There is something about Gilda that everyone can relate to (I promise you I found my kindred spirit in a lot of her behaviours and attitudes about life).

At times stretching the reader’s belief ( would anyone even halfway perceptive really want to continue a relationship with such an obviously disturbed woman careless about her personal hygiene)? The story is told in four main parts, which each part broken down by Catholic holiday (such as “Advent” and “Lent”), so there are no chapters. Levou-me a pensar, como acontece com alguns dos livros que leio, que talvez devesse ser regra o aviso prévio de temas tão sensíveis como estes e a classificação etária nos livros. One of my favorite lines: “I’m starting to doubt my atheism because this might be proof that God exists and hates me.

Rather incongruously the author seemed to be rying to make Gilda ultra-relatable by making her think or say these trivial things while at the same time emphasizing how different Gilda is from those around her.

As a queer woman whose brain can be a terrifying place, I devoured this novel about a panic-ridden lesbian who hides her sexuality to work at a Catholic Church.How does this contrast of existential dread shine a light on the rules and conventions that so many of us abide by?

Filling in following the mysterious death of her elderly predecessor, Grace, Gilda finds herself spinning tale after tale to keep the people around her happy. She gets the position without anything in the way of someone looking at her CV or examining her personal history — she’s hired solely because she’s young and, it is thus assumed, knows a thing or two about computers and the Interwebs. This debut is profound for its honest portrayal of mental health in a chaotic modern world, giving space for humour and tenderness while reckoning with the absurdity of the human condition . When it appears that foul play may have been a part of Grace’s demise, Grace gets arrested and her troubles intensifies. Gilda is a character I spent the entire book following but yet can't say I know her much better now than when I first started reading the story.In doing so, Austin provides the reader with a birds-eye-view of what it is like to be anxious and depressed. Q: This book is so beautifully written that we feel like we’re experiencing Gilda’s reality while we read it. Gilda's overwhelming questions about the nature of existence don't go away; transformed by wonder, they turn into love instead. Gilda is the anxious queer hero who I didn't know that I needed , a delightfully weird reminder that we will one day turn to dust and that yes, this is depressing, but it's also what makes life beautiful, why it's important to say what we mean, do what we want, love as best as our crooked hearts will allow us to while we still can. Q: In that same vein, what other portrayals of anxiety and depression did you pull from—in books, movies, tv shows, etc.