era stata a quindici anni con l’amica Jane (“Claire un disastro, Jane magnifica”) e cerca di ripercorrere con la memoria quello che era accaduto allora, quando entrambe erano innamorate di un giovane di nome Kostas .
6. Le due possibilità - La narratrice è una ragazza adolescente che lavora come babysitter e intanto è alle prese con il primo innamoramento e le relative pulsioni sessuali, accese dalla scoperta di certe videocassette in casa dei suoi datori di lavoro. Le due possibilità sono riferite a un gioco fatto a scuola in cui viene posto un dilemma e l’interlocutore deve decidere tra due alternative entrambe tremende.
7. Muster e i suoi burattini presentano - Proveniente da un lontano ricordo, riacceso dalla visita di Claire al b&b dei genitori, il teatro dei burattini si anima in modo spaventosamente surreale nella mente di Joan, la madre di Claire. “Non era questa la follia? Credere in una versione degli eventi che non coincide con le versioni degli altri?”
8. Una fonte - Claire, giovane universitaria, partecipa al concorso per diventare direttrice annuale del giornale della scuola con un rischioso articolo di denuncia sulle molestie sessuali degli studenti verso le ragazze che puliscono le loro stanze. Così scopre che questa è una pratica tacitamente subita e accettata da tutti.
9. Plight - Claire ragiona sulla sua famiglia: il fratello maggiore perbene Columm e lo scapestrato Dean. Lei sta nel mezzo, ma tutti e tre hanno dei problemi. Plight è il nome di una installazione artistica e significa “situazione critica”: quella della loro famiglia, appunto.
10. Non si sposarono mai - David trova il diario di Claire sotto il materasso; lei descrive le sue varie relazioni sessuali estreme e lui metodicamente continua a leggerlo riflettendo su di lei. A poco a poco la lettura del diario si sostituisce al suo rapporto reale con la ragazza.
April 9, 2024
I need the final story to be the length of the whole book I’d eat that shit up
February 7, 2025
Very impressive collection of stories about edgy/deviant sex, prickly family relations, growing up. Always a desire to ruin everything or send it off course. The writer’s a poet and it shows.
April 11, 2020
The Voice in My Ear is a collection of stories about ten women called Claire, all with different ages and relationships. The stories are all distinct, but also have connecting themes (and the connecting name) which make it the kind of story collection that feels like a complete whole rather than stories put together. Relationships and mothers recur throughout the stories, which are mostly slices of contemporary life (though there is one about an android).
Some of the stories feel more like snapshots that separate stories, and generally the collection feels like you are moving between each Claire rather than having distinct start and end points for each. The writing draws you in and is easily readable, and the stories offer a sometimes bleak and unsettling look at different women's lives. From the blurb I had expected more of a connection, or maybe more of a sense of an overall meaning or resolution, but if you go in expecting slightly linked short stories it'll make more sense.
Some of the stories feel more like snapshots that separate stories, and generally the collection feels like you are moving between each Claire rather than having distinct start and end points for each. The writing draws you in and is easily readable, and the stories offer a sometimes bleak and unsettling look at different women's lives. From the blurb I had expected more of a connection, or maybe more of a sense of an overall meaning or resolution, but if you go in expecting slightly linked short stories it'll make more sense.
February 23, 2021
This is one of the strongest single-author collections I've read in a while. I very rarely tear through short story collections, but I could not put this one down.
At the center of each story is a character called Claire. As someone who was raised in northern England by a working class family, a lot of these vignettes were incredibly familiar. The resentment, the conversations conducted almost entirely through sneers and passive aggressive huffs, the misogyny, it's all there.
The title opening story, The Voice in my Ear, is a hugely strong start. A young newscaster (Claire) gets her big break on TV through a discussion about abusive teachers. I adored the ending, so clever.
I've just realized as I write this that the story is linked to one later in the book. The layers of brilliance in this book just keep revealing themselves.
Another favorite of mine was Patience, a story about a woman (Claire) hires a "robot" carer for her mother. Again, a gorgeous, clever ending.
Muster's Puppets Presents is another one that was much too true to life, about parents underestimating and undermining their adult children.
I'm looking back over my notes on these stories, and they're all fantastic. I think the stories just spoke to my very specific experiences, and captured a mood so well. Wonderful, I loved it. Amazing writing, go and pick it up.
At the center of each story is a character called Claire. As someone who was raised in northern England by a working class family, a lot of these vignettes were incredibly familiar. The resentment, the conversations conducted almost entirely through sneers and passive aggressive huffs, the misogyny, it's all there.
The title opening story, The Voice in my Ear, is a hugely strong start. A young newscaster (Claire) gets her big break on TV through a discussion about abusive teachers. I adored the ending, so clever.
I've just realized as I write this that the story is linked to one later in the book. The layers of brilliance in this book just keep revealing themselves.
Another favorite of mine was Patience, a story about a woman (Claire) hires a "robot" carer for her mother. Again, a gorgeous, clever ending.
Muster's Puppets Presents is another one that was much too true to life, about parents underestimating and undermining their adult children.
I'm looking back over my notes on these stories, and they're all fantastic. I think the stories just spoke to my very specific experiences, and captured a mood so well. Wonderful, I loved it. Amazing writing, go and pick it up.
Read
March 17, 2023I barely made it to page 100 before giving up, so I’m not giving this book a rating. The misunderstanding was partly my fault. I rarely read the info on the back cover of a book before I read the book, because I don’t want to see spoilers. Therefore I didn’t catch that these were short stories. Why? Because Leviston gave the lead character the same name in each story: Claire. I wasn’t caring much for Claire in any of the stories. Still, trying to fit jigsaw pieces into the wrong puzzle isn’t productive or fun.
Story three is named “Patience” for the patient robot who tends Claire’s frail, elderly mom while Claire’s on a business trip. She was my favorite character in the parts I finished. I assume the author had some good reason for creating so many Claires, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out.
Story three is named “Patience” for the patient robot who tends Claire’s frail, elderly mom while Claire’s on a business trip. She was my favorite character in the parts I finished. I assume the author had some good reason for creating so many Claires, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out.
July 28, 2020
I absolutely loved this. It is the kind of fiction that catches you out, scraping sharp fingernails into many unspoken emotions of women (10 of them, all called Claire!) attempting to live their own version of life. All with "difficult" mothers in a variety of guises, but all very familiar. Dug up memories of a variety of uncomfortable, unacknowledged feelings in myself.
The writing is so sharp yet encapsulates a whole rainbow of interpretation/nuance. A tidal wave of angry daughters showing their "damage" through the way they are trying to live, no whiff of the anodyne. The sheen of wilful malevolence obliquely caresses each Claire as only a poet can successfully do.
The writing is so sharp yet encapsulates a whole rainbow of interpretation/nuance. A tidal wave of angry daughters showing their "damage" through the way they are trying to live, no whiff of the anodyne. The sheen of wilful malevolence obliquely caresses each Claire as only a poet can successfully do.
September 29, 2020
On the whole, pretty good. I like Leviston's poetry a lot and her voice carries through into her prose. Though the stories within vary a little in quality, I don't think that any are subpar.
The strongest stories are the ones in which the character develop is nailed and the dramatic climax is very much "real". Broderie Anglaise is a highlight. I also particularly enjoyed With Them Intercede For Us All and A Source.
(Mild spoiler warning)There are some stories which dip quite unexpectedly into the supernatural and bizarre. Patience is an example of this done quite well, whereas Muster's Puppets Presents... falls into almost comic-horror.
Bearing in mind how well characterisation is done in places (Jacqueline in Patience, Claire's boyfriend Mark, who doesn't stick around for long), a low point is Would You Rather. I felt I hardly got to know the main players before a whirlwind of confusing things carry the story.
The strongest stories are the ones in which the character develop is nailed and the dramatic climax is very much "real". Broderie Anglaise is a highlight. I also particularly enjoyed With Them Intercede For Us All and A Source.
(Mild spoiler warning)There are some stories which dip quite unexpectedly into the supernatural and bizarre. Patience is an example of this done quite well, whereas Muster's Puppets Presents... falls into almost comic-horror.
Bearing in mind how well characterisation is done in places (Jacqueline in Patience, Claire's boyfriend Mark, who doesn't stick around for long), a low point is Would You Rather. I felt I hardly got to know the main players before a whirlwind of confusing things carry the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 7, 2022
It rarely happens that I find a short story collection in which I want to finish every single story, but this one managed to do it. I think the author chose such an unusual mix of uncanny within mundane settings that it works just perfectly to make you want more. The characters are sketched just enough for you to be curious but do not lack any crucial information that would prevent you from being interested. My two favourite stories would probably be "Patience" and "No Two Were E'er Wed". I would definitely read whole novels based on the majority of the short stories.
Thank you NetGalley UK for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you NetGalley UK for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 10, 2020
Prose was stunning.
December 1, 2021
🎖Per svariati motivi, questo è un libro che mi ha accompagnata nell'ultimo mese. Questo non perché "La voce dentro" sia un libro pesante, ma proprio perché al contrario volevo leggere ogni racconto nel momento giusto e con l'umore giusto per affrontarlo e comprenderlo.
🧩 Spesso, poco prima di aprire il libro, mi chiedevo "Chissà cosa succederà alla Claire di oggi?", perché "La voce dentro" è, appunto, una raccolta di dieci racconti che presentano come protagonista sempre una donna di nome Claire. Mi sono chiesta più volte il motivo di questa scelta. La risposta che mi sono data è che "La voce dentro" sia in realtà un puzzle che ha come scopo quello di descrivere la condizione della donna contemporanea, intrappolata in relazioni tossiche - che possono essere sia familiari come in "Patience", con una madre narcisista ed egoista, sia sentimentali, come in "Muster e i suoi burattini presentano..." e in "Non si sposarono mai" - e in ambienti ancora più tossici, come quello accademico in cui il maschilismo è prepotente e ancora sfacciatamente presente.
👩🦰Le varie Claire sono tutte così: lontane dalla narrazione della donna perfetta che è disponibile sessualmente, figlia amorevole e madre perfetta, ma sono estremamente - e finalmente - reali. Tuttavia, non bisogna cadere nell'errore di pensare che Leviston incentri su un aspetto preciso della vita delle sue Claire la sua narrazione: al contrario, ogni racconto risulta essere perfettamente tridimensionale; ogni Claire ha un contesto in cui è perfettamente intercalata, un ambiente che permette all'autrice di scandagliare l'inquietudine delle sue protagoniste a 360°. L'utilizzo della lingua - graffiante, spigliata, viscerale - è magistrale e perfettamente coerente con le varie ambientazioni. Ho trovato anche estremamente appetibile come Leviston sia riuscita a mischiare e piegare i vari generi letterari - passando dal grottesco all'horror alla fantascienza - rendendola un'autrice non solo acuta, ma anche eclettica.
🤩Per me "La voce dentro" è un esperimento assolutamente riuscito che mi sento di consigliarvi senza se e senza ma.
Trovate la recensione completa qui: https://squittiitralepagine.wordpress...
🧩 Spesso, poco prima di aprire il libro, mi chiedevo "Chissà cosa succederà alla Claire di oggi?", perché "La voce dentro" è, appunto, una raccolta di dieci racconti che presentano come protagonista sempre una donna di nome Claire. Mi sono chiesta più volte il motivo di questa scelta. La risposta che mi sono data è che "La voce dentro" sia in realtà un puzzle che ha come scopo quello di descrivere la condizione della donna contemporanea, intrappolata in relazioni tossiche - che possono essere sia familiari come in "Patience", con una madre narcisista ed egoista, sia sentimentali, come in "Muster e i suoi burattini presentano..." e in "Non si sposarono mai" - e in ambienti ancora più tossici, come quello accademico in cui il maschilismo è prepotente e ancora sfacciatamente presente.
👩🦰Le varie Claire sono tutte così: lontane dalla narrazione della donna perfetta che è disponibile sessualmente, figlia amorevole e madre perfetta, ma sono estremamente - e finalmente - reali. Tuttavia, non bisogna cadere nell'errore di pensare che Leviston incentri su un aspetto preciso della vita delle sue Claire la sua narrazione: al contrario, ogni racconto risulta essere perfettamente tridimensionale; ogni Claire ha un contesto in cui è perfettamente intercalata, un ambiente che permette all'autrice di scandagliare l'inquietudine delle sue protagoniste a 360°. L'utilizzo della lingua - graffiante, spigliata, viscerale - è magistrale e perfettamente coerente con le varie ambientazioni. Ho trovato anche estremamente appetibile come Leviston sia riuscita a mischiare e piegare i vari generi letterari - passando dal grottesco all'horror alla fantascienza - rendendola un'autrice non solo acuta, ma anche eclettica.
🤩Per me "La voce dentro" è un esperimento assolutamente riuscito che mi sento di consigliarvi senza se e senza ma.
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December 19, 2022
L'autrice in questa raccolta di racconti spazia con stili diversi, spazi diversi e tempi diversi. Alcuni racconti vengono narrati in prima persona mentre altri in terza; alcuni possono essere collocati in uno spazio presente, altri necessariamente in un qualche tipo di futuro un po' alla "Black Mirror". Possono essere identificati tuttavia spazi e temi ricorrenti, tra questi cito il conflitto con la madre, motore di diversi racconti o il conflitto con entrambi i genitori dove però il padre assume quasi sempre un ruolo più marginale e direi remissivo. Emerge quasi sempre marcatamente una critica ai genitori per non essere riusciti a comportarsi da tali e di essere in un certo senso la causa delle disgrazie dei figli. Ricorrente è anche il tema dell'abuso sessuale e dell'abuso sessuale sui minori. Tra i luoghi ricorrenti ci sono le librerie, un bar (l'Union), l'università e l'ambiente universitario decisamente non dipinto in maniera positiva. E ovviamente ricorrente è il nome della protagonista della storia, Claire. È sicuramente stata una lettura carina ma sono sincera non mi ha convita del tutto e non mi è rimasto molto. Il racconto con i burattini è in assoluto quello che mi ha inquietato maggiormente ed è il racconto in cui il titolo prende completamente significato. Voglio leggere altro di questa autrice che trovo interessante
January 21, 2025
“The prospect of refusing everything she offered, everything, for the rest of our lives, rose in front of me like the ghost of someone I hadn’t even known was dead; the vision was far more frightening than the anger I felt.” In Frances Leviston’s collection of ten short stories, The Voice in My Ear, ten women called Claire navigate modern life. The Claires are busy: Claire is a TV journalist asking too many questions, a bridesmaid covertly crafting her own dress, a researcher who hires an AI to care for her elderly, ailing mother. Claire pours an unsettling drink for an infirm man; Claire is in Greece on two separate occasions, a coming-of-age then a prayer made half-heartedly to the unknown. Claire is not a very good babysitter/person, evidenced by accidentally poisoning a child through negligence. Claire confronts her mother, prompting a very deeply unsettling puppet-related waking nightmare. Claire is an unethical student journalist; she thinks of felt while navigating familial death wishes; she writes a sexual history down in a private notebook, obsessed over by her sexually frustrated boyfriend. So many intense and overbearing mothers, towering over Claire’s emotional state — toxic relationships, hard engagement with the world. Leviston writes each Claire and story with unnerving grace, a vivid sense of the emotional landscape.
April 7, 2021
I was really quite looking forward to this, even though I'd never heard of Leviston before, but the press reviews all seemed very positive and I liked the idea of someone with the same name (Claire) featuring in every story. Sadly disappointment set in by the lengthy third story Patience which in narrative terms felt like a bird doing its best to take off but never leaving the ground. A fair few of the other tales had that"stuck" feeling as well as in most cases Levinson was "showing" and never properly "telling". Way too much verbiage about inner states of mind which no matter how authoritative it sounded didn't really get me into the heads of most of the characters. The final story No Two Were 'Ere Wed (a title bizarre enough in itself) veers absurdly between porn-worthy diary entries and the endless interior musings of the diarist's boyfriend. Would You Rather fared best for me with its frazzled teenage baby-sitter having a scary time looking after a damaged child, which at least made a change from often academic leaning women leading fragmenting lives in occasionally pretty overwritten prose. Maybe I'll try some of Levinson's poetry - after all she's won a few prizes - in case it's my fault for not getting what she's about.
April 12, 2021
I struggled with this book, not gonna lie! Not that it wasn't good, because it was, I just wasn't as engaged with it as I had hoped to be. I thought the representations of the different relationships between Mothers and Daughters were interesting and showed how diverse and yet toxic they can be. It certainly made me think about my own relationship with my Mum and my relationship with my Son; the push and pull of power and control, the intertwined relationships across time and how they change... lots of themes worth contemplating.
It left me feeling rather downhearted and that it seems as Mothers we are a bit doomed in some respects. I think this is probably just where I'm at as a person and in no way a reflection on the writing, form, structure etc. Frances is clearly a talented writer with a lot of insight. The last story left me reeling. As someone who writes diaries and have done since I was 13, I was furious and so many unanswered questions about their relationship. But I think it brought a lot of tacit issues to the fore about how this man (some men) view women... nicely done.
It got me thinking did this book. This is a good thing but I wouldn't say it was enjoyable... and not that all books have to be!
It left me feeling rather downhearted and that it seems as Mothers we are a bit doomed in some respects. I think this is probably just where I'm at as a person and in no way a reflection on the writing, form, structure etc. Frances is clearly a talented writer with a lot of insight. The last story left me reeling. As someone who writes diaries and have done since I was 13, I was furious and so many unanswered questions about their relationship. But I think it brought a lot of tacit issues to the fore about how this man (some men) view women... nicely done.
It got me thinking did this book. This is a good thing but I wouldn't say it was enjoyable... and not that all books have to be!
November 29, 2021
Le dieci protagoniste di questo romanzo in quadri si chiamano tutte Claire. Hanno età e vite diverse, ma le loro storie costruiscono il ritratto di un’unica donna riflessa in uno specchio frantumato.
In questi suoi dieci brevi racconti Frances Leviston è riuscirà ad analizzare magistralmente la condizione femminile dei nostri giorni. La sua è una lente d’ingrandimento puntata sulla donna -una, nessuna e centomila- in grado di far emergere ogni difetto, ogni sbavatura.
“La voce dentro” è una raccolta di inquietudini, di errori, di rapporti familiari e sentimentali sbilanciati e alla deriva.
“La voce dentro” di Frances Leviston è in grado di eludere la struttura narrativa che la caratterizza, ossia la raccolta di racconti, e crea un trait d’union tra le diverse storie.
Potete leggere la recensione completa sul blog (link in bio).
In questi suoi dieci brevi racconti Frances Leviston è riuscirà ad analizzare magistralmente la condizione femminile dei nostri giorni. La sua è una lente d’ingrandimento puntata sulla donna -una, nessuna e centomila- in grado di far emergere ogni difetto, ogni sbavatura.
“La voce dentro” è una raccolta di inquietudini, di errori, di rapporti familiari e sentimentali sbilanciati e alla deriva.
“La voce dentro” di Frances Leviston è in grado di eludere la struttura narrativa che la caratterizza, ossia la raccolta di racconti, e crea un trait d’union tra le diverse storie.
Potete leggere la recensione completa sul blog (link in bio).
October 3, 2023
There are some absolutely stellar bits in this collection - the short story about the puppets will be swimming around in my head for months. I think for me though, it had peaks and troughs, stories worth savouring and stories I had to stumble through. There are really interesting, evocative explorations of power dynamics, familial relationships and complex interpersonal happenings, but there is this overarching sense of doom and despair that smothers each narrative. In some stories it presses down on the prose until it forms a dark, uncanny, luxurious treacle, and in others it draws bleak empty landscapes that never seem to end. The depression fog over this book was probably a bit much for me at this particular moment in time. Still: worth a look if you have the stamina and the tolerance for quite a few mentions of grooming, exploitation and weird BDSM relationships.
December 27, 2022
Actually finished this like 2 days ago but couldn’t update bc my internet was POO! I loved this. It was surprisingly cohesive and very atmospheric. Some stories, or Claires, were stronger than others, yes, but it was still overall amazing. Some chapters especially struck me (I listened to this on audio so forgive me for not remembering the chapter names). I think the way each theme managed to draw on the overall theme, this being the complexities of womanhood, was fantastic. I can’t tell if my enjoyment is derived of airport boredom, but I’d been liking it even before then so perhaps the rating is warranted. I think… I think I’d like to but the physical version of this. It strikes me as something that will get better with age and as I ponder about it.
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October 10, 2020Beautifully written. Totally depressing. I thought it was a novel* with an interesting premise, actually it's thematically linked short stories, not a format I usually go for unless it's Kate Atkinson or Alice Munro.
*not the book's fault, I often don't take in more from the blurb than a vague idea that I might like it, and in this case I've read and liked Leviston's poetry. There's still a regrettable tendency among copywriters of confusing the plot with the hook.
*not the book's fault, I often don't take in more from the blurb than a vague idea that I might like it, and in this case I've read and liked Leviston's poetry. There's still a regrettable tendency among copywriters of confusing the plot with the hook.
July 6, 2022
A dark set of short stories in which all the main protagonists are called Claire. Maybe one or two of the stories overlapped/referred to the same characters; but one couldn't be sure. At the heart of each story is a dysfunctional relationship, usually between a mother and a daughter. These stories are a little disturbing but well written and each one is almost instantly engaging. Pretty good really.
October 5, 2020
***3/4
The many voices of Claire. I don't particularly like reading collections of stories, but the protagonist of each story had the same name, which intrigued me. I was not deceived. Some of the stories are outright weird, others just painful, but they all are an engaging read.
The many voices of Claire. I don't particularly like reading collections of stories, but the protagonist of each story had the same name, which intrigued me. I was not deceived. Some of the stories are outright weird, others just painful, but they all are an engaging read.
February 21, 2021
I loved the idea of short stories.. all with a different thread and all really quite interesting. The only drawback on this one was listening as an audiobook. The authors voice didn’t really take on a different tone for the different stories and some blended together.
Otherwise? Quite interesting
Otherwise? Quite interesting
May 19, 2020
An interesting selection . Some better than others but all worth reading . The problem I have with short stories is that they leave you wanting more .
July 5, 2021
Some really good stories, but the last few were disappointing.
April 29, 2022
I found this book to be amazing ...so well written , I loved the way the last chapter especially was written!!!
Definitely deserve more recognition
Definitely deserve more recognition
October 22, 2022
Like a curate's egg - good in parts
August 5, 2023
Had no sense
April 3, 2025
the good weird!
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