A review by sarahholliday
Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I picked up Feed Them Silence on a whim at the library, initially intrigued by the title and then completely sold on the eco-fiction-meets-speculative-horror premise. That this short novella manages to tackle the ethics and politics of academic research; domestic unease rooted in miscommunication that finds its source in deeply internalized gender norms; environmental crisis and the responsibility we as humans have to earth's other inhabitants in the midst of it—and that it tackles all of these things with a hefty degree of nuance is astounding.

Sean is a fascinating protagonist, at once reprehensibly selfish and pathetically sympathetic, and I loved how Madelo used her conversations with Riya to dig into the ethics of research questions and funding sources.

The writing in Feed Them Silence is layered and beautiful, capturing the various tones in which Sean engages with Kate (her canine research subject) and the world around her.

I really loved this novella and think it's a testament to what can be done with this genre of writing. 
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