A review by wardenred
Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think I'd give anything to know what happened to leave her like this. As long as it's not waiting to happen to me.

When I read Rory Power's other novel, Wilder Girls, my favorite parts were the ones that dealt with all the weirdness. In Burn Our Bodies Down, though, the weirdness didn't compel me that much. There were some interesting moments, and that image of the weird pink corn is going to stick with me, but I was mostly drawn in by the more "mundane" aspects of the story: the heroine's relationship to her mother, her search for her roots, for a place to belong, wondering if she grew up or simply survived. I almost disliked the fact that the explanations for many of the mysteries Margot faced were as supernatural/speculative as the genre dictates. Mundane horror sometimes hits harder.

It was really great to see a queer protagonist whose challenges or personality aren't defined by her sexuality. Margot mentions her sexuality in passing in her inner monologue and when she sees an attractive girl, she recognizes the attractiveness. That's it. No romance. Much as I love good queer romantic storylines, it's so refreshing to see queer characters just living their life with no relationships to define or justify their queerness. It was also refreshing to see the protagonist make zero assumptions about other people's sexuality: there's a moment where she's talking to a secondary character at a party, spots a ring on his finger and wonders if his spouse is around and if the character told them about the events being discussed. It's a small thing. It's a nice small thing.

The prose was as vivid and flawed as well as I expected from this author. The pacing was kind of rocky for me, with some parts of the narrative dragging while others whooshed past by the end, and I don't feel like all the threads were tied neatly by the end. There are at least two questions I don't have answers to. Not big plot questions, just... "wait, but why exactly the antagonist's plan didn't work here?" and "why are these two acting like friends, what brought this on?".

Overall, this was an enjoyable read, but not something I'd call a favorite.

Read for Queer Lit Readathon (prompt: Non-Coming-Out) and #tistheseasonathon (prompt: Diverse Book).
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