2018/58: Bottled Goods -- Sophie van Llewyn

The other teachers slip by her into the break room. They sip their cold coffees in silence, their faces like cassettes with their tape pulled out, unwinding every bit of conversation they had with her in the past few years. [loc. 727]

A short, unnnerving book (novella-length) set in Communist Romania during Ceaușescu's regime. Alina is a schoolteacher who has, according to her mother, married beneath herself. Worse, her husband Liviu's brother went 'on holiday' and never came back. Already under suspicion, Alina stacks the odds against herself by failing to report a pupil's possession of a contraband magazine. All might yet be well (despite the menacing Tuesday-afternoon visits of 'the man from the Secret Service'): but Alina's mother is a good Communist, and thoroughly disapproves of her daughter's choices. So Alina, in desperation, turns to her aunt Theresa, the wife of a powerful politician and a practitioner of the old ways.

Themes of escape and imprisonment thread through Bottled Goods. At the heart of the story are the three women, each trying to gain and keep control or power, each trying to make meaningful choices. The totalitarian regime, and the ways in which it stifles Alina and Lviu's marriage, is depicted in scenes that are both mundane and nightmarish (there are some unpleasant chapters dealing with assault and abuse), and the magical-realist elements are told in an equally matter-of-fact way.

Bottled Goods is composed of many short chapters (some of which have been published independently, as flash fiction), alternating between Alina's first-person viewpoint and a third-person voice. There are chapters in the form of lists ('How to Attract (Unwanted) Attention from the Communist Authorities'; 'A Comprehensive, but Not Exhaustive List of Reasons for Asking for an Italian Visa') and letters ('Dear Father Frost'; 'Postcards to my Mother'). An unnerving depiction of a repressive regime and the weight it brings to bear on every aspect of life: a story about hope, and plans, and lies well-meant and otherwise.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in return for an honest review!