Book Review: My Heart Hemmed In by Marie NDiaye

 

When the Ordinary World Turns Hostile

Marie NDiaye’s My Heart Hemmed In begins like a domestic drama and slowly turns into a psychological nightmare. 

Nadia, a teacher in Bordeaux, suddenly finds herself shunned by everyone — neighbors, coworkers, even her husband. She has no idea why, and neither do we.

It’s a setup that feels almost Kafkaesque — think The Trial or The Metamorphosis — where the real horror isn’t monsters or ghosts, but society itself turning inexplicably against you.

A Hall of Mirrors

Like in Elena Ferrante’s The Days of Abandonment, NDiaye dives deep into a woman’s unraveling mind, showing how fear distorts perception until reality itself becomes unreliable. Nadia’s paranoia grows, her body reacts in strange ways, and the city around her feels charged with invisible hostility.

Reading it feels like being caught between a dream and a panic attack — much like Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled, where logic keeps slipping just out of reach.

Language That Tightens Like a Knot

NDiaye’s prose (translated beautifully by Jordan Stump) is lyrical, looping, and claustrophobic. The repetition and rhythm pull you into Nadia’s fear so completely that you almost forget what normal feels like.

It’s Toni Morrison’s Beloved without ghosts — a haunting that happens entirely inside one woman’s mind.

The Fear Beneath It All

Underneath the surrealism lies a sharp social critique. Nadia and her husband are subtly marked as “other” — outsiders in a place that pretends to be welcoming. It recalls the quiet tension of Albert Camus’ The Stranger, where emotionless observation hides deep alienation.

NDiaye never explains the hostility, and that’s what makes it powerful: fear, prejudice, and shame don’t always have reasons — they just exist, shaping lives silently.

Final Thoughts

My Heart Hemmed In isn’t an easy read, but it’s an unforgettable one. It mixes the existential dread of Kafka with the emotional intensity of Ferrante and the social unease of Morrison. You don’t just read it — you live inside its anxiety.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ – A surreal, poetic exploration of fear and belonging, as strange and intimate as waking up in someone else’s dream.