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livinglifeliterary's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful, haunting (pun-intended) collection of stories and a perfect beginning-of-Fall read. All of the stories were enchanting but you need to stop what you're doing and read "The Chambered Fruit" RIGHT NOW. It's the best modern ghost story I've ever read. Ever.
mdpenguin's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is another collection where I think that I'd have liked the stories more if I came across them one at a time rather than all together. It wasn't that they didn't fit into a collection together so much as bouncing from story to story about child death and/or abuse was just a bit much for me. The writing is generally good but I came away from a lot of the stories feeling like they either needed to be a bit less out there or a bit more, like the author couldn't quite settle on the right level of surreality. There was also frequently an ironic dryness that I felt sometimes didn't serve the stories well, but was great in those stories where it did work. And some of the stories felt a little half-baked, like the endings or the oddness were there to deal with the fact that the author didn't know where to go with the story. But, overall, I'd say that most of the stories were reasonably well conceived, well told, and worth reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Death
Minor: Child abuse
lamusadelils's review against another edition
3.0
He leído algunas cosas de Mary Rickert, pero mi relación con ella ha sido principalmente las ganas de leerla sin encontrar sus libros.
Me gusta mucho su estilo, es desorganizado y evocativo pero creo que hay que encontrar los momentos para leerla porque a veces me aburría o no me podía concentrar hasta que tenía tiempo para dejarme llevar por las palabras y volvía a empezar una historia y fluía perfectamente.
La mayoría de los cuentos incluidos aquí son oscuros con temas emocionalmente deprimentes, lo que supongo también es un factor a considerar, más aún que la parte no tan realista (que sin llegar a ser fantástico definitivamente se sale de lo común).
Me gusta mucho su estilo, es desorganizado y evocativo pero creo que hay que encontrar los momentos para leerla porque a veces me aburría o no me podía concentrar hasta que tenía tiempo para dejarme llevar por las palabras y volvía a empezar una historia y fluía perfectamente.
La mayoría de los cuentos incluidos aquí son oscuros con temas emocionalmente deprimentes, lo que supongo también es un factor a considerar, más aún que la parte no tan realista (que sin llegar a ser fantástico definitivamente se sale de lo común).
mariahaskins's review against another edition
5.0
There are short stories in ‘You Have Never Been Here’ that are unsettling and disturbing, odd and brilliant, strange and weirdly beautiful, all at the same time. All the short stories share an ever-present vibe of dark suspense and skewed reality that keeps you on edge throughout, and some of the stories are so skillfully executed in their madness that I know they will stick with me for a long time.
Rickert’s tales teem with death and ghosts and bones, love and loss and haunting imagery. There are dead children, winged children, ghost children, and children collecting bones. There are drowned women who work in coffee shops, a shoe-box full of stones that hold memories of past lives, men building boats in their backyards, a corpse painter, and a strange place that might or might not be a hospital, and a train that might or might not really be a train taking patients to that hospital.
The stories that appealed to me most were ‘Memoir of a Deer Woman’, where a woman is slowly turning into (back into?) a deer; ‘The Shipbuilder’, where a man named Quark tries to understand his own past and his abusive father (or is it really his father?); and especially ‘The Christmas Witch’.
‘The Christmas Witch’ perfectly crafted: a complex weave of witchcraft, weirdness, family, childhood, grief, fear, and loss; with a child at its center who is just as complicate and ornery and powerful and strange as real children can be.
This is a strange and often wonderful collection of stories, even though there are a couple of tales (‘Holiday’ and ‘The Chambered Fruit’ come to mind) that I found so unsettling that they were almost difficult to read. That said, I have a feeling that different readers will find different tales to be the most unsettling.
If you’re into twisted tales that veer off into suspense and even a dab of restrained horror, then this is a book for you.
Rickert’s tales teem with death and ghosts and bones, love and loss and haunting imagery. There are dead children, winged children, ghost children, and children collecting bones. There are drowned women who work in coffee shops, a shoe-box full of stones that hold memories of past lives, men building boats in their backyards, a corpse painter, and a strange place that might or might not be a hospital, and a train that might or might not really be a train taking patients to that hospital.
The stories that appealed to me most were ‘Memoir of a Deer Woman’, where a woman is slowly turning into (back into?) a deer; ‘The Shipbuilder’, where a man named Quark tries to understand his own past and his abusive father (or is it really his father?); and especially ‘The Christmas Witch’.
‘The Christmas Witch’ perfectly crafted: a complex weave of witchcraft, weirdness, family, childhood, grief, fear, and loss; with a child at its center who is just as complicate and ornery and powerful and strange as real children can be.
This is a strange and often wonderful collection of stories, even though there are a couple of tales (‘Holiday’ and ‘The Chambered Fruit’ come to mind) that I found so unsettling that they were almost difficult to read. That said, I have a feeling that different readers will find different tales to be the most unsettling.
If you’re into twisted tales that veer off into suspense and even a dab of restrained horror, then this is a book for you.
ctgt's review against another edition
4.0
Mothers bear children, relinquished to a world that largely forgets how they were, truly one, a single body carrying two hearts, diminished by the strange mathematics of regeneration.
A collection of 11 stories with a recurring theme of loss
Loss of a loved one
Loss of oneself
Several “ghost” stories but I would not call this a collection of horror or even supernatural stories. These elements are tools to explore our questions of the unknown. Life, death, love….loss
Memoir of a Deer Woman-a woman gradually transforms in to a deer.
Journey into the Kingdom- one of my favorites. A story within a story. A group of paintings is accompanied by an “artists statement” explaining the death of a lighthouse keeper and how the family is visited by the father as well as other ghosts. Ghosts continue their existence by taking our breath.
The Shipbuilder-a son returns home after his father confesses to a crime. A bit of a selkie tale.
Cold Fires-two people in their home during a winter storm tell stories to each other;
The strawberry wife and a mysterious painting.
The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece-a sheriff and his wife deal with the loss of their son in different ways.
Why else would there be death, after all, if not for revelation?
It is so cold he can see his soul.
The Christmas Witch-children collect the bones of small animals, “the skeleton stage” of child development. One girl has to deal with the bones taking on a life of their own.
Holiday- a grown son tries to come to grips with the accusations against his father. A very uncomfortable story.
The Chambered Fruit- another favorite. A young mother and father deal with the loss of their child and their responsibility for her death.
What rational response can there be? Life is composed of large faiths, in the series of beliefs that sustain us, we little humans whose very existence is a borrowing from the dead.
Now I know what waits at world’s end. Rage is what fills the emptiness. Rage, and it is cold.
The dead are selfish. Jealous. Lonely. Desperate. Hungry.
Anyway- another favorite. A son discovers a secret about his aging parents involving an ancient rite with Bloodstones. A fascinating ending.
What if you could save the world? What if all you had to do was sacrifice your son’s life, Tony’s for instance, and there would be no more war, would you do it?
The Mothers of Voorhisville- a novelette that took some time to warm up. I became more intrigued as the narrative continued and ended up really enjoying the overall story. Several women and girls in town spend time with a blue eyed stranger driving a hearse.
What mother wouldn’t kill to save her babies. The only thing unusual about our story is that our children can fly. (Sometimes, even now, we think we hear wings brushing the air beside us.)
Sylvia was not living the life she’d imagined when she was a high school girl who thought her job at the canning factory was temporary. She used to look at the women working there and wonder why they stayed. Now, Sylvia knew. It just happened.
You have never been here- a strange, dream fever type of story
The bodies are coated with a faint gray film and maybe this isn’t love, maybe it’s only desire, loneliness, infatuation, maybe it’s just the body’s need, maybe it isn’t even happening, maybe you have already been cremated and you are bits of ash creating this strange dream but maybe you are really here, flesh to flesh, ash to ash, alive, breathing, in the possibility of love.
I believe most of these stories have been published before (three are new) but this is my first time reading any of them. These tales from Rickert are exactly what I look for in a collection, new ways to look at familiar human emotions. The writing was evocative, moving, emotional, poignant and at times, dark.
Highly recommended.
9/10
A collection of 11 stories with a recurring theme of loss
Loss of a loved one
Loss of oneself
Several “ghost” stories but I would not call this a collection of horror or even supernatural stories. These elements are tools to explore our questions of the unknown. Life, death, love….loss
Memoir of a Deer Woman-a woman gradually transforms in to a deer.
Journey into the Kingdom- one of my favorites. A story within a story. A group of paintings is accompanied by an “artists statement” explaining the death of a lighthouse keeper and how the family is visited by the father as well as other ghosts. Ghosts continue their existence by taking our breath.
The Shipbuilder-a son returns home after his father confesses to a crime. A bit of a selkie tale.
Cold Fires-two people in their home during a winter storm tell stories to each other;
The strawberry wife and a mysterious painting.
The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece-a sheriff and his wife deal with the loss of their son in different ways.
Why else would there be death, after all, if not for revelation?
It is so cold he can see his soul.
The Christmas Witch-children collect the bones of small animals, “the skeleton stage” of child development. One girl has to deal with the bones taking on a life of their own.
Holiday- a grown son tries to come to grips with the accusations against his father. A very uncomfortable story.
The Chambered Fruit- another favorite. A young mother and father deal with the loss of their child and their responsibility for her death.
What rational response can there be? Life is composed of large faiths, in the series of beliefs that sustain us, we little humans whose very existence is a borrowing from the dead.
Now I know what waits at world’s end. Rage is what fills the emptiness. Rage, and it is cold.
The dead are selfish. Jealous. Lonely. Desperate. Hungry.
Anyway- another favorite. A son discovers a secret about his aging parents involving an ancient rite with Bloodstones. A fascinating ending.
What if you could save the world? What if all you had to do was sacrifice your son’s life, Tony’s for instance, and there would be no more war, would you do it?
The Mothers of Voorhisville- a novelette that took some time to warm up. I became more intrigued as the narrative continued and ended up really enjoying the overall story. Several women and girls in town spend time with a blue eyed stranger driving a hearse.
What mother wouldn’t kill to save her babies. The only thing unusual about our story is that our children can fly. (Sometimes, even now, we think we hear wings brushing the air beside us.)
Sylvia was not living the life she’d imagined when she was a high school girl who thought her job at the canning factory was temporary. She used to look at the women working there and wonder why they stayed. Now, Sylvia knew. It just happened.
You have never been here- a strange, dream fever type of story
The bodies are coated with a faint gray film and maybe this isn’t love, maybe it’s only desire, loneliness, infatuation, maybe it’s just the body’s need, maybe it isn’t even happening, maybe you have already been cremated and you are bits of ash creating this strange dream but maybe you are really here, flesh to flesh, ash to ash, alive, breathing, in the possibility of love.
I believe most of these stories have been published before (three are new) but this is my first time reading any of them. These tales from Rickert are exactly what I look for in a collection, new ways to look at familiar human emotions. The writing was evocative, moving, emotional, poignant and at times, dark.
Highly recommended.
9/10
livinglifeliterary's review
5.0
A beautiful, haunting (pun-intended) collection of stories and a perfect beginning-of-Fall read. All of the stories were enchanting but you need to stop what you're doing and read "The Chambered Fruit" RIGHT NOW. It's the best modern ghost story I've ever read. Ever.
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