A review by jesterclown
The Doll's Alphabet by Camilla Grudova

3.5

I’m as surprised as you are but I enjoyed this markedly twee collection of magical realist short stories. The tweeness derives not from the magical realism, which - as is often the case - is delivered in deadpan, spare economical prose. No, the tweeness is conveyed through the author’s seeming fetish for grotesque Victoriana: it’s in the settings (factories, bistros, cafes, creaking old terraced buildings) and it’s in the content of the prose itself which alternates between a seeming never-ending series of lists, sometimes of tchotchkes and kitschy relics (buttons, dolls, ornamental figures, lace) and sometimes of foods (golden syrup, tinned meats and fish, mass-produced candies). The returning motif of sewing machines is a rather obvious metaphor for the undervalued labour of women and the misogyny of viewing women as objects. And yet I was often beguiled and sometimes surprised by Grudova’s ability to tell stories in scant few sentences and sometimes through the lists themselves. I was also delighted by her fiendish left turns into the truly disgusting and transgressive. But as with most short story collections, the quality varies wildly.