This is the kind of horror that strikes me deep in my nightmares. Slashers or haunted houses or mysterious cannibal cults are fun for me but never actThis is the kind of horror that strikes me deep in my nightmares. Slashers or haunted houses or mysterious cannibal cults are fun for me but never actually touch any of my fears. When the horror is people in power abusing their power for their own benefit? That terrifies me to my core. Whether it's a vindictive prosecutor, a rapist social worker, or just the terrible, implacable, machinery of the state devouring someone caught in its grip- that's what sets my heart racing and wakes me up in a cold sweat. Maggie Thrash absolutely nailed the frustration and fear that comes with this specific form of powerlessness. Where the truth is whatever those who have power say it is and those who do not fit readily into easy explanations must be hammered at until their edges are chipped away and their square pegs can fit into the round holes. And the whole time these people are suffering at the hands of those in power, their supposed friends or protectors have unwarranted blind faith that the State will protect them. It can't be as bad as they're being told because the state is there to protect, not to harm!
So, yeah, this book stressed the hell out of me for the first half and then the second half enticed me in deeper with its vision of how stunted life becomes when, instead of facing and coming to terms with our horrific pasts, we refuse to look back. I was, as ever, concerned with the introduction of a trans woman character by a (presumably) cis author, but found Thrash's treatment of this character to be generally commendable. The transmisogyny directed against her is done realistically and sympathetically and while the character isn't allowed the depth of our heroine, that's more to do with her being a secondary character than to her being a series of cliches and stereotypes.
All in all, a commendable work that I was truly uncomfortable reading (which I usually have as my goal when approaching horror). Maggie Thrash is a name to watch in years to come....more
Wow wow wow wow wow! I am in love! I thought Little Blue Encyclopedia couldn't be topped, but Hazel Jane Plante's follow-up is somehow even more beautWow wow wow wow wow! I am in love! I thought Little Blue Encyclopedia couldn't be topped, but Hazel Jane Plante's follow-up is somehow even more beautiful and tender and fucked up and evocative. Maybe it's the subject matter- rock and roll has always matter to me so much more than anime. Or maybe it's the way in which the fictive City becomes a character in ways I've not seen outside of the fantasy worlds of NK Jemisin or Catherynne Valente. But I think what it probably is, is the love. Plante loves trans women and sees us with all of our fucked up insecurities, neuroses, and assorted damages and manages to show us that, either in spite of or perhaps because of them, we are still wonderful creatures moving through the world as creators of our own lives and stewards of our own mythic histories.
I avoided reading this book for months since its release because I'd been waiting for it since I finished Little Blue Encyclopedia and knew that it would be a years long wait until Plante writes a follow-up and wanted to savor the anticipation of finally getting to cracking this open. But a friend was desperate to talk with me about it so I bumped it up my queue and devoured it this morning while laying in my hammock and watching the sunrise. Plante's writing is a gift and she absolutely deserves every possible accolade for this book. I won't recount the plot, you can read the synopsis on the book Jacket just as well as I can, but suffice to say that the story-as-mixtape conceit works astoundingly well for me and I was smitten with all of Plante's characters. Absolutely top notch writing, please do not miss this....more
If "A Modest Proposal" were written as a piece of dystopia fiction. Very unsettling but ultimately left me feeling *meh*. Fantastic use of the absent-If "A Modest Proposal" were written as a piece of dystopia fiction. Very unsettling but ultimately left me feeling *meh*. Fantastic use of the absent-referant (as explained in Carol Adams' The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory) to illustrate the dehumanization and coldness of a society that embraces cannibalism while clinging to the veneer of normalcy. This one haunted me the first few days I listened to the audiobook...more
This book took me over two years to finish but was absolutely worth it. Its larger plot (such as it is) of environmental activists resisting the cuttiThis book took me over two years to finish but was absolutely worth it. Its larger plot (such as it is) of environmental activists resisting the cutting down of the last lingering bits of old growth redwoods is one I know all too well from real life and from the tales passed to me by older activists who planned the blockades across logging roads and sat in the trees to try to preserve them. It's an absolutely heart-rending tale and one that never fails to break my heart anew. Hence why it took me two years. Powers deserves all the accolades for this and, of all of his works that I've read thus far, this is both the most engaging and accessible of his books. The man is entirely deserving of his MacArthur grant and, while I know I'll never read this again, it is absolutely one that I'm glad I spent the time with....more