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A review by burghbooksandbrews
Spinal Remains: A Collection of Stories by Chad Lutzke
4.0
This was my first experience with Chad Lutzke’s writing, and I was just immediately hooked.This short story collection offers a selection of 14 stories with very different tones, themes, and levels of horror. Some of these deal with very difficult concepts like trauma, aging, and abuse.
I have seen many people refer to these stories as quiet horror which I think is accurate for many of these stories that may not be the kind of outright horror one would expect. These stories are very psychological and engaging.
Some of my favorites included:
Predisposition and a Box of Crayons - A woman dealing with her husband’s abandonment of their family takes solace in her child’s imaginary friend at the expense of her son.
A Season for Pruning - This is definitely one of the more extreme horror stories in the book, and I loved it. It deals with a man living on a farm who decides to rid himself of some “unnecessary parts.”
Culling the Pigs - An abused woman murders her husband and flees to a neighbor’s treehouse where she meets a teenage boy who may be another prideful, egotistical man in the mold of her husband.
Vigil - A group of neighbors basically throws a block party while corpses are disinterred in the local spooky, abandoned house. This really takes a look at our profound fascination with crime and the sometimes disrespectful way we engage with victims as a society.
I really enjoyed this collection overall!
I have seen many people refer to these stories as quiet horror which I think is accurate for many of these stories that may not be the kind of outright horror one would expect. These stories are very psychological and engaging.
Some of my favorites included:
Predisposition and a Box of Crayons - A woman dealing with her husband’s abandonment of their family takes solace in her child’s imaginary friend at the expense of her son.
A Season for Pruning - This is definitely one of the more extreme horror stories in the book, and I loved it. It deals with a man living on a farm who decides to rid himself of some “unnecessary parts.”
Culling the Pigs - An abused woman murders her husband and flees to a neighbor’s treehouse where she meets a teenage boy who may be another prideful, egotistical man in the mold of her husband.
Vigil - A group of neighbors basically throws a block party while corpses are disinterred in the local spooky, abandoned house. This really takes a look at our profound fascination with crime and the sometimes disrespectful way we engage with victims as a society.
I really enjoyed this collection overall!