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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
A beautifully written coming-of-age story set in a small town near Cleveland.
The town is occupied by millworkers and their families and as the mill is rusty and dying, so is the town.
Phoebe graduates high school and plans to leave town with her cousin...until things start happening to the female teenagers in town. Their bodies start changing and Phoebe is left out and left behind, so she leaves on her own and returns years later to tell her story.
The story unravels in a dreamlike state I found pleasing, but not a whole lot is going on and the mysterious ways of the Rust Maidens is never explained. Not quite Horror, but not a thriller. I don't know what to call this book, but I enjoyed it.
⭐⭐⭐
The town is occupied by millworkers and their families and as the mill is rusty and dying, so is the town.
Phoebe graduates high school and plans to leave town with her cousin...until things start happening to the female teenagers in town. Their bodies start changing and Phoebe is left out and left behind, so she leaves on her own and returns years later to tell her story.
The story unravels in a dreamlike state I found pleasing, but not a whole lot is going on and the mysterious ways of the Rust Maidens is never explained. Not quite Horror, but not a thriller. I don't know what to call this book, but I enjoyed it.
⭐⭐⭐
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"You can't stop the girls from becoming what they became."
The Rust Maidens is my third Gwendolyn Kiste book this year, and she has crushed it again. I love everything I've read by her, and The Rust Maidens is going to be a must-read for fans when it's released in November.
Gwendolyn writes in a way that makes me feel understood, and I can't say that about very many people. There are so many authors I love & enjoy, but she's one of the few who can really make me reflect on my own life with her stories. I think that The Rust Maidens captures young ennui and female friendships so well, and so many memories were brought up while I was reading this. On top of enjoying these aspects, it's also set against a grim backdrop with an unsettling storyline, and I loved everything about it. Cleveland plays a large role in the story, and this book reminded me of the things I liked about studying American fiction.
If you've read Gwendolyn Kiste's And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, The Rust Maidens sort of felt like an expansion of her story The Tower Princesses. It has similar themes, but it goes much deeper than the short story was able to.
I found the characters in this book to be likeable, and Phoebe was a relatable main character. She's honest, bold, flawed, and truly fights for what she thinks is right. She values friendship, and she's truly human in this book - she does both good and bad things. I would definitely read another book about Phoebe if one ever existed.
I think there will be a lot of things in this book for women to relate to, and set with an ominous backdrop, which makes it even better. I'm not going to go into everything for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but I felt comforted by the fact that some of my personal worries about life were addressed in this book. I'm pretty sure I also said this about And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, but in all honesty, this book made me feel a little less alone. It's just nice to know that, somewhere, people understand you & also enjoy creepy things.
I can't wait to see what else Gwendolyn Kiste comes up with. The Rust Maidens will be out on 11/16, and I highly recommend picking it up!
The Rust Maidens is my third Gwendolyn Kiste book this year, and she has crushed it again. I love everything I've read by her, and The Rust Maidens is going to be a must-read for fans when it's released in November.
Gwendolyn writes in a way that makes me feel understood, and I can't say that about very many people. There are so many authors I love & enjoy, but she's one of the few who can really make me reflect on my own life with her stories. I think that The Rust Maidens captures young ennui and female friendships so well, and so many memories were brought up while I was reading this. On top of enjoying these aspects, it's also set against a grim backdrop with an unsettling storyline, and I loved everything about it. Cleveland plays a large role in the story, and this book reminded me of the things I liked about studying American fiction.
If you've read Gwendolyn Kiste's And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, The Rust Maidens sort of felt like an expansion of her story The Tower Princesses. It has similar themes, but it goes much deeper than the short story was able to.
I found the characters in this book to be likeable, and Phoebe was a relatable main character. She's honest, bold, flawed, and truly fights for what she thinks is right. She values friendship, and she's truly human in this book - she does both good and bad things. I would definitely read another book about Phoebe if one ever existed.
I think there will be a lot of things in this book for women to relate to, and set with an ominous backdrop, which makes it even better. I'm not going to go into everything for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but I felt comforted by the fact that some of my personal worries about life were addressed in this book. I'm pretty sure I also said this about And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, but in all honesty, this book made me feel a little less alone. It's just nice to know that, somewhere, people understand you & also enjoy creepy things.
I can't wait to see what else Gwendolyn Kiste comes up with. The Rust Maidens will be out on 11/16, and I highly recommend picking it up!
Promised more than it delivers.
Also, NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU PHOEBE.
Also, NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU PHOEBE.
I’m rather amazed that Kiste managed to bring in elements such as government agents, medical doctors, and tourists without ruining the bleak, inexorable horror of the tale. It’s quite impressive. The prose is soaked with the feel of the run-down industrial neighborhood, the foundering steel mill, the desperate workers, the panel of wives and mothers, the moments when the plight of the Rust Maidens turns into anger and rage and a feeling that maybe it’s something they’re just doing to get attention. The pace is slow and lingering, but that didn’t discourage me–there was quite enough to fascinate me and hold my attention.
It might have been nice to have a quick note starting off each chapter to delineate which time line it takes place in just for a quicker settling-in, but that’s a minor quibble.
This is a really unusual read. It definitely isn’t for a time when you want something action-filled, but if you want atmospheric, industrial horror, it’s fantastic!
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/11/review-the-rust-maidens-gwendolyn-kiste/
It might have been nice to have a quick note starting off each chapter to delineate which time line it takes place in just for a quicker settling-in, but that’s a minor quibble.
This is a really unusual read. It definitely isn’t for a time when you want something action-filled, but if you want atmospheric, industrial horror, it’s fantastic!
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/11/review-the-rust-maidens-gwendolyn-kiste/
“Pray for the Rust Maidens
Even after all these years, those words suck the breath right out of my chest.”
After hearing about this book from several book pushing friends, I had a loud niggling feeling that I was going to enjoy this story from the very beginning but I wasn’t prepared for just how much I was going to LOVE it because I am such a grumpy, jaded reader most of the time.
The Rust Maidens is a look at a town falling to ruin and the people hanging on for dear life because they have no other choice. There’s an overall feeling of inertia, decay and depression as folks attempt to go about their lives as if nothing terrifying were happening to their town, to their lives, to their daughters . . .
Phoebe returns to the childhood home she left 28 years earlier to help move her dad into a nursing home. The return triggers memories of the past and the terrifying occurrences that forever after left an enormous blight on the town. When Phoebe was a teen five girls, one of them her best friend, began to suffer from a strange affliction. The affliction starts to change them physically and earns them the moniker “The Rust Maidens” and it appears the affliction has returned to strike again. The body horror is real and it is horrifying and that’s all I’m saying about it.
Once I started The Rust Maidens, I had a difficult time putting it down to live my life because I needed to know what the heck was happening to these girls. There aren’t a lot of stories that manage to hook me the way this one this did. The writing is intimate and beautifully disturbing. I’m a huge fan of body horror when done for more than gross-out effect (well, ok, I do like those too if they look like Jeff Goldblum in THE FLY) but this story gets it all right. There’s just something about losing control of your entire self and transforming that terrifies and calls to me to read more . . .
I thought Phoebe was a terrific character and a faithful friend who feels all of her attempts to help only succeed in making matters worse and she shoulders far too much guilt. She’s a tough girl, a troublemaker and her return shakes up the lethargy that continues to plague the town.
There is a dark beauty in the decay that permeates this story and I think anyone looking for a unique horror story as well as a beautifully crafted heroine will love it too.
Even after all these years, those words suck the breath right out of my chest.”
After hearing about this book from several book pushing friends, I had a loud niggling feeling that I was going to enjoy this story from the very beginning but I wasn’t prepared for just how much I was going to LOVE it because I am such a grumpy, jaded reader most of the time.
The Rust Maidens is a look at a town falling to ruin and the people hanging on for dear life because they have no other choice. There’s an overall feeling of inertia, decay and depression as folks attempt to go about their lives as if nothing terrifying were happening to their town, to their lives, to their daughters . . .
Phoebe returns to the childhood home she left 28 years earlier to help move her dad into a nursing home. The return triggers memories of the past and the terrifying occurrences that forever after left an enormous blight on the town. When Phoebe was a teen five girls, one of them her best friend, began to suffer from a strange affliction. The affliction starts to change them physically and earns them the moniker “The Rust Maidens” and it appears the affliction has returned to strike again. The body horror is real and it is horrifying and that’s all I’m saying about it.
Once I started The Rust Maidens, I had a difficult time putting it down to live my life because I needed to know what the heck was happening to these girls. There aren’t a lot of stories that manage to hook me the way this one this did. The writing is intimate and beautifully disturbing. I’m a huge fan of body horror when done for more than gross-out effect (well, ok, I do like those too if they look like Jeff Goldblum in THE FLY) but this story gets it all right. There’s just something about losing control of your entire self and transforming that terrifies and calls to me to read more . . .
I thought Phoebe was a terrific character and a faithful friend who feels all of her attempts to help only succeed in making matters worse and she shoulders far too much guilt. She’s a tough girl, a troublemaker and her return shakes up the lethargy that continues to plague the town.
There is a dark beauty in the decay that permeates this story and I think anyone looking for a unique horror story as well as a beautifully crafted heroine will love it too.
I had the pleasure of reading Pretty Marys All in a Row back in November, and I couldn’t get enough of Gwendolyn Kiste’s unique brand of prose. I’m not sure how else to describe the way she writes other than beauty incarnate.
In The Rust Maidens, Kiste could be describing a Cleveland neighborhood or setting down intimate details about a childhood friendship, and she puts the same amount of care into every phrasing, every paragraph. Phoebe, our main character, is so excellently fleshed out and laid bare before us, we can’t help but follow everything that she experiences with eager anticipation.
The story contained within has notes of isolation and a truly original premise. It does a wonderful job of switching back and forth between Phoebe as a teenager and Phoebe as an adult. Where so many books haphazardly throw the reader back and forth between past and present, Kiste accomplishes this with grace.
When all was said and done, I had goosebumps and found myself feeling melancholy, but also happy and fulfilled. This was a story experienced rather than just a story read.
In The Rust Maidens, Kiste could be describing a Cleveland neighborhood or setting down intimate details about a childhood friendship, and she puts the same amount of care into every phrasing, every paragraph. Phoebe, our main character, is so excellently fleshed out and laid bare before us, we can’t help but follow everything that she experiences with eager anticipation.
The story contained within has notes of isolation and a truly original premise. It does a wonderful job of switching back and forth between Phoebe as a teenager and Phoebe as an adult. Where so many books haphazardly throw the reader back and forth between past and present, Kiste accomplishes this with grace.
When all was said and done, I had goosebumps and found myself feeling melancholy, but also happy and fulfilled. This was a story experienced rather than just a story read.
The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste is my first read of 2019 and it set the bar pretty high for all subsequent reads! I am not going to rehash the synopsis of this book because there is so much more to the story than the plot. The plot is interesting, don't get me wrong, but the words and images and emotions The Rust Maidens evoke is much more important. This book was so beautiful yet so haunting thanks to the writing. Entire passages of Kiste's prose read like poetry. The way she could find beauty in the rusted, the decayed, the forgotten was astounding. And the love she has for the rusted, decayed, and forgotten radiated off the page. Those things were no longer detritus, they were beautiful just as they were.
The Rust Maidens felt so personal and private. It was if Kiste was confessing something to her best friend, in the dead of night or as if she was writing in her personal journal - words not intended for just anyone. And that really drew me in right from the beginning. However, it was both endearing yet borderline annoying at times. It had the tendency to come off a little too “woe is me” and I know I rolled my eyes on one occasion. Although, as I write this review, I can appreciate the “woe is me” attitude because Phoebe Shaw was most definitely a flawed protagonist. She was brash and bold yet insecure and loveable and most of all, she was scared. Multiple times, I had to put myself in Phoebe's position and ask myself what I would do. I probably would have felt very sorry for myself too.
This was my first book by Kiste but it won't be my last. I'm definitely looking forward to reading her other books and seeing if I have such an emotional reaction to those as I did to The Rust Maidens.
The Rust Maidens felt so personal and private. It was if Kiste was confessing something to her best friend, in the dead of night or as if she was writing in her personal journal - words not intended for just anyone. And that really drew me in right from the beginning. However, it was both endearing yet borderline annoying at times. It had the tendency to come off a little too “woe is me” and I know I rolled my eyes on one occasion. Although, as I write this review, I can appreciate the “woe is me” attitude because Phoebe Shaw was most definitely a flawed protagonist. She was brash and bold yet insecure and loveable and most of all, she was scared. Multiple times, I had to put myself in Phoebe's position and ask myself what I would do. I probably would have felt very sorry for myself too.
This was my first book by Kiste but it won't be my last. I'm definitely looking forward to reading her other books and seeing if I have such an emotional reaction to those as I did to The Rust Maidens.
Phoebe Shaw returns to Dent street years after leaving it and the rust maidens behind. Back with a mission of closure, she seems to think that her memories have haunted her.
As a teen, she's in a town that doesn't want her, a family who tolerate her, a community that loathes her, and a best friend who accepts her. Jacqueline. When they plot to escape, Phoebe finds that she's one of the rust maidens.
The author did a good job of explaining what a rust maiden was, how they morphed into what they become, her imagery was plain and clear. I enjoyed her book.
There were times in the book that it seemed to crawl, but that may be my own opinion. It took me longer than it usually does to get through this one. I did, however, enjoy it.
The closure at the end was nice and the ending of the novel perfect.
I do have one dislike, I wasn't particularly into the Adrian and Phoebe thing. It may have been meant to be a teenage escape, but came off creepy. I did think trying to form that bond at the end was a way of making up for that. I just didn't get a good feeling from it. I was irked by it, to be honest.
All in all solid book and story. A first read of Gwendolyn Kiste for me but I'm intrigued enough to check out further work.
As a teen, she's in a town that doesn't want her, a family who tolerate her, a community that loathes her, and a best friend who accepts her. Jacqueline. When they plot to escape, Phoebe finds that she's one of the rust maidens.
The author did a good job of explaining what a rust maiden was, how they morphed into what they become, her imagery was plain and clear. I enjoyed her book.
There were times in the book that it seemed to crawl, but that may be my own opinion. It took me longer than it usually does to get through this one. I did, however, enjoy it.
The closure at the end was nice and the ending of the novel perfect.
I do have one dislike, I wasn't particularly into the Adrian and Phoebe thing. It may have been meant to be a teenage escape, but came off creepy. I did think trying to form that bond at the end was a way of making up for that. I just didn't get a good feeling from it. I was irked by it, to be honest.
All in all solid book and story. A first read of Gwendolyn Kiste for me but I'm intrigued enough to check out further work.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes