Take a photo of a barcode or cover
storytimed 's review for:
The Seep
by Chana Porter
But even though it had many of the problems I usually have with novellas (things that happen for no particular reasons, a collection of images instead of coherent worldbuilding, some kinda trauma plot that is barely explored but nonetheless solved) I still was really charmed
I think the beginning of the book, which is set at a queer dinner party with conversations that echo my own queer conversations, was enough to make me think favorably of the rest
The Seep is a post-alien invasion utopia where the titular Seep has gifted Earth with abundance, free psychiatric treatment, and overall good vibes
Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka, a fifty-year-old trans woman, is a tiny bit ambivalent about this utopia but mostly all for it UNTIL her wife leaves her to become a baby again
It's that kind of book! Lots of surreal imagery, enabled by The Seep and the accompanying radical transformation of the planet and peoples on it
After her wife's rebirth, Trina goes on basically a depression bender & the rest of the book is her like...... quest to defeat some guy or maybe save some other guy or honestly none of it matters, actually! Trina's just sad and she's processing!
There are the lightest suggestions of theme here: maybe it's good to feel your feelings instead of letting them be chemically erased? if you can change your body at a whim in the future, maybe don't change your race? your history is important?
But mostly this is just a vibe piece
Which is fine! I think Chana Porter was very good at creating a vibe. The jokes were pretty fun, I liked Trina as a crochety old woman protagonist, and overall I enjoyed spending thime in this world for two hundred pages
Not gonna lie, I will not say that this book is especially tightly plotted, well-constructed, or meaningful. But it is charming, and sometimes that's all I need