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gitli57's review
adventurous
dark
funny
3.0
Not a very high percentage of strong writing here, but there are outstanding pieces by Sofia Samatar and Carmen Maria Macho plus a nice (if too short) interview with CMM. I might try another issue at some point.
shonatiger's review
Some pretty alarming content. One or two good reads (Pinsker, Machado with a CW)
alba_marie's review
3.0
This is a modern "ghost"/supernatural story. As a great lover of ghost stories and supernatural tales, I have read a bit (okay a good bit) of M.R. James, of Susan Hill, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, John Connolly, Algernon Blackwood... etc etc. The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories was inhaled last year.
We follow a young married couple, recently moved out of a flat full of roommates to their first house -and old (and very cheap) Victorian house in Baltimore near the narrator's first school placement. While she is at work, her husband is meant to be at home working on his dissertation. Except, of course, that he is too busy being fascinated by what might be behind the locked door of their attic....
I could see a lot of potential in this story - the premise was interesting, and the setting was good. In the hands of a different author, the story might have blown me away. But at the end of the day...it was alright. My issue with it really was the characters. They weren't that likeable. The woman (I don't think we get her name) is okay, I guess, but her husband Josh is really annoying; the stereotype of the perpetual student who never seems to finish his studies. For the non-perpetual students of the world... its hard to sympathise with this kind of person, preferring instead to give them a knock on the head and tell them to get on with it! Notions.
My second main issue with it - and really it's the main issue - is the tone. If it was supposed to be a scary story....well, the tone was wrong then. It was playful, it was nonchalant, it was squabbling married couple... but it did not set the scene for a supernatural setting. She started off with the stereotype - creaky Victorian house, locked doors, secrets in the attic - but then the rest of it just felt so mundane that the ending, the reveal, also felt mundane. I wasn't gripped or enthralled, I was just kind of... eh?
I mean, maybe Pinsker is trying to say that the supernatural could be found anywhere? But if that is the case, I still didn't connect with the story.
The ending is interested - and unexpected - but the way the characters reacted to it really put me off too. Anyway, all in all, no ghost story goosebumps (that's normally how I know if it's good!) and I don't think this one will stick with me in the long term.
We follow a young married couple, recently moved out of a flat full of roommates to their first house -and old (and very cheap) Victorian house in Baltimore near the narrator's first school placement. While she is at work, her husband is meant to be at home working on his dissertation. Except, of course, that he is too busy being fascinated by what might be behind the locked door of their attic....
I could see a lot of potential in this story - the premise was interesting, and the setting was good. In the hands of a different author, the story might have blown me away. But at the end of the day...it was alright. My issue with it really was the characters. They weren't that likeable. The woman (I don't think we get her name) is okay, I guess, but her husband Josh is really annoying; the stereotype of the perpetual student who never seems to finish his studies. For the non-perpetual students of the world... its hard to sympathise with this kind of person, preferring instead to give them a knock on the head and tell them to get on with it! Notions.
My second main issue with it - and really it's the main issue - is the tone. If it was supposed to be a scary story....well, the tone was wrong then. It was playful, it was nonchalant, it was squabbling married couple... but it did not set the scene for a supernatural setting. She started off with the stereotype - creaky Victorian house, locked doors, secrets in the attic - but then the rest of it just felt so mundane that the ending, the reveal, also felt mundane. I wasn't gripped or enthralled, I was just kind of... eh?
I mean, maybe Pinsker is trying to say that the supernatural could be found anywhere? But if that is the case, I still didn't connect with the story.
The ending is interested - and unexpected - but the way the characters reacted to it really put me off too.
Spoiler
I mean, they didn't even seem perturbed to find out that there were shadow people in their attic! Definitely not scared. I mean, she interacted with them, even chucked them out the window for an "experiment", and then just went about daily life as if all is normal. What?kristamccracken's review
5.0
My favourite piece in this issue was "My Body, Herself" by Carmen Maria Machado. The prose was a joy to read and I loved the double speak, fantasy, and contemplation that is encased in this story.
crunden's review
3.0
In death, advice feels futile, since people gave you advice and you’re dead anyway.
This had so many good one-liners! Listened to the audiobook version of My Body, Herself by Carmen Maria Machado. Available here.
This had so many good one-liners! Listened to the audiobook version of My Body, Herself by Carmen Maria Machado. Available here.
daveversace's review
4.0
Excellent issue of an excellent magazine - standouts include Carmen Maria Machado's "My Body, Herself" and the eccentric and sweet (sort of) "Rooms Formed of Neurons and Sex" by Ferret Steinmetz. Also some smart and moving essays on growing up with Star Trek, Deep Space 9 and SF in general by various authors.
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