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luckylulureads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
sproutedpages's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley, Stelliform Press, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and author Tiffany Morris for providing me with an advanced digital copy of this novella for review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Blood, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
atlastheninth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.
CW: Suicidal ideation, parental death, animal death, gore, blood
Synopsis: After Rita won an artist residency, she decides to spent a week in an isolated cabin in the woods, hoping for inspiration for her artworks. During her first night there she hears strange noises coming from the pond close by. And the things she sees and hears, all seemingly connected to the pond, only become stranger in the following days.
Thoughts:
This book is very atmospheric and uses very poetic language. I would describe it as artistic, which fits very well to the story and to our MC Rita, who is an artist. She is a great main character with lots of flaws, but still so very lovable/relatable.
Each chapter starts with the description of one of Ritas' paintings that she draws on her retreat, and for rest of the chapter we follow the events that inspired said painting, which I found really interesting.
There are a lot of flashbacks from Ritas' life, explaining how she got to this point in her life, explaining why she feels the way she feels. Later in the book, these did feel neither out of place nor confusing, but at the beginning they did. It seemed unorganized and took away from that first feeling of wrongness when Rita hears noises during the first night. Together with the many descriptions and the author spelling out things, that you can already understand from those descriptions, the beginning was all over the place.
Here it may have been good to go sort the flashbacks better and to expand on the happenings in the first night.
However, once we get over this, when it became more horrorish, it got a lot better. It felt more focused.
This is a book about grief: grief over her dead father, over the declining relationship with her girlfriend, over her barely existent relationship with the rest of her family, over not being connected to her culture as much as she wants to be.
"She'd become alien in her own body, alien in the landscape she and her ancestors had called home, transformed into some unearthly being."
Rita feels disconnected from life, has been doing so since a while and during her time in the cabin, for the first time, she admits it to herself.
"She could do it. She could die here."
We watch her accept this, embrace this and wanting her life to change; to be reborn, no matter how.
"She was ready to be remade in the waters, to meet herself in the sludge of unbecoming."
This transition was written very well, how it was shown through her hallucinations of dead rabbits and a burning woman.
(There was also grief over the destruction/loss of nature because of climate change, however that part felt a bit out of place, like it was just put in there, to be there. It didn't really do anything for the story.)
The horrorish parts were right up my alley. They were not really scary, but just really unsettling and also written so beautifully and poetic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Death of parent
sophee_568's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
If you are interested in reading a gorgeously written literary horror novella set in the creepy woods where something, or someone, lurks in the muddy waters, look no further.
After her girlfriend Molly gifts her a 7-day artist's retreat at a secluded cabin in the woods, Rita Francis decides to take a break from the mundanity of her job at the art store and seek inspiration in nature. Even though Molly went behind Rita's back and kickstarted a funded art project she clumsily named The Devouring, Rita could not be ungrateful and reject such a generous present. On the first night at the cabin, Rita awakes in the dead of night to the sound of footsteps on gravel and something being thrown into the pond. Her immediate thought is that someone threw a body into the pond, but she sees nothing after peeking out the window. During the rest of her stay in the woods, Rita continues to experience bizarre events, all somehow connected to the large pond near her cabin. After a somnambulistic episode, Rita wakes up in the woods disoriented. Soon she comes face to face with a mysterious woman engulfed in flames. Who is this woman, and what does she want with Rita?
In only 100-ish pages, Green Fuse Burning utterly grips the reader and makes them listen to Rita's story. With its surrealist, introspective writing, Tiffany Morris invites us to the humid, muddy lands of Nova Scotia. Just like the author herself, our protagonist Rita is an Indigenous woman, specifically belonging to the Mi'kmaw people.
Morris's debut novel revolves around the ever-important topic of grief and healing. Years after Rita's father had died, she still struggled to make peace with his passing. Her grief pressed down on her, stifled her creativity, made her passive, and caused a strain on her relationship with Molly. That is why the artist's retreat provided a wonderful opportunity for Rita to connect with the natural world around her and explore the depths of her imagination.
Each chapter of the novella begins with a short review of one of Rita's paintings she had made during her stay at the cabin. Rita's mixed media acrylic paintings represent the mental transmutation she underwent in the woods. The most prominent color in her paintings is green, which Rita associates with grief.
"How would she ever capture that devouring green, even with these shades lined up so perfectly, neatly, their vibrance still nowhere near the sickeningly alive world around her..."
Morris uses body horror to show us Rita struggling with her grief. There are a few graphic scenes but nothing too gory. Green Fuse Burning is a tale of normalizing death and grief. We all face loss at some point in our lives. The novella sends a message that we should not shy away from grieving. It can be a messy, exhausting, and long-lasting process, but we should not deny ourselves the experience. Grief is a deeply transformative time for everyone. As Rita says, we do not protect life by denying death's existence. Green Fuse Burning is a powerful elegy to the cycle of death and life, grief and healing. It is also a love letter to wetlands, swamps, bogs, and the rest.
Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy!
After her girlfriend Molly gifts her a 7-day artist's retreat at a secluded cabin in the woods, Rita Francis decides to take a break from the mundanity of her job at the art store and seek inspiration in nature. Even though Molly went behind Rita's back and kickstarted a funded art project she clumsily named The Devouring, Rita could not be ungrateful and reject such a generous present. On the first night at the cabin, Rita awakes in the dead of night to the sound of footsteps on gravel and something being thrown into the pond. Her immediate thought is that someone threw a body into the pond, but she sees nothing after peeking out the window. During the rest of her stay in the woods, Rita continues to experience bizarre events, all somehow connected to the large pond near her cabin. After a somnambulistic episode, Rita wakes up in the woods disoriented. Soon she comes face to face with a mysterious woman engulfed in flames. Who is this woman, and what does she want with Rita?
In only 100-ish pages, Green Fuse Burning utterly grips the reader and makes them listen to Rita's story. With its surrealist, introspective writing, Tiffany Morris invites us to the humid, muddy lands of Nova Scotia. Just like the author herself, our protagonist Rita is an Indigenous woman, specifically belonging to the Mi'kmaw people.
Morris's debut novel revolves around the ever-important topic of grief and healing. Years after Rita's father had died, she still struggled to make peace with his passing. Her grief pressed down on her, stifled her creativity, made her passive, and caused a strain on her relationship with Molly. That is why the artist's retreat provided a wonderful opportunity for Rita to connect with the natural world around her and explore the depths of her imagination.
Each chapter of the novella begins with a short review of one of Rita's paintings she had made during her stay at the cabin. Rita's mixed media acrylic paintings represent the mental transmutation she underwent in the woods. The most prominent color in her paintings is green, which Rita associates with grief.
"How would she ever capture that devouring green, even with these shades lined up so perfectly, neatly, their vibrance still nowhere near the sickeningly alive world around her..."
Morris uses body horror to show us Rita struggling with her grief. There are a few graphic scenes but nothing too gory. Green Fuse Burning is a tale of normalizing death and grief. We all face loss at some point in our lives. The novella sends a message that we should not shy away from grieving. It can be a messy, exhausting, and long-lasting process, but we should not deny ourselves the experience. Grief is a deeply transformative time for everyone. As Rita says, we do not protect life by denying death's existence. Green Fuse Burning is a powerful elegy to the cycle of death and life, grief and healing. It is also a love letter to wetlands, swamps, bogs, and the rest.
Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent and Body horror
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