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auteaandtales's review
3.5
This anthology wasn’t what I expected but I did find myself enjoying it more than not. I reviewed each individual story below, and then I’ll share my overall thoughts. Firstly, though, I wanted to share this quote from the epilogue that I think will stick with me for a long time.
“In a time where society is increasingly divisive, social media, echo chambers, and our bias toward positive reinforcement is making it hard to listen. People are becoming their stereotypes, and we’re forming teams or camps, aligning ourselves with our extremes. We’re losing empathy for those who do not look or speak like us or believe what we do. Surrounded by these binaries, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to the grey space”
Fu*kboy Museum by Deesha Philyaw: 4 stars
This was a great start to the anthology. It was a gateway to what was coming. The premise is a Black, middle aged woman who dates mediocre men online and decides to enforce her revenge. She is being questioned by a police officer and, as the police officer goes through her report, Lilli remembers her misdoings. It was fun to read, I had a good time.
“Guilt is so…pedestrian”
Caller by K-Ming Chang: 3 stars
This one followed a woman who develops a connection with another woman who is trying to scam her over the phone, Yina. I enjoyed an insight into her life, but the narrator was less the morally grey character, it was more about Yina. It was an interesting perspective, but I wanted more from this story. It didn’t satisfy me. I think the main issue is that it’s a stream of consciousness, which I’ve never really vibed that well with, so it’s probably more of a preference for this one. I did enjoy that it was sapphic, though.
“Don’t try to wring out the sky. Go stand somewhere where it’s raining. Unzip the sky.”
All You Have Is Your Fire by Yah Yah Scholfield: Four Stars
“to be punished was to be humiliated. to admit defeat with tears and whimpers was pure cowardice, proof that she could be broken”
“ache was something for the belly, for the head, and those could be soothed. No, Dahlia hurt”
“most fairy tales were changed to become sweeter, softer, more palatable. let her story change too”
“It was like she was God, striking out, sending bolts of lightning to destroy”
This follows Dahlia, an abused and hurt teenager who decides to take control over her own life by becoming a pyromaniac. I could relate to this one, you could feel her anger at the injustice done to her. So much so, she wanted to burn it all down, a nice fresh beginning. The writing was fantastic, too. I already have a few books by this author on my TBR but I should bump them up!
The Other You by Maisy Card: Four Stars
This follows a woman who goes to Jamaica in order to visit the woman, Vera, whose husband had left for her. Vera thinks her husband died in an accident many years ago. It told the story of the trail left behind by destructive, cruel and selfish men. The manipulation turns the other victims into people who deserved it and you were better than them, until they themselves become/realise that they are the victim too. I thought it was well told and I enjoyed the writing, but the ending was abrupt.
Maps by Vanessa Chan: 2.5/3 stars
“when you die, I come obsessed with recreating you”
This one was pretty disgusting. I felt nauseated the entire time. I’m sorry, body horror is not for me, although just because it wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean this won’t be for others. Body horror is a great way to express things, and given the content of the story it did fit well.
I know this story was representing the two different types of victims, one of them being a perfect victim and the other being an imperfect victim. I appreciated that part, and I did like the writing. Oh, and the ending was very satisfying I think.
Aquafina by Chana Porter: 3.5 stars
“Because you realised the secrets to bodies which is that we don’t really have them”
“she’s the main character and i’m the fu*king friend. i’m always the fu*king friend. even in my own life. and this makes me angry. and my anger makes me powerful. makes me beautiful. so i take off all my clothes. and run into the waves”
“if i drown in this ocean tell my mother i’m still angry”
The writing in this was really beautiful, it’s told in poetry form, and, to me, it told a story of a woman’s’ obsession with beauty to the point of corruption while real horrors happen all around you, which are ignored. She talks about the beauty of her best friend, how she wishes she could be like that, and then swiftly mentions rising sea levels and the mistreatment of immigrants before jumping right back into obsessing over her friend and her beauty. I thought it was well done, if that was the intention of the story. I enjoyed it.
A Scholarship Opportunity by Megan Giddings: Four Stars
“To be a bad man, you have to do such over-the-top shit that people actually feel comfortable talking about you. But money and height and hair and a deep voice can cushion you toward neutrality.”
“There is no such thing as neutrality for anyone who isn’t a cis white man”
“I think world peace can only happen if people fight against one of the worlds greatest evils: self-centeredness”
I really liked this one. The writing was fun and it flowed really well. I like that it was about going against conformity and the consequences that has on you, such as the rejection from even those who love you and being seen as bad. This was amplified even more by how young the girl was, only seventeen, and carrying so much weight on her shoulders with all the expectations she will have. These are extra heavy compared to the cis white men in her life, who will be allowed to make mistakes and be forgiven for them. She chooses a path of rebellion in order to give her access to freedom and anonymity.
Sick by Alicia Elliot: Four Stars
“If she wanted either of us to be that kind of daughter, she should have been that kind of mother”
“I didn’t deserve the poison my mother mixed with her love and poured down my throat”
This one follows a woman and her abusive mother, who is sick and she is forced to look after. I enjoyed this a lot and found it somewhat relatable. I like how it explored the hold abusive family members can be like even when you’re well into your adulthood. It exploded generational trauma. I did want more about the characters, though. Although a short story, I would have liked to know them a bit better, especially the MC, and some more background information.
Ms Wrong by Chantal. V. Johnson: Two Stars
“the void fillers were only deepening the void”
I didn’t gel with this one too much unfortunately, and I wasn’t really understanding what was happening? I like the science fiction/robot elements and the theme of toxic masculinity that I think was present here but nothing else was for me.
Holes by Alice Ash: Three Stars
I liked it, I enjoy reading about mother/daughter relationships. There was also discussions on exploitation of children, womens’ bodies and societal expectations which would be fun to explore further into a full length novel.
Manifestation by Sarah Rose Etter: Four Stars
“I believed there was a deeper meaning beneath everything that happened to me: things I purchased in the store, people I met at parties, the moment the highway cleared of all traffic just for me. Everything was a sign of abundance”
“There is true evil in the world and when you see it, you will know it by the hairs standing up on the back of your neck. And the hairs on the back of my neck stood up at the bus stop, but it was a different evil, an evil different from murderers and rapists, an evil that’s more subtle than that, an evil that doesn’t even know it is evil, an evil that will ruin your life when it smiles, blondly, an evil that will take everything from you and then forget your face, in your eyes, and think itself righteous when it presses a small crystal into your open palm”
This one was so good. I think it speaks a lot about the very privileged of our society (pretty, rich, white) who have mental health problems and the way they will cope with that in comparison to the ways other people do. Having two perspectives was also a great way to represent two sides of the same coin and how privilege was the only difference between one side & the other. Another one I would love to see a full length novel about.
Buffalo by Alison Rumfitt: three.5 stars
“Women face violence from men everywhere they go. Everywhere we go”
I’ve read from this author before so I knew what I was getting into, lots of body horror! Again, body horror is not my thing but I think it’s a great tool to explore. I always appreciate that this author does, reclaiming what has been taken from them and what has harmed them in the past (they in this case would refer to trans women as a collective). I haven’t seen the horror movies she is referencing but I know a lot of queerphobia is present in lots of horror movies. I think if this had been expanded and explored in something full-length or even more of a novella, I would have connected with it more, because it was well done. I also liked that she broke the forth wall by talking to the reader directly as if we were the serial killer.
Composition by Aliya Whiteley: Three Stars
I loved that the main character of this story had powers over bacteria, I thought that was so cool and original. It was also fascinating to hear her talk about how this made her feel like a God, it was very warped, but I didn’t really get anything from this story, other than a really neat idea. I would like to see it expanded on.
The Monolith by Chaya Bhuvaneswar: 3 stars
“Their earnestness becomes a blundering ignorance of how the world works”
The narrator of this one is one of the worst perspectives to read from in this anthology. It revolves around medical students and how she and her roommate want to take down a fellow coworker out of mostly jealously. I like how this showed how women perpetuate misogyny and the corruption within the medical industry that many know all too well. I was confused for a lot of it and I’m still not sure what the story was ultimately about but I enjoyed it enough anyway.
The Devil’s Doorbell by Amanda LeDuc: 4 stars
“if people don’t notice you, they don’t notice how you walk, or what you need, or whether and how the things you need might be different from the needs of someone else. If people don’t notice you, they won’t laugh at you for needing any of these things”
Unlike the tone of the rest of the book, this was quite a sweet story. It would have been a good note for the book to end on, I think. It was about being a disabled, gay woman and coming to terms with that under the hostility of an extremely religious caregiver (using the symbolism of a Sapphic relationship where one of them is the literal Devil). It would have been five stars but some of it was a little too uncomfortable for me.
Amaranth by Lauren Groff: 3 stars
I don’t think this was the best story for this anthology to end on (as said, the last story felt like more of a perfect closure for me). This was about eating disorders and grief and unsavoury ways of coping with that. I did like that it had selective mutism in it, as well.
Overall, I had a good time and I will be reading all of these authors again at some point. Many of them are already on my TBR (and one of them, I have read from before). It was a great anthology and, like them all, it was a mixed bag with some I really enjoyed and some I didn’t as much but I think there will be something for everyone. I love women, I support their rights and their wrongs. I look forward to the next anthology.
My other thoughts are that there was a theme of mothers and I don’t know if it was intentional, probably not, but it did raise the question of the expectation of women on society and how these bad mothers have been just as mistreated as their daughters have been, maybe more so, and how all of these internalised belief’s they’ve had over the years have leaked their unhealed trauma into their children. It was a layer I personally enjoyed thinking about.
Overall, I had a good time and I will be reading all of these authors again at some point. Many of them are already on my TBR (and one of them, I have read from before). It was a great anthology and, like them all, it was a mixed bag with some I really enjoyed and some I didn’t as much but I think there will be something for everyone. I love women, I support their rights and their wrongs. I look forward to the next anthology.
My other thoughts are that there was a theme of mothers and I don’t know if it was intentional, probably not, but it did raise the question of the expectation of women on society and how these bad mothers have been just as mistreated as their daughters have been, maybe more so, and how all of these internalised belief’s they’ve had over the years have leaked their unhealed trauma into their children. It was a layer I personally enjoyed thinking about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Transphobia, Fatphobia, Racism, and Ableism
Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Body horror
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