Sad tiger by Neige Sinno is a memoir about abuse. The author recounts being sexually abused as a child by her stepfather. Years later, she fights back—taking him to court, standing trial, and ultimately seeing him sentenced to prison. But the book’s central question goes far beyond legal justice: did she truly survive the dark times?
Much of the memoir focuses on life after abuse—how trauma lingers, how society treats victims, and how “normalcy” is often used to dismiss pain. If a survivor marries, has children, and appears to lead a functional life, does that mean the trauma is over? These are the kinds of questions the author confronts head-on. What deepens her anguish is the fact that her abuser goes on to marry and have four children of his own, forcing her to re-examine ideas of justice, healing, and closure.
The second half of the book is more probing. She weaves in literary analysis—ranging from Lolita to popular fiction—to explore how abuse, desire, and power are represented and misunderstood.
On the Calculation of Volume 3 by Solvej Balle continues with the protagonist’s attempt to better understand her predicament, but this time she is no longer alone. She encounters not just one, but a group of people who are all somehow stuck in the November 18th. Together, they form an informal task force to investigate and analyze what is happening to them. By the end of the novel, they even come across another group facing the same strange condition.
Despite these developments, this installment felt more ordinary compared to the previous two. For me, the first book remains the strongest so far—both in terms of originality and writing.