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A review by kierscrivener
The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado
4.0
An evocative six issue series that follow Eldora and Octavia, two queer friends in a small shutdown mining town in the 90s.
A town that has been on fire for years, they wake up after a movie, unable to remember the last hours and (spoilers) Machado and Dani use horror and mystery to explore the psychological ramifications of sexual assualt.
It reminds me of Women Talking, that draws from the true events of Manitoba Colony, a Mennonite commune in Bolivia. Where from 2005 to 2009 a hundred and thirty women were drugged and than raped by the men in their community. Machado frames Low, Low Woods in the same way replaing drugs with magic and feminist dialogue with horror.
Both tackle the ramifications of trauma and effect going forward on survivors of sexual violence. And that the same topic can be explored in unique and nusnced ways in different mediums and genres.
I loved that Low, Low Woods did not make a judgement call on 'a right way' to respond to assualt. Instead allowed each character to decide on their own to forget or to remember, to stay or leave, to seek justice or to move on. And that no matter the choice it will be a long road of healing as people, as families, as friends and as a community.
Knowing the end, I think I will reread it soon to better explore it and may even read Women Talking by Miriam Toes again.
CW: sexual assualt, trauma, abuse, sexism
A town that has been on fire for years, they wake up after a movie, unable to remember the last hours and (spoilers) Machado and Dani use horror and mystery to explore the psychological ramifications of sexual assualt.
It reminds me of Women Talking, that draws from the true events of Manitoba Colony, a Mennonite commune in Bolivia. Where from 2005 to 2009 a hundred and thirty women were drugged and than raped by the men in their community. Machado frames Low, Low Woods in the same way replaing drugs with magic and feminist dialogue with horror.
Both tackle the ramifications of trauma and effect going forward on survivors of sexual violence. And that the same topic can be explored in unique and nusnced ways in different mediums and genres.
I loved that Low, Low Woods did not make a judgement call on 'a right way' to respond to assualt. Instead allowed each character to decide on their own to forget or to remember, to stay or leave, to seek justice or to move on. And that no matter the choice it will be a long road of healing as people, as families, as friends and as a community.
Knowing the end, I think I will reread it soon to better explore it and may even read Women Talking by Miriam Toes again.
CW: sexual assualt, trauma, abuse, sexism