Scan barcode
A review by khopeisz
Mrs. S by K. Patrick
4.25
For context, reading this book after The Orbital was such a whiplash in writing styles lol. Where The Orbital is fittingly balletic and sweeping and flowy, the prose in Mrs. S is compact, staccatoed, rapid, like the beating of a lovesick heart. But once I was accustomed to the narrator’s voice in Mrs. S, I was along for the ride.
The yearning. Omg this book is all yearning. And for the most part, I love it. I get it. The writing style reflects it too. K. Patrick can really turn a phrase that captures this yearning. I think on the surface you can be quick to chalk this up to ‘gay panic’ but there is something deeper going on. It’s about, imo, the restraints of heteronormativity: how The Girls are free to express their feminine, aromantic traits, but then are quick to lambast the more masculine traits within themselves and each other. The narrator is constantly conflicted. What about herself is free and what about herself is restrained? We see it with the gas station attendants and with Mrs. S. These themes were strong, and I’m glad of their consistency.
[Confession, I can be dizzy sometimes—um, for 60% of this book I forgot what a ‘binder’ was and just thought it was an Aussie’s way of saying ‘bra’ 🤦🏾♀️. It is quite pivotal that you understand a binder is not a bra omg.]
The yearning. Omg this book is all yearning. And for the most part, I love it. I get it. The writing style reflects it too. K. Patrick can really turn a phrase that captures this yearning. I think on the surface you can be quick to chalk this up to ‘gay panic’ but there is something deeper going on. It’s about, imo, the restraints of heteronormativity: how The Girls are free to express their feminine, aromantic traits, but then are quick to lambast the more masculine traits within themselves and each other. The narrator is constantly conflicted. What about herself is free and what about herself is restrained? We see it with the gas station attendants and with Mrs. S. These themes were strong, and I’m glad of their consistency.
[Confession, I can be dizzy sometimes—um, for 60% of this book I forgot what a ‘binder’ was and just thought it was an Aussie’s way of saying ‘bra’ 🤦🏾♀️. It is quite pivotal that you understand a binder is not a bra omg.]
Anyway! I enjoyed the novel, but am rating it this way for a few reasons. 1) I understand why the book was written the way it was, but after a while, the same type of sentence structure gets to be repetitive, and I really lost steam towards the end of the book. 2) I just had some unanswered questions about the main character. I understand that she likely wound up at the school because at one point she idolized or found comfort in the dead author, but I love bell hooks. Am I uprooting my entire life to teach at the bell hooks academy (okay actually maybe I would lol). And 3) this is a pet peeve of mine: I do not like when characters are bad at their jobs. It’s fine for like development purposes but dang my girl was so bad throughout it makes you wonder how she got the job in the first place. She is not good with children (i get they are cruel to her but we don’t get one scene where she’s effective) and she is not good in an emergency. Being a former teacher also, that really irked me lol.
Other than that, once again really enjoyed the novel! Love when a literary book is not afraid to be erotic. Appreciated the themes and use of voice. Would love to purchase this one and reread with a pen in hand, so I could properly annotate (can’t annotate my library copies, alas!).