Disquiet

Disquiet -- Julia Leigh
(2008) Pg. 121
Cut to the Chase: 1 out of 5

A novella by Australian author Julia Leigh, Disquiet is about a family reuniting in light of death and loss. Olivia and her two children flee from her husband to her mother's French chateau just as Marcus, Olivia's brother, and his wife, Sofia, return after an unfortunate still birth. The plot line of the novella spans a mere handful of days, but the events jump all over the map from dead babies in the freezer to Markus having phone sex with his mistress in the backyard.

The writing quality of Disquiet was sub-par and the plot disjointed and in the end irrelevant. It seems as if Leigh chose to include certain stylistic quirks-- such as never call Olivia by her name, merely "the woman"-- without rhyme or reason and to no aesthetic or literary effect. Leigh does the same with plot. Events happen for no apparent reason and do not create a cohesive piece of work nor does she leave the reader with any sort of feeling of completion at the end. I did not connect to any of the characters and I felt no sense of relief, happiness, or meaning at the end of the story. What I did feel at the end was that Disquiet was an utter waste of my time.