A review by gengelcox
The Sin of America by Catherynne M. Valente

challenging dark medium-paced

2.0

Okay, sure, this is supposed to be allegorical, possibly even surrealistic, in much the way that Ballard et al. challenged norms and mores in the New Wave with stories like “The Assassination of John F. Kennedy Seen as a Downhill Motor Race.” I get that. Which means I need to interpret this story, and my interpretation may not be yours or even what the author intended, because once you move away from realism, stories like these become fairly subjective. I see it as a cross between “The Lottery” and the Jesus myth, crossed with a bit of Native Americana: sin-eating cleanses the world, but at what cost for the eater, and who would ever voluntarily take that upon themself? I liked it up until the ending, where the diner crowd turns on the sineater…for what, I’m not sure. Has she not done her duty? It was all too gross and violent, likely to echo the sins that America is founded on and continues to endure, and yet I just don’t buy it. Every culture, every country, has sins. Don’t fool yourself. While some in America wish to deny this, there’s enough people who do recognize it, such that we are no monoculture. At the end, I just didn’t see what Valente’s story was meant to accomplish.