Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

It can be hit or miss when an author tries to weave multiple storylines into one, but I thought Kupersmith did a wonderful job. Our cast of characters is vast, including a fortune teller, two brothers, and an old woman with a peculiarly attentive dog. Other characters, histories, and storylines weave in and out of Winnie’s narrative. There are many ways that Kupersmith connects physical homes and dwellings with internal conflicts and states of being. Winnie’s mental state of being is physically reflected in the state of her room, which becomes absolutely filthy and vile. Winnie begins to slowly disintegrate into the remains of her life, manifesting her desire to disappear in strange and unusual ways. Towards the beginning of the book, an encounter with a woman selling lottery tickets absolutely freaked me out. Right from the get-go, she experiences unsettling and slightly unhinged encounters with others, but it’s unclear if these encounters are actually unhinged, or if it’s simply Winnie’s perception of these encounters. As she starts to put less and less effort into her job, she begins to unravel and ultimately wants to disappear from her own body. She feels disaffected with her teaching job and can’t connect with her co-workers, whom she finds mildly annoying and sometimes flabbergasting. She’s living with a distant family member who is judgmental, alienating Winnie in her own home. The story has several storylines that are all interconnected, but our main character is Winnie, a Vietnamese American woman who takes a job teaching English in Vietnam. No, I will not stop recommending this book to my friends. I loved the story so much that I automatically purchased a physical copy after finishing the audiobook. Build Your House Around My Body took me on a wildly engaging and sometimes nauseating journey full of ghosts, snakes, and subtle horror. I just knew I loved this book’s cover and the synopsis sounded intriguing.

I picked this book on a whim while browsing the LA County Library audiobook catalog.

It is a brilliant, symbolic exploration of colonialism, generational trauma, women’s bodies, and the history of place. Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith is one of the best books I’ve read in recent years.