nostradamusbuddy 's review for:

Fen by Daisy Johnson

3.0

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Daisy Johnson's FEN is steeped in the surreal landscape of the English Fens. Here, a girl can starve herself into an eel, a dead man may turn into a fox, and witches lure men into their homes to eat them. It is at once a study in girlhood, coming of age, and mythic folklore. Though the stories in this collection are undeniably well-written and atmospheric, the collection as a whole doesn't quite come together. I was left with far too many questions and absolutely no answers as to what was actually happening in the collection and what wasn't. I kept waiting for the surreal elements to be grounded in some sort of reality, or for the stories (all set in the same town) to connect in some way, but neither happened. Overall, these stories were individually interesting, but I'm not sure they worked well as a collection.