Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel by Julian K. Jarboe

1 review

leguinstan's review

reflective medium-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? Yes

3.5

Why does God create grapes and wheat, but not wine and bread? God does this because God wants us to share in the act of creation. To be how you made me, to become how God made me, through you, I can remake myself. You and I: we are already only whole, and shifting towards the divine.

Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel is a collection of consisting of short stories, poetry, and one novella. Although I consider myself a huge fan of SFF short stories and novellas, I actually found Jarboe's flash fiction a lot more compelling than their longer works--which is surprising since the shortest stories in the collections I have previously read tend to be my least favorites. 

I'm not sure how to explain this but I feel that a lot of Jarboe's short stories lack that sense of resolution--regardless of emotional mood and tone-- I usually associate with my favorite short stories. Stories such as the titular novella, "The Nothing Spots Where Nobody Wants to Stay", and "As Tender Feet of Cretan Girls Danced Once Around an Altar of Love" did not have distinct character or plot arcs. And while I recognize the character development in other works such as "The Seed and the Stone" and
We Did Not Know We Were Giants", these works felt so bogged down in metaphor that I struggled to derive a sense of satisfaction from their respective endings.

I don't particularly appreciate these aforementioned works as stories. What I do appreciate, however, is the strong imagery, lyrical prose, and imagination that is on display in all of the works in this collection--even in the ones that I dislike. I suspect that Jarboe's flash fiction and poetry generally worked better for me because I can focus on these aspects of their writing while setting aside my expectations of what makes a good work of fiction. 

"The Marks of Aegis" and "The Heavy Things" really resonated with me despite the fact that they are less than five pages long and that they fully lean into the surrealism that can be found in a lot of Jarboe's works. "Estranged Children of Storybook Houses", "Self Care", and "I Am a Beautiful Bug!" were the other stories that also stood out to me. While I am unenthused with the collection as a whole, I genuinely think that Jarboe has a lot of talent and I look forward to reading more of their works. 

Minor sidenote: the edition I read (ISBN 9781590216927) is riddled with typos which on occasion detracted from my reading experience. Hopefully this issue gets solved in reprintings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia and Transphobia

VERY GRAPHIC self harm in "The Marks of Aegis". Body horror in the "The Marks of Aegis", "The Heavy Things", and "I Am a Beautiful Bug!". Emotional abuse & physical abuse of children in "Estranged Children of Storybook Houses" and "Everyone on the Moon Is Essential Personnel". Animal death of a

god in the form of a stag

in

"We Did Not Know We Were Giants"

. Ableism in "Estranged Children of Storybook Houses" because the way the main character is treated has strong parallels to the way

autistic children are treated by ableist family members

. Consensual sexual content involving teens in "The Nothing Spots Where Nobody Wants to Stay". Transphobia & homophobia in "The Nothing Spots Where Nobody Wants to Stay" and "Self Care"