Hot Milk

Hot Milk

‘I was getting bolder’ - Sofia

‘Hot Milk’ is the latest novel by author Deborah Levy that follows the journey of Sofia Irina and her mother, Rose who travel to Spain to find a cure for Rose’s unexplainable paralysis but encounter more that they can’t explain.

The novel opens up in Almería, Spain as Sofia gazes at her broken laptop screen and highlights her disconnect from the world around her. Though she was quick to pack up her uninteresting life in Hackney to come to Spain she has nothing to do there expect care for her mother, so not much has changed.    

The book is written in the first person which presents it as Sofia’s own diary as we explore each emotion and thought process with her such as her being unable to define her occupation and how hypnotized she is by a friend that she makes at the beach, Ingrid, who becomes more than a friend. Along with Ingrid Sofia develops interest in Juan, who she also meets in Spain & Dan when she thinks back to her life in England and although it can be explained as showing the self discovery of a young woman, it does feel like an attempt to for the novel to be modern.

When not developing or analysing her multiple relationships Sofia goes with her mother to the clinic which operates rather unorthodoxly. Not only does Dr Gómez initially stop Rose from taking all of her medication but he insists that she a paralysed woman drive. Although shocking his methods did eventually prove beneficial for Rose but Gómez arguably became more of a doctor for Sofia than her mother as he for one encourages her to become bolder. This resonated with Sofia and becomes a criterion for some of her following actions.

As a whole I found Levy’s novel interesting and as hypnotic as reviews had suggested due to the use of paragraphs from an unidentified person at the end of many chapters, whom I believe to have been Ingrid, which caused me to constantly want to turn the page to find out what occurs next. I was however left dissatisfied with the ending as Sofia and Rose seemed to me to be different people at the end, though many may support them maturing and having a better relationship but I came across as two people ignoring their past rather than learning from it which prevents me from seeing this novel as a bildungsroman, though it has many of the characteristics. An aspect of the ending the really intrigued me as although throughout the novel Sofia and others questioned the actions and methods of Dr Gómez she ultimately leans on him as a father figure potentially because he has acted as a father to her by caring for her mother and seemingly wanting the best for her but also potentially due to the her officially relieving her father’s debt, and unwittingly looking for someone to fill that vacancy. Nevertheless it is this that made me question the moments when I believed that Gómez was a ‘quack’ because in hindsight his unorthodox methods proved beneficial.