This novella was weirdly sexual given the subject matter. It lacked direction, leaving me waiting for something interesting to happen, only for it to end abruptly. The afterword helped me make sense of what I had read, but overall, I wouldn't recommend it. ( )

Pochi difetti, in un romanzo, sono gravi come quando leggi l'ultima pagina e ti domandi: "E quindi?" A dispetto delle recensioni entusiastiche, "Le mani piccole" non convince per una serie di motivi.
Il tema della crudeltà infantile di per sé è poco originale, ma pazienza: non è detto che occorra per forza essere innovativi. Quello che qui manca però è l'analisi dei motori interiori di questa crudeltà. Viene solo descritta con lucida e quasi asettica penna, senza che venga ben delineato il percorso psicologico dei personaggi, che resta anzi su un piano vago. Ci sono passaggi di una durezza gratuita e anche l'erotismo vagamente pedofilo nell'ultima parte non aggiunge reale motivazione all'agire dei personaggi.
Si può tranquillamente non leggere, con buona pace di Mario Vargas Llosa. ( )

This novella is beautifully written in a hypnotic and compulsive rhythm that almost compels me to like it, but in spite of its craft it is, as a story, repulsive and ultimately meaningless.

I got to the end asking myself: ok, if I think this story so questionable, then who has written a better book with a similar theme? And I came up with [b:Loving Sabotage|71460|Loving Sabotage|Amélie Nothomb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1170779652s/71460.jpg|73063] by [a:Amélie Nothomb|40416|Amélie Nothomb|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1457300466p2/40416.jpg]. ( )

Such Small Hands

by Andres Barba
2008
Transit Books

3.5/5.0

Some parts of this book are magical. So well written and entrancing, you do not notice itś what is not obviously said that draws your attention and has the most significance.

Yet, you don´t really notice it until the end, like magic or slight of hand. This is a strong story told very literally, that makes you feel without telling you how anyone feels.

The story is about a young girl, Marina, who is put into an orphanage following a car accident she was involved in that killed both her parents. She survived, always carrying a doll her parents gave her. She is different. She avoids interacting with the other girls at the orphanage, and is ridiculed, excluded and bullied. One day the mean girls take her doll and bury it in the schoolyard. Marina is not a girl who shows emotion. Marina is not a girl who reacts at all. She slowly convinces the bullies to play a game with her at night. Marina would pick one girl every night to be her doll. A doll she could pose in any position. A doll she could touch, however she wanted. A doll she could hold, if she wanted. A doll she could dress, in whatever she wanted. The girls allowed Marina to play her night time games, but they continued to bully her and exclude her during the day.

You decide.

A hard one to read. But a great read. ( )

I travel a lot by train and have this thing about looking at what people are reading while they are travelling. I saw someone reading this and Googled it. It had good reviews so I decided to order it. I was very disappointed with the book. Not at all creepy, though it is somewhat odd., It is too stilted for the story to flow and I was left with "was that it?". ( )