...the Soul of Wit - Short Reviews

Here are some new short reviews for you to enjoy!

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

I have first read Mapping the Interior a couple of years ago but didn't give it much credit, mostly because I had the feeling that I didn't understand it. Now, for yet another group read I re-read it and was lucky enough that I had people to discuss it with and explain things to me. These discussions having cleared the question marks in my mind, I think that I finally can give this book the appreciation it deserves.

This is the story of Junior, an American Indigenous kid whose mother has left the reservation after the death of his father, taking him and his brother Dino to live in a sort of modular container house. Their life is marked by poverty, watching TV and the bullying of Dino, who has a sort of nervous disability. On the cusp of adolescence, Junior starts seeing the ghost of his father at nights. Having never properly known his father, he appears to the boy in the splendid traditional fancydancer garment of his people and walks around their house. Trying to make sense of why his father chose to appear to him at this specific point in time, Junior realizes that even though he can profit from and more importantly count on his father's support when in need, the strength behind that apparition is much uncannier than the young boy thought.

Such a little novella can weigh so heavy... Even though the story is so bare and stripped down, Jones knows exactly how to make the symbolism speak volumes and that above all, beside the infinitely lovable characters, makes this book a precious read.   

The Toll by Cherie Priest

Since the summer has somehow said goodbye to Berlin and I didn't want to rely on my beloved hot-water-bottle only, I thought I'd read a Southern Gothic to warm up my thoughts and Cherie Priest's highly praised The Toll had been on my TBR for way too long.

Dual storylines are seriously popular in current mystery/horror novels and although I am kind of sick of it, it admittedly worked fine here. On the one hand we follow Titus and Melanie Bell, who, heading to their honeymoon in the Okefenokee State Park in Florida to camp and swim in the swamp, encounter a bridge that actually shouldn't exist and cross some kind of border by crossing it. On the other hand, we have the town of Staywater which is really all kinds of weird...

Although the mystery (and this is really more mystery than horror) and the resolution didn't really grab me, I found that the atmospheric writing in this book and above all the insanely vivid characters kept me engrossed.

Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories by Terry Bisson

First, word got around in the Otherland Book Club that Bisson is an ace author, so I was intrigued.

Then, I saw the incredibly... incredible, Bisson-based short film "They're Made Out of Meat" and I just had to read him! 

Finally, I found this audiobook and I'm a fan! I had a wonderful seven plus hours listening to these weird, sarcastic and funny stories and often laughed out loud. I love the underlying humor/satire and Bisson truly knows how to criticize present circumstances by showing their absurd dimensions and furthering them; such as in "By Permit Only", a discerning story about a dystopia where everything, even crimes such as gross environmental pollution, sexual assaults and battery are regulated and allowed by permit in order to attain a balanced and stable society.
I really enjoyed the rather super-short, interlude kind of stories such as "Partial People", a literal interpretation of the term 'partial' or "Are There Any Questions?", a sharp critique of the real estate sector. The stories I enjoyed most were "The Two Janets" where a woman named Janet who moved to New York to live an exciting life discovers that all the excitement moved to her home town instead; "Next", a demonstration of the absurdity of racist bureaucracy and finally "Necronauts" a surprisingly terrifying piece in which a blind painter is involved in an experiment that promises the prospect of giving him back his sight. My absolute number one in this collection is an emotional piece, "George", a baby who is born with wings.
I will definitely try to read more Bisson in the future, really enjoyed the experience! I will also listen to this collection many times over in the future. Plus, all three narrators were simply great!

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

Super anticipated, this book created a stir within the horror community, everyone talking about this underrated author and his work on "body horror and psychological horror" combined in a shocking way.

And I jumped on that train; the cover, the premise, the title... I thought everything about this book suggested I would unconditionally love it. And in the end, this experience didn't work out for me at all... All I found was a meager, rushed little novella, written in a hurry to finish. My impression was reinforced by the fact that even though the book is officially 120 pages in paperback, most of it were email and chat log information (to:... from:...subject:...date sent... or the very long user names/email addresses) which honestly felt like the author was trying to fill the pages Dame Sally Markham style.
The characters, especially in the beginning until a certain turning point, felt interchangeable to me and not really convincing in their interaction.
I wish the author would do a more detailed work on BDSM, bullying, mental health, because I think the book touches subjects that are indeed interesting but need a little more space to ripen.
The cover is the most awesome thing about the book to be honest.

Entropy in Bloom by Jeremy Robert Johnson

Another awesome cover!

But this time the work between the covers is actually well thought out, well-written, an overall fantastic collection of short stories - my second short story collection within a month, yay, I'm catching up! I really had the feeling that Johnson writes genuinely, committedly and that spark jumps over to the reader. Although I can't say that I loved every story, I thought the first and last stories were exceptional in different ways and I had a couple of stories that seriously left an impression on me. I was surprised by how much this is indeed a dystopic work, and not as much written to bring the scares; from body-horrific dystopia where body modification escalates to inconceivable dimensions, over concepts of highly unsettling hiveminds, to the invasion of ruthless straight edges and other radical movements, to a guy building a suit made out of cockroaches for the nuclear apocalypse... There are also moving stories, like two brothers coming to terms with each other during a road trip, stories about consequences of domestic violence, about fear, about betrayal. In these quaint, deeply genuine 16 stories, Johnson presents everything that moves us, everything that is us - sometimes ridiculous, sometimes tragic and everything in between.