Self-Portrait with Nothing by Aimee Potwatka
Self-Portrait with Nothing
by Aimee Potwatka
Science Fiction | Mystery | Magical Realism | Fiction
295 Pages
Released October 2022
Rating: ★★
Goodreads
Content Warnings
Despite it’s short length, this book really dragged for me. Seriously, for a book with less than 300 pages, it felt like I was reading a 400+.
This book follows Pepper, whose mother is the famous painter Ula Frost - famous for her supposed ability to summon a person’s parallel-universe self through her paintings. Ula, having disappeared for several years is presumed dead and Pepper now stands to inherit her mother’s infamous paintings.
I don’t have much to say about this one. I couldn’t stand the main character, though I have a hard time articulating why. Something about her attitude and decisions just rubbed me the wrong way. Also, the means by which Ula’s paints open up a portal to alternate universes is vague at best, so don’t get your hopes up to understand how it works (this was arguably one of the biggest reasons I picked up the book, I was hoping it would go into more detail about the magic behind Ula’s abilities).
This book is both strange and absurd and I’m not sure if it’s in a good way. But, if your a fan of complex mother-daughter relationships and/or parallel-universe-esque themes, you might want to consider picking this one up.