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erinys's reviews
755 reviews
Cackle by Rachel Harrison
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Just a few notes for myself about Cackle, which I recently read back-to-back with Rachel Harrison's first novel, The Return.
It's difficult to classify Harrison's work. In terms of imagery and content, it definitely has to be called horror--there's blood, pain and lots of gross body horror in this novel, as well as some truly disturbing supernatural events.
But like its predecessor, The Return, Cackle is also a love story. It just focuses on an unsual kind of romance: the love between straight adult women who form a friendship which goes deeper than sex or sisterhood, and touches the wellspring of what all women need more than anything else--acceptance, and power.
Harrison's first two books are both written entirely from the viewpoint of a woman who adores her best and dearest friend. But the way this love is depicted has an edge. Like Elise in The Return, Annie in this novel is a woman bereft of close connections. Her mother died when she was young, her father never loved or understood her, and her partner of 10 years just dumped her because he didn't love her enough to get married.
It isn't really a surprise that a woman with so little to hold onto is easily sucked into a potentially toxic relationship. Annie struggles with deep, overpowering feelings of worthlessness, and like Elise in the The Return, it makes her prone to having poor boundaries, and leads her to cling desperately and near-fatally to relationships that are unsafe or unloving.
I'm not going to talk too much about plot of this one or spoil its twists and turns. I just want to note that the themes and emotional conflicts of this book are seldom seen in horror fiction, and are rarely done this well in any genre. Further, this theme of incredibly close, incredibly deep and intimate friendship between women seems to be one that Harrison may keep working on. This kind of dynamic is explored in a different context, in her first novel as well.
I give this book extra points for a lot of good qualities that are hard to achieve in a novel: brevity, simplicity, quick pace, flawless structure. I admire her ability to make a solid point and walk away with a book that feels truly complete.
I also think that this book will always be on my list of top 10 books about witches. I don't think many books are so honest about the wellsprings and consequences of female power, or so willing to say that whatever sacrifices have to be made are worth it.
It's difficult to classify Harrison's work. In terms of imagery and content, it definitely has to be called horror--there's blood, pain and lots of gross body horror in this novel, as well as some truly disturbing supernatural events.
But like its predecessor, The Return, Cackle is also a love story. It just focuses on an unsual kind of romance: the love between straight adult women who form a friendship which goes deeper than sex or sisterhood, and touches the wellspring of what all women need more than anything else--acceptance, and power.
Harrison's first two books are both written entirely from the viewpoint of a woman who adores her best and dearest friend. But the way this love is depicted has an edge. Like Elise in The Return, Annie in this novel is a woman bereft of close connections. Her mother died when she was young, her father never loved or understood her, and her partner of 10 years just dumped her because he didn't love her enough to get married.
It isn't really a surprise that a woman with so little to hold onto is easily sucked into a potentially toxic relationship. Annie struggles with deep, overpowering feelings of worthlessness, and like Elise in the The Return, it makes her prone to having poor boundaries, and leads her to cling desperately and near-fatally to relationships that are unsafe or unloving.
I'm not going to talk too much about plot of this one or spoil its twists and turns. I just want to note that the themes and emotional conflicts of this book are seldom seen in horror fiction, and are rarely done this well in any genre. Further, this theme of incredibly close, incredibly deep and intimate friendship between women seems to be one that Harrison may keep working on. This kind of dynamic is explored in a different context, in her first novel as well.
I give this book extra points for a lot of good qualities that are hard to achieve in a novel: brevity, simplicity, quick pace, flawless structure. I admire her ability to make a solid point and walk away with a book that feels truly complete.
I also think that this book will always be on my list of top 10 books about witches. I don't think many books are so honest about the wellsprings and consequences of female power, or so willing to say that whatever sacrifices have to be made are worth it.
The Return by Rachel Harrison
dark
emotional
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
It's difficult to place Harrison's work. In terms of imagery and content, it definitely has to be called horror--there's quite a bit of blood and death in her novels, and some truly disturbing supernatural events. But the two books I've read so far are also love stories, and they focus on a fairly specific kind of love: the love between straight adult women who form a friendship which goes deeper than most of the relationships they are capable of forming with men, despite being Platonic.
Harrison's first two books are written entirely from the viewpoint of a woman who adores her best and dearest friend. But the way this love is depicted has a toxic edge--the women she writes about are usually bereft of close family connections and have been unable to form close bonds romantically. Her protagonists struggle with deep, overpowering insecurities and feelings of insecurity, which often leads them to cling desperately and near-fatally to relationships that have turned rancid.
In this case, the viewpoint protagonist is Elise, who was devastated when her best friend Julie disappeared while hiking in the National Forest. Unable to let go, unable even to accept that her friend is probably dead, Elise insists for two years that Julie will come back when she's ready--which is all well and good until she DOES come back.
No one is ready for the ways that Julie has changed, now that she's back. But when Elise drives up to a hidden resort to share a weekend reunion with Julie and the other two members of their college Four Musketeers friend group, she has to accept the fact that the Julie she loved so deeply may never have had made it home.
I'm not going to talk too much about plot or spoil the ending of this one. I just want to note that the themes and emotional conflicts of this book are seldom seen in horror fiction, and are rarely done this well in any genre. Further, this theme of incredibly close, incredibly deep and intimate friendship between women is not one that Harrison dropped after her first book. This kind of dynamic is explored even more deeply, but in a different context, in her second novel as well.
I give this book points for a lot of good qualities that I seldom talk about: brevity, pace, structure. I admire her ability to make a solid point and walk away with a book that feels truly complete.
Harrison's first two books are written entirely from the viewpoint of a woman who adores her best and dearest friend. But the way this love is depicted has a toxic edge--the women she writes about are usually bereft of close family connections and have been unable to form close bonds romantically. Her protagonists struggle with deep, overpowering insecurities and feelings of insecurity, which often leads them to cling desperately and near-fatally to relationships that have turned rancid.
In this case, the viewpoint protagonist is Elise, who was devastated when her best friend Julie disappeared while hiking in the National Forest. Unable to let go, unable even to accept that her friend is probably dead, Elise insists for two years that Julie will come back when she's ready--which is all well and good until she DOES come back.
No one is ready for the ways that Julie has changed, now that she's back. But when Elise drives up to a hidden resort to share a weekend reunion with Julie and the other two members of their college Four Musketeers friend group, she has to accept the fact that the Julie she loved so deeply may never have had made it home.
I'm not going to talk too much about plot or spoil the ending of this one. I just want to note that the themes and emotional conflicts of this book are seldom seen in horror fiction, and are rarely done this well in any genre. Further, this theme of incredibly close, incredibly deep and intimate friendship between women is not one that Harrison dropped after her first book. This kind of dynamic is explored even more deeply, but in a different context, in her second novel as well.
I give this book points for a lot of good qualities that I seldom talk about: brevity, pace, structure. I admire her ability to make a solid point and walk away with a book that feels truly complete.
Black Boy Joy by Kwame Mbalia
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Really enjoyed this little collection, which is mostly short stories with the exception of one brief comic and a prose poem. As the cover states, this is just seventeen expressions of Black Boy Joy from seventeen different Black male or non-binary authors.
The word "Joy" is interpreted in many ways here. A few tales feature Black kids as the heroes of sci-fi adventure--jet-pack races, pocket dimensions, superpowers. There's one fantasy story too, a pretty cool one by P. Djèlí Clark, about a kid born in the Caribbean who has moved to New York and brought with him a creature from Caribbean folklore--a mischievous monster called a Jab.
For the most part, though, the stories that celebrate Black boyhood are just slice-of-life pieces about important moments. Real joy is most often associated with mundane things.
Asking out a girl you like. Making a new friend. Quality time spent with a grandparent, a parent, a sibling, a cousin. Receiving love and support from friends and family at a Gender Reveal Birthday Party. Putting together the perfect outfit for the first day of school.
The lack of restriction on the content really serves this collection well. Some of these are formal stories with a pretty standard structure, but others are more abstract or loose--they are meditations on joy and its wellspring. It says a lot that so many of these stories touch on the same things.
The love and affirmation that Black boys receive from grandparents crops up over and over again. So does the importance of music and dancing as a lifeline to Joy. The image of the family gathering comes up a couple of times too.
All the work here is high quality, but in any collection the reader will have favorites. The story that really stood out for me in this book was "But Also, Jazz" by Julian Randall, which made me cry in a healing sort of way. The story had a lot to say about Joy as the antidote, not to sorrow but to despair. And it had a lot to say about the role of creative people, particularly musicians and poets, as keepers of the flame.
The collection is suitable for both adult readers and younger readers from Middle Grade up. Some of the stories almost feel like Black men as authors reaching out to Black boys as kids, which is a nice thought. Black boys could read this, at minimum, and see themselves as joyful heroes. But if they receive a little wisdom from their older selves--about the importance of family, about making and holding onto friends, about how to win love or hold onto Joy as years pass...that would be the icing on the cake.
I'd recommend this book to almost anyone, and I'm really glad I read it. 'Nuff said.
The word "Joy" is interpreted in many ways here. A few tales feature Black kids as the heroes of sci-fi adventure--jet-pack races, pocket dimensions, superpowers. There's one fantasy story too, a pretty cool one by P. Djèlí Clark, about a kid born in the Caribbean who has moved to New York and brought with him a creature from Caribbean folklore--a mischievous monster called a Jab.
For the most part, though, the stories that celebrate Black boyhood are just slice-of-life pieces about important moments. Real joy is most often associated with mundane things.
Asking out a girl you like. Making a new friend. Quality time spent with a grandparent, a parent, a sibling, a cousin. Receiving love and support from friends and family at a Gender Reveal Birthday Party. Putting together the perfect outfit for the first day of school.
The lack of restriction on the content really serves this collection well. Some of these are formal stories with a pretty standard structure, but others are more abstract or loose--they are meditations on joy and its wellspring. It says a lot that so many of these stories touch on the same things.
The love and affirmation that Black boys receive from grandparents crops up over and over again. So does the importance of music and dancing as a lifeline to Joy. The image of the family gathering comes up a couple of times too.
All the work here is high quality, but in any collection the reader will have favorites. The story that really stood out for me in this book was "But Also, Jazz" by Julian Randall, which made me cry in a healing sort of way. The story had a lot to say about Joy as the antidote, not to sorrow but to despair. And it had a lot to say about the role of creative people, particularly musicians and poets, as keepers of the flame.
The collection is suitable for both adult readers and younger readers from Middle Grade up. Some of the stories almost feel like Black men as authors reaching out to Black boys as kids, which is a nice thought. Black boys could read this, at minimum, and see themselves as joyful heroes. But if they receive a little wisdom from their older selves--about the importance of family, about making and holding onto friends, about how to win love or hold onto Joy as years pass...that would be the icing on the cake.
I'd recommend this book to almost anyone, and I'm really glad I read it. 'Nuff said.