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bethtabler's review
4.0
Reviewing The Sin of America by Catherynne M. Valente
"There's a woman outside of Sheridan and she is eating the sin of America."
What is the sin of America?
That is the question of this story, and it was a question I asked myself repeatedly as I had to read it three times before I started to understand. That is not any knock to Cat Valente. Sometimes great things take time to digest, and they have to be chewed thoroughly. Do I know what the sin of America is? Maybe. Maybe I think I do because I am an American and see glimpses of it. Whatever is happening in the story is not straightforward. Because doing something like eating the sin of America is not an easy or simple thing.
All we know is that we are in a "Blue Bison Diner & Souvenir Shoppe under a busted wagon wheel and a pair of wall-mounted commemorative plates. One's from the moon landing. The other's from old Barnum Brown discovering the first T-Rex skeleton up at Hell Creek." There is a woman whose life has been nothing but pain and half-truths and disappointments sitting in a vinyl booth. Her name is Ruby Rose and "she ran away from the Ultimate Butterfly Experience as soon as she could chain one dollar to the next." She was terrified of the glittery swarms that flitted and alighted after stroking you with their sticky tongues. Some butterflies drink the nectar of flowers, but many will eat anything. Ruby Rose was called upon to eat the sins of America.
Ruby Rose is sitting in this cracked vinyl booth in this no-where diner staring at the menu. They told her that her meal could not be a small one. "Ruby-Rose looks over the menu. She isn't in the least hungry. But it cannot be a small meal. They told her that when they came for her, and all the delicate endangered emerald swallowtails circled their heads like green rings around terrible planets. It cannot be small and it cannot be short. It takes as long as it takes. You can't do this thing halfway. We're counting on you."
The Waitress who is serving Ruby-Rose is named Emeline. She nervously cracks a pinky and asks Ruby what she wants to start with. Ruby asks for some wine, but they don't serve soft things like that here. The owner of the diner, Mr. Herbert James Gage, when informed by certified mail that it was going down in his restaurant, picked up some hard alcohol in preparation for the event.
The food starts to come out: a rib-eye steak, peppermint milkshake, and tomato soup. It is grotesque in its amount, and the food keeps coming. Ruby keeps swallowing. It is too much food, it is all too much, it won't fit inside her, and she can't hold it. All this was the lottery or the anti-lottery. Astronomical odds that it would be her.
What happens when she is done? "We'll be happy, they say. We'll be better. We'll all be happy forever and everything will be okay." But will we? Probably until the next person has to come and eat our sins.
The imagery is grotesque, slovenly. The woman, Ruby Rose, has a life of tragic mediocrity. Then as the story progresses and climaxes, Ruby finishes her food and so much more. It ends and begins again. The cycle. Does it mean anything? Does Ruby Rose's sacrifice mean anything in the grand scheme of things? I don't know; there will be more sin.
The Sin of American is one of those stories that is difficult to parse; you can read it a dozen times and get more out of the language. It has the ere of dark and too salty, or sticky sweet. It is the idea of fried twinkies and made for tv movies. It has a vague christ mythos, but that has been sanitized, homogenized, and run through a Jerry Springer talk show. It has lost all of its original meaning and become an ugly thing. Someone must suffer. And in this scenario, for all of us to continue to sin and enjoy our lives, Ruby Rose must eat that sin and suffer.
It is a harrowing story that is puzzling and will continue to puzzle me as a reader. But, one thing is for sure. Cat Valente is a hell of a writer.
"There's a woman outside of Sheridan and she is eating the sin of America."
What is the sin of America?
That is the question of this story, and it was a question I asked myself repeatedly as I had to read it three times before I started to understand. That is not any knock to Cat Valente. Sometimes great things take time to digest, and they have to be chewed thoroughly. Do I know what the sin of America is? Maybe. Maybe I think I do because I am an American and see glimpses of it. Whatever is happening in the story is not straightforward. Because doing something like eating the sin of America is not an easy or simple thing.
All we know is that we are in a "Blue Bison Diner & Souvenir Shoppe under a busted wagon wheel and a pair of wall-mounted commemorative plates. One's from the moon landing. The other's from old Barnum Brown discovering the first T-Rex skeleton up at Hell Creek." There is a woman whose life has been nothing but pain and half-truths and disappointments sitting in a vinyl booth. Her name is Ruby Rose and "she ran away from the Ultimate Butterfly Experience as soon as she could chain one dollar to the next." She was terrified of the glittery swarms that flitted and alighted after stroking you with their sticky tongues. Some butterflies drink the nectar of flowers, but many will eat anything. Ruby Rose was called upon to eat the sins of America.
Ruby Rose is sitting in this cracked vinyl booth in this no-where diner staring at the menu. They told her that her meal could not be a small one. "Ruby-Rose looks over the menu. She isn't in the least hungry. But it cannot be a small meal. They told her that when they came for her, and all the delicate endangered emerald swallowtails circled their heads like green rings around terrible planets. It cannot be small and it cannot be short. It takes as long as it takes. You can't do this thing halfway. We're counting on you."
The Waitress who is serving Ruby-Rose is named Emeline. She nervously cracks a pinky and asks Ruby what she wants to start with. Ruby asks for some wine, but they don't serve soft things like that here. The owner of the diner, Mr. Herbert James Gage, when informed by certified mail that it was going down in his restaurant, picked up some hard alcohol in preparation for the event.
The food starts to come out: a rib-eye steak, peppermint milkshake, and tomato soup. It is grotesque in its amount, and the food keeps coming. Ruby keeps swallowing. It is too much food, it is all too much, it won't fit inside her, and she can't hold it. All this was the lottery or the anti-lottery. Astronomical odds that it would be her.
What happens when she is done? "We'll be happy, they say. We'll be better. We'll all be happy forever and everything will be okay." But will we? Probably until the next person has to come and eat our sins.
The imagery is grotesque, slovenly. The woman, Ruby Rose, has a life of tragic mediocrity. Then as the story progresses and climaxes, Ruby finishes her food and so much more. It ends and begins again. The cycle. Does it mean anything? Does Ruby Rose's sacrifice mean anything in the grand scheme of things? I don't know; there will be more sin.
The Sin of American is one of those stories that is difficult to parse; you can read it a dozen times and get more out of the language. It has the ere of dark and too salty, or sticky sweet. It is the idea of fried twinkies and made for tv movies. It has a vague christ mythos, but that has been sanitized, homogenized, and run through a Jerry Springer talk show. It has lost all of its original meaning and become an ugly thing. Someone must suffer. And in this scenario, for all of us to continue to sin and enjoy our lives, Ruby Rose must eat that sin and suffer.
It is a harrowing story that is puzzling and will continue to puzzle me as a reader. But, one thing is for sure. Cat Valente is a hell of a writer.
hizashinori's review
3.0
okay the concept here bangs but god do i wish the format was a little easier to read
lethanibooks's review
4.0
4'75/5
Short Story Hugo Awards Nominee 2022.
Wow what a ride! It felt like when you sneak into some forum/post, start reading all the comments and two hours later you look back up and realise you've been absorbed in this theoretical world and now you've come back to reality. It kept me hooked from the beginning to the point that I needed the song to be real and I looked it up on Google with disastrous results. If I don't give it the full 5 stars is only because I expected a final twist or something at the end. But it was really good anyways!
Short Story Hugo Awards Nominee 2022.
Wow what a ride! It felt like when you sneak into some forum/post, start reading all the comments and two hours later you look back up and realise you've been absorbed in this theoretical world and now you've come back to reality. It kept me hooked from the beginning to the point that I needed the song to be real and I looked it up on Google with disastrous results. If I don't give it the full 5 stars is only because I expected a final twist or something at the end. But it was really good anyways!
kaymax's review
5.0
EXCUSE ME WHAT?! HOW?!
I was struggling to get into this one, because it felt kind of... not academic, but at least non-fictional (and I don't like reading non-fiction). But I soon became engrossed in the story, which was at times eerie (hella eerie), funny, and interesting.
This one ended up being my favorite of the Hugo Awards 2022 Best Short Story finalists! I hope it wins!
I was struggling to get into this one, because it felt kind of... not academic, but at least non-fictional (and I don't like reading non-fiction). But I soon became engrossed in the story, which was at times eerie (hella eerie), funny, and interesting.
This one ended up being my favorite of the Hugo Awards 2022 Best Short Story finalists! I hope it wins!
bookaneer's review
4.0
I read the stories, all this year's Hugo nominees.
Individual ratings for each:
The Sin of America / Catherynne M. Valente: I don't get it and was bored. *
Colors of the Immortal Palette / Caroline M. Yoachim: Interesting take of immortal, vampire like beings who were painters. Very atmospheric. ****
Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather / Sarah Pinsker: My favorite of the bunch although the first time I tried to read I was so confused with the format (basically a message board). It grew up on me and I was fascinated with the myths and history bits but also chuckled on the interaction in the comments. *****
Individual ratings for each:
The Sin of America / Catherynne M. Valente: I don't get it and was bored. *
Colors of the Immortal Palette / Caroline M. Yoachim: Interesting take of immortal, vampire like beings who were painters. Very atmospheric. ****
Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather / Sarah Pinsker: My favorite of the bunch although the first time I tried to read I was so confused with the format (basically a message board). It grew up on me and I was fascinated with the myths and history bits but also chuckled on the interaction in the comments. *****
heniaakbar's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
1. The Sin of America by Catherynne M. Valente: It's boring and pointless. 1 ⭐
2. Colors of the Immortal Palette by Caroline M. Yoachim: I love the writing and the vampiric, immortal artist thing. Mari's struggle of being Japanese-French, her dilemma about that identity and later her immortality, so emotionally beautiful. 5 ⭐
3. Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker: The style is unique (website citing), the theme, and the eerie feeling when we read it. The ending is so horrifying and I love it so much. It revolves around Where the Oaken Hearts Do Gather old folk song lyric and that's it. I just hyperventilating at how amazing this story is! 6 ⭐
4. Eighteen Days of Barbareek by Rati Mehrotra: If you're familiar with Kurukshetra war like I do, you will love this story. 5 ⭐
5. The Perils of a Hologram Heart by Dominica Phetteplace: It's about someone revived to be an augmented human, and later to be full fledged robot. 3 ⭐
Skip the other two short fiction
2. Colors of the Immortal Palette by Caroline M. Yoachim: I love the writing and the vampiric, immortal artist thing. Mari's struggle of being Japanese-French, her dilemma about that identity and later her immortality, so emotionally beautiful. 5 ⭐
3. Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker: The style is unique (website citing), the theme, and the eerie feeling when we read it. The ending is so horrifying and I love it so much. It revolves around Where the Oaken Hearts Do Gather old folk song lyric and that's it. I just hyperventilating at how amazing this story is! 6 ⭐
4. Eighteen Days of Barbareek by Rati Mehrotra: If you're familiar with Kurukshetra war like I do, you will love this story. 5 ⭐
5. The Perils of a Hologram Heart by Dominica Phetteplace: It's about someone revived to be an augmented human, and later to be full fledged robot. 3 ⭐
Skip the other two short fiction
bookwyrmknits's review
3.0
I was mostly interested in reading the short fiction. (Though I did also enjoy Tansy Rayner Roberts' nonfiction piece.) The quality of the pieces varied, as expected, though few of them stood out for me as ones I might want to revisit. My favorite of the lot was “The Book of the Kraken” by Carrie Vaughn. Of the three Hugo Award-nominated pieces, the only one I cared for at all was “Colors of the Immortal Palette” by Caroline M. Yoachim, and even then that's not my pick for its category.
omantienlukija's review
4.0
Another issue of Uncanny from last year! This one felt more uneven and there were couple short stories I really didn't enjoy, but the esseys were really good this time. Short reviews of most of the contents below.
FICTION
The Sin of America by Catherine M. Valente: Violent and revolting. Left me really anxious and bit nauseated. 1,5/5
The Perils of a Hologram Heart by Domenica Phetteplace: An almost complete life story in just few pages. Light and intriguing. 4/5
Colors of the Immortal Palette by Caroline M. Joachim: Quite poetic and very touching story about growth, finding yourself, immortal life and art. Joachim was also interviewed in this issue and the interview made me want to reread this story. 4,5/5
The Book of the Kraken by Carrie Vaughn: A small compelling story about an encounter with a young lady and her kraken. Really liked the POV character. 4,5/5
Eighteen Days of Barbareek by Rati Mehrotha: I don't really care for this type of war stories. Also my lack of knowledge of the mythology this seemed to be build on didn't help (a flaw of mine, not the storys). 2/5
Where Olen Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinker: A brilliant and unique way of telling the story. I liked having so many levels of tile in the story and how it's never revealed to the reader how much of a super natural element there actually is. 4,5/5
They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass by Alanya Dawn Johnson: Very intriguing world. I really liked the MCs. I liked that the true form and intentions of the Glassmen was left untold. 4/5
ESSEYS
Deadly Frocks and Other Tales of Murder Clothes by Tansy Rayner Roberts: Very interesting, learned a lot of new. 4/5
Seduced by the Ruler's Gaze by Did Jain: A striking essey about a book series I know nothing about. It really hit me hard and made me quite emotional. 5/5
Protector of Small Steps by Marieke Nijkamp: So kind and touching. Made me think of someone else who has long covid. 4/5
Please Be Kind to the Singularity by Jay Edidin: Quite interesting but was really left in the shadow of the other esseys in this issue. 3/5
POEMS
None of the poems truly clicked with me this time.
FICTION
The Sin of America by Catherine M. Valente: Violent and revolting. Left me really anxious and bit nauseated. 1,5/5
The Perils of a Hologram Heart by Domenica Phetteplace: An almost complete life story in just few pages. Light and intriguing. 4/5
Colors of the Immortal Palette by Caroline M. Joachim: Quite poetic and very touching story about growth, finding yourself, immortal life and art. Joachim was also interviewed in this issue and the interview made me want to reread this story. 4,5/5
The Book of the Kraken by Carrie Vaughn: A small compelling story about an encounter with a young lady and her kraken. Really liked the POV character. 4,5/5
Eighteen Days of Barbareek by Rati Mehrotha: I don't really care for this type of war stories. Also my lack of knowledge of the mythology this seemed to be build on didn't help (a flaw of mine, not the storys). 2/5
Where Olen Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinker: A brilliant and unique way of telling the story. I liked having so many levels of tile in the story and how it's never revealed to the reader how much of a super natural element there actually is. 4,5/5
They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass by Alanya Dawn Johnson: Very intriguing world. I really liked the MCs. I liked that the true form and intentions of the Glassmen was left untold. 4/5
ESSEYS
Deadly Frocks and Other Tales of Murder Clothes by Tansy Rayner Roberts: Very interesting, learned a lot of new. 4/5
Seduced by the Ruler's Gaze by Did Jain: A striking essey about a book series I know nothing about. It really hit me hard and made me quite emotional. 5/5
Protector of Small Steps by Marieke Nijkamp: So kind and touching. Made me think of someone else who has long covid. 4/5
Please Be Kind to the Singularity by Jay Edidin: Quite interesting but was really left in the shadow of the other esseys in this issue. 3/5
POEMS
None of the poems truly clicked with me this time.
howardgo's review
4.0
My favorite stories were "Colors of the Immortal Palette" by Caroline M. Yoachim and "When Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker