A classic I've had on the shelf for years, rose like cream to the top of my favorites for this year. Bleak but well done and absorbing story of the ill-used daughter of a veterinarian and her too-brief sojourn into a happy, hopeful life. I want to read more of Barbara Comyns' work. ( )

No review - read so long ago that I don't recall it. ( )

That ending was...unexpected. ( )

La hija del veterinario es una novela inquietante y fantasiosa, pero perfectamente controlada por una voz narrativa delicada, intencionada e inteligente. Barbara Comyns confirma en ella su singular humor, su maestría para un punto de vista familiarizado con la catástrofe y con esas «pequeñas cosas que nunca se olvidan».

The eponymous vet's daughter is Alice, who lives with her mother and father, the veterinarian. The vet is a brutal and sadistic bully to his wife and daughter (and to his patients). Alice and her mother spend their days in fear of the vet. As with many of Comyns's novels, the story seems at first to be well-grounded in reality, with a touch of quirkiness, but soon there is a heavy dose of a lurking and sinister menace. After Alice's mother dies (and Alice has been the victim of an attempted rape), she has what we think is a dream-like, hallucinatory levitation experience. Her naivetee and lack of real world experience lead her to believe that everyone has such experiences, and we are soon questioning reality.

This was a strange book, and I guess you could call it a typical Comyns work, but I've liked the other books I've read by her better.

3 stars ( )