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A review by roenfoe
Site Fidelity: Stories by Claire Boyles
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I wish I had time to write this review when I first read this book two months ago, as my thoughts were much clearer then. I will do my best to summarize what I can remember and what is contained in my notes.
Site Fidelity is an excellent short story collection; tight and concise, yet lyrical in its narratives. The stories are loosely connected, but never overstep each others' themes or become muddied. There wasn't a single chapter that I felt should be removed- in fact, I would have loved to spend even more time with Site Fidelity, though its short length made it bittersweet in a way.
The major concepts of the work (eco-feminism, womanhood out west, ecological destruction, destructive relationships, etc.) weave throughout each story, but the individual sections also address various other ideas in a self-contained manner. I resonated with many of the female characters and their pain, and was moved to tears multiple times while reading. It is hard to describe the uniquely female perspective captured by Boyles, but it was spot-on. There is an undercurrent of female-based trauma throughout all of Site Fidelity; this raw, emotional streak made the female characters seem all the more tangible.
My only major criticism of Site Fidelity is its notable lack of indigenous perspectives/characters. To me, it feels almost impossible to write a work based on the concepts of ecological destruction and female pain set in the West without indigenous characters. That is not to say that indigenous people should be characterized solely by the injustices that they have suffered; rather, it feels disingenuous not to include the experiences of indigenous women in this context, considering the historical relevance of their experiences and their continued oppression (and erasure) in the modern day.
Site Fidelity is an excellent short story collection; tight and concise, yet lyrical in its narratives. The stories are loosely connected, but never overstep each others' themes or become muddied. There wasn't a single chapter that I felt should be removed- in fact, I would have loved to spend even more time with Site Fidelity, though its short length made it bittersweet in a way.
The major concepts of the work (eco-feminism, womanhood out west, ecological destruction, destructive relationships, etc.) weave throughout each story, but the individual sections also address various other ideas in a self-contained manner. I resonated with many of the female characters and their pain, and was moved to tears multiple times while reading. It is hard to describe the uniquely female perspective captured by Boyles, but it was spot-on. There is an undercurrent of female-based trauma throughout all of Site Fidelity; this raw, emotional streak made the female characters seem all the more tangible.
My only major criticism of Site Fidelity is its notable lack of indigenous perspectives/characters. To me, it feels almost impossible to write a work based on the concepts of ecological destruction and female pain set in the West without indigenous characters. That is not to say that indigenous people should be characterized solely by the injustices that they have suffered; rather, it feels disingenuous not to include the experiences of indigenous women in this context, considering the historical relevance of their experiences and their continued oppression (and erasure) in the modern day.