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Hot Milk

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Hot Milk

By: Deborah Levy
Narrated by: Romola Garai
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About this listen

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2016

Plunge into this hypnotic tale of female sexuality and power - from the Man Booker shortlisted author of Swimming Home

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Hot Milk by Deborah Levy, read by Romola Garai.

Two women arrive in a village on the Spanish coast. Rose is suffering from a strange illness andher doctors are mystified. Her daughter Sofia has brought her here to find a cure with the infamous and controversial Dr Gomez - a man of questionable methods and motives. Intoxicated by thick heat and the seductive people who move through it, both women begin to see their lives clearly for the first time in years.

Through the opposing figures of mother and daughter, Deborah Levy explores the strange and monstrous nature of womanhood. Dreamlike and utterly compulsive, Hot Milk is a delirious fairy tale of feminine potency, a story both modern and timeless.

 Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Fiction

Critic Reviews

Unsettling, challenging and gloriously written, Hot Milk by Deborah Levy is the multi-generational story of a hallucinatory sort of summer
Leaves the reader enraptured and unnerved
All stars
Most relevant
This is an interesting story, A very literate book in terms of prose and poetry. I stayed with the book as the story is compelling. The book has strong characterisation and interesting locations and some quirky characters.

Interesting Story

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Not because it's a bad book - it's written with great wit, intelligence and incredible wordplay - but because the story is so dismal, with very few uplifting moments. Nevertheless I would recommend it, as long as you are prepared for a heavy journey.

Phew. Thank God that's over.

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Oh my gosh what an exciting novel Hot Milk is. I was a bit worried by the title that I was about to read some sort of weird MILF erotica. Just to be clear, it isn't MILF erotica (or any other kind of erotica). It is a very sexy novel, but not in the way you’re thinking.

It’s the story of Sofia and her mother, Rose. They are in Spain seeking treatment for an ailment that has stumped Rose’s doctors in England.

Sofia at 24, is an example of “failure to launch.” She has quit her PhD in anthropology to care for her mother. She works in a coffee shop. She has no romantic relationships, no home of her own. She failed her drivers licence four times. Seriously - four times! I'm in no place to criticise here, but she didn't even pass the theory!

The relationship between Sofia and Rose crackles with tension and hums with rage. Between them they are stuck. But as the epigraph of the novel instructs: "It's up to you to break the old circuits.” And it is up to Sofia and Rose to narrate their own new legends.

In Spain Sofia turns her anthropological eye upon herself. It's the beginning of her discovery of her sexuality, her seductiveness and her inner monster.

Levy's prose is itself powerfully seductive. It as warm as the air of southern Spain. It's smooth and divine and devilishly funny. It's also terribly sensual. The story has an ethereal quality that makes it feel hard to pin down at first, but the golden thread of Levy's metaphors lead us to see both the divine and the mortal in Sofia.

Romola Garai's velvety narration brings divinity to the seductiveness of Levy's prose. It's a perfect match of book and narrator. Garai's voicing, timing, characterisation - it's all perfect. I hope she'll find time in her busy schedule to narrated other audiobooks. Bravo Ms Garai, and bravo Ms Levy. A beautiful combination.

I'm not a classicist so I keep the internet handy when I'm reading. I get really excited by references that help me understand the book I'm reading better. In this instance I hunted down "milk as metaphor" ("hot milk" is semen for those interested. I wonder who else was visiting Juan in the injury hut! Otherwise "milk" can refer to spiritual immaturity, which I liked as a metaphor in this instance, or "mother's milk"). I also read about the myth of the Medusa, the beautiful, strong maiden who is turned into a powerful monster, later beheaded at the command of Athena. Also The Laugh of the Medusa, the essay from which Hot Milk takes its epigraph. Keep an ear out for David Bowie lyrics too!

Did I mention I loved this book? I loved this book. Seriously, loved it. It's long listed for the Man Booker Prize 2016 and is a very worthy contender.

Strange, seductive and powerfully sensual

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The author writes well, but it was a long drag through a dull storyline and dull characters until the end finally illuminates. I get the point, but it was too much.

A long drag

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Not a fan of the story or the writing. I'm sure it will be some type of okay for others, but I found the main character very unlikable (in fact, a wet blanket of a human - I hated being inside her mind) and the other characters were equally so (although I guess that may have been the point for some). very indulgent, writing was trying to be clever and/or prosaic but missed the mark for me. The metaphors and similes were not only in every other paragraph but also just lame and/or confusing. I started reading the book (had to for my book club) and switched to the audio so I could actually get through it. Romola Garai is unsurprisingly, fantastic.

Good narration, that's it

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