The Carnivorous Plant
Title: The Carnivorous Plant
Author: Andrea Mayo
Translation from Catalan: Laura McGloughlin
Original title: La planta carnívora
Publishing date: 20th October 2022
Pages: 192 | ISBN 978-1-7398236-3-4
Price: £14.99
What makes a carnivorous plant trap you? How can we avoid it? How can we run away from it devouring us? For the protagonist of this story, it is already too late when she realises that she is completely trapped in a toxic relationship with Ibana (her partner).
The Carnivorous Plant is divided into 9 sections and 81 short chapters, all of which begin with the number 1, as a metaphor for the main character being in a labyrinth with no way out.
This book is a portrait of horror. A synthesis of all the violence that exists between couples, friends, at work or in the family. It reflects about the limits of human relationships, focusing on the abuse and its multiple psychological consequences.
The Carnivorous Plant is about power rather than love.
Andrea Mayo writes in a visceral, lively, no-frills style; her work is provocative and terrifyingly visual. It is a harrowing story, based on real events, intended to shake us from the inside. Synthetic and direct with some very cruel scenes, it is an easy book to read but very difficult to digest.
Translated from Catalan by Laura McGloughlin.