Book Review: How to Grow Up: A Memoir by Michelle Tea
I’ve been thinking a lot about growing up lately. My 30’s have been entered. My mindset and lifestyle might be a figurative punk house, but I have the kind of jobs that grownups get, there’s some money in my savings account, and my hair is dyed a single color and cut relatively symmetrically. I shop from the grownups section of the thrift store and I own practical “work” shoes that had triple-digit price tags (before I got them on sale! ha!)
My late teens and early and mid-twenties were speckled with Michelle Tea’s plethora of writing and literary events around San Francisco. She was writing about lives like mine ( but in a really smart and creative way that made things like being dead broke or having mice seem a little romantic even when it was the worst), and was also cultivating this crazy extensive movement of writers in similar boats in the turbulent waters of unlikely to be published in the mainstream. I learned about so many awesome artists and writers! Thanks dude! My life is so much richer with all your work!
So I was really excited when I learned that How to Grow Up was coming out. It’s her first on a mainstream publisher, so I was really interested to see what this meant for an otherwise mostly indie and small press kind of author. I went to the book release event, bought the book, read it. Some of the chapters are ridiculously awesomely written! They are hilarious and relevant and poignant and all that. The book it “worth” the $ for those alone. My impression is that other chapters (none are bad, but some I wouldn’t consider “required reading”) might be a result of some weird thing with the publisher or the editor or something who was like “write me a whole chapter about XXXXXX” (even if there maybe needn’t be a whole chapter). Or “give me X more pages in this section!” There was also a weird inconsistency between the chapters re: how openly queer they were. It’s hard not to see everyone’s business in a small place like San Francisco, so I knew who many of her pseudonymous characters were standing in for– and Tea has the right to write a memoir however she wants to– but I had the distinct feeling that there may have been some editor action making sections seem way more hetero than they were originally intended to be– in an attempt to make the book more broadly appealing. I’m sure this happens all the time in publishing, but.
But over all, it was good! Check it out!
Book Review: Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
I found this cutie in the kids’ new books section at the library. Basically, 12 year-old Grayson was born a boy but feels like a girl on the inside. In this 243 page children’s novel, Grayson deals with various life crises, blossoms in new ways, and faces some hard truths about the world.
I’m all for children’s books that navigate the tricky paths of gender identity and difficult social situations. This one not only does so (ahem) gracefully enough, but also ends on an uplifting, hopeful note that will be desirable to its audience of 10-13 year old kids. If a queer kid (or future queer kid) happens to come upon this book, he or she will probably feel both relieved and empowered. I would have.
Book Review: Beau, Lee, The Bomb, & Me
Just a quickie (even though I think this book deserves more) :
If you’re looking for a super-smart teen protagonist, good (both rich and witty) dialogue, and lots of feelings, check out Beau, Lee, The Bomb, and Me. Our protagonist Rylee is super-smart, but fat and an outcast at school– she ends up going on a surprise road trip to San Francisco with Beau, a bullied gay kid at her school, and Leonie, her bff (of circumstance) who’s basically the class ho with a heart of gold (and as it turns out, lots of really good qualities).
While I didn’t find the entirety of the story 100% believable, lots of the different parts are really heartfelt, interesting, and awesome. Read it. You’ll get through it in about a day, and you’ll totally be googling the author to see if there is more. check it outtttt! Or buy it. It’s on sale for under $7.
Book Review: Leap by Z Egloff
Yay! Another queer indie! Leap is pretty good. The year is 1979 and our protagonist Rowan has just finished high school in her small town and is spending her last summer before college working at the local burger joint. There’s lots of stuff going on (as there always is when you’re 18 and on the cusp of life), but the main thing is that there’s a new girl in town and Rowan’s about to get in her first relationship…
The writing is quite good– the 223 pages give you LOTS of information. There are lots of parallel side plots, the character development is good, and certain things are left unexplained in just the right way. I’ll be looking for more from this writer.
ch ch check it out from the library or buy it from the publisher!
Book Review: Far From Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters
Who: Closeted teenage lesbian weightlifter/plumber/softballer Mike
What: While dealing with her dad’s death, her messed up family, and her “blossoming” sexuality, a new “big city” badgirl named Xanadu moves to town and rocks Mike’s world.
When: present day in an old-fashioned place
Where: A small town far, far away from the West Coast
A totally legit, multi-layered book. Sometimes I only believed in the characters 90%, but that might be because I’m at least 10 years older than the intended audience. But. There’s dimension and it’s well-written and things don’t all come together perfectly– and you really do get a lot in the 282 pages that you’re given.
Book Review: The Island of Excess Love by Francesca Lia Block
I’m basically into whatever FLB writes. The Island Of Excess Love is the follow-up to Love in the Time of Global Warming. Pen, her little brother, the dog, Hex, Ash, and Ez, after an Odyssey of an adventure, are peacefully living in Pen’s old pink house by the sea. The little brother can make plants grow, a character from the old book makes secret deliveries to them of supplies and food, everything’s basically smooth sailing– until a massive ship sails onto their horizon.
What follows is an adventure based on Virgil’s Aeneid. While Love in the Time was more subtle about the protagonist’s Odyssean parallels, this book lays it out for the reader– it can’t be missed. There’s magic, sex, loyalty, sexiness, bewitchment, betrayal, and love. The language is in Block’s typical enchanting tone, the ending is open. It feels short at 200 pages; things happen and they are fascinating to read about– but I want even more.
Get a copy here. It’s a solid choice.
Book Review: Gender Failure by Ivan E Coyote and Rae Spoon
Yay, this book is great. It’s co-authored by two classic contemporary queer writers/performance artists, and just came out this year. It’s based on a live show that the two did together, yet it totally reads like a book (i.e. you won’t be plagued by the persistent feeling that maybe something’s gone wrong and this isn’t supposed to be a book). If you’ve read lots of queer and trans coming-of-age, social critique, and memoir stuff, this book covers familiar ground. Yet it’s still totally fresh in the directions that it takes you. The format it also nice– it’s a vaguely continuous series of vignettes that switches back and forth between the two authors. So Good!
The book itself is 255 pages long, and I read the entire thing in a 30 minute BART ride + a 90 minute plane flight + 20 minutes of the light rail train away from the airport in Seattle. Whoa! Super engaging! The writing ranges from factual to heartbreaking to tender, and is quite good. I don’t really want to give anything away, so just check it out! Or buy it.
Book: Pregnant Butch by AK Summers
Yayyy for queer comics! Pregnant Butch chronicles our butch protagonist Teek through the journey of realizing she’d like to have a kid, acquiring sperm, being pregnant, and later giving birth. Both humorous and tender, this graphic novel simultaneously critiques both the birthing industry and our society’s weirdness with gender, in whole.
Totally great. Comics world kind of lacks butches, so this is a good addition. Find a library copy or buy one.
Double-teen Book Reviews Edition!
I am so busy, so here is a 2fer.
Book Review: Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust BY Leanne Lieberman
I appreciate that this book plays with a topic that is so often ignored by YA lit: religion. And in particular, discomfort with religion.
Our protagonist Lauren has grown up Jewish in a pretty observant family; she had a bat mitzvah, she used to go to the Jewish youth group, and she had to beg her parents to allow her to exchange the fancy Jewish private school for the ordinary public school. Oh, and she might be questioning her belief in the religion– but that’s to the side of the main point. The main point is that the boy who she’s been flirting with plays Nazi games when he gets drunk and this really appalls her because you see, in addition to it being generally messed up, she has built up multiple layers of holocaust-related trauma. And it’s starting to seem like the entirety of her and her religion is based around the holocaust and her friends don’t understand… My description may seem clunky, but the author actually deals with it all pretty smartly.
This is a really solid book in lots of ways. It’s well-written and has surrounding friendship drama plots, coming of age stuff, imperfect relationships and choices, problematic parenting, familial imperfection.
This unusual book is quite good and it won’t take you too long to read. Check it Out!
The Secret Ingredient by Stewart Lewis
Olivia is 16 and lives with her 2 dads in LA. The family owns a fancy little restaurant that Olivia (genius cook that she is) cooks the weekly specials for. But Oh No! the bankers are coming after the family’s restaurant and house because the business hasn’t been doing so hot. Meanwhile, Olivia gets a really cool part time job, bends some legal rules to try to meet her birth-mom (she’s adopted), spends time with a boy from her past, and encounters a lovely little dose of magic. What will happen?!?!
This is a nice read that covers lots of ground and has a good amount of dimension. I wish there was more character depth and physical description of people and outfits, but that’s just me. There are some really good and detailed descriptions of the food– and I guess that’s closer to where the plot’s at anyway. I’d been missing magic, and this had a tidy little dose of it. Get a copy!
Book: Homo by Michael Harris
This is a quick little YA coming out/coming of age story. After the kids at his high school find out he’s gay, our protagonist Will loses his sense of place. It’s a messy little story, kind of like real life, and kind of like the author was trying to make the 142 pages as meaty as possible.
Matt begins dating an older guy online, he had strong emotions about what’s going on in the life of his BFF, he explores his feelings about the out-ness of the other gay boy at school, and he acts like a bog ol’ jerk for a lot of the book. Basically, he’s a teenage mess, which is developmentally normal.
It didn’t change my life, and it’s not too unlike a lot of other gay lit I’ve read– the but I can see how this book could be really important for some readers in need of coming-out companionship (if they were able to get past the title).
Get a copy here!
Book Review: The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin
The Tales of the City books were a big part of the wonderful literary freakshow that lured me (so passionately) to San Francisco over a decade ago. I loved that they were fast-paced and full of quirk– but still really, really real in their dealings with stuff like AIDS. They kept me awake, encouraged me to explore the city once I arrived, and made me feel so lucky to peer in on other people’s lives (even if they were fictional people).
The Days of Anna Madrigal marks the end of the series, as Anna is now an old woman (no longer independent, but still totally brilliant), and the other remaining originals are middle-aged (but not boring). Included elements and mentions are: more detail into Anna’s past, burning man, feminist blogging, San Francisco’s current gentrification…
I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down to do things like shower and go to work. Sometimes “final” books of series can feel like let downs, but this one didn’t. It’s up to the minute, tender, funny, and still a little mysterious. If you haven’t read its predecessors, read them first.
Get a copy here.
Book Review: My Mixed Up Berry Blue Summer
This sweet little 119-page children’s book takes place in Vermont (right as same sex marriage is getting legalized) and is about June (age 12) who lives across the lake from her BFF Luke with her mom and her mom’s partner, in a small town where everyone knows each other, and conflicting feelings about the new same-sex marriage law are on the rise. Homophobic signs start going up on the telephone poles, and a couple kids start bullying June.
The conflict is nested in the broader story that the town pie contest is coming up and June’s mom runs a tourist/lunch shop, where June is the star pie-maker. She also might be having what are the beginning of feelings for her BFF Luke…
I recommend it– the author does a nice job of telling the story from a 12 year -old’s viewpoint, and includes aspects of June’s ambivalence about her mother’s gayness and outness, her uncertainty about whether other people in town are allies, and manages to wrap it up with a tidy ending. Plus, the setting is pretty cool if you’re not used to small east coast lake towns….
Find a copy here
Book Review: Three Cubic Feet by Lania Knight
This novella ended almost as quickly as it began, but its 137 pages are packed with lots of information. Our teen protagonist is gay and out only to his family and BFF, Jonathan. He totally wants to get down with Jonathan (also gay), but Jonathan says no, as he’s taken an interest in hooking up with lots of other guys. Theo’s dad is recovering from a brain injury and his step mom is overly obsessed with all the small details of Theo’s life, and Jonathan’s dad is a violent homophobe. Lots of events collide, and the ending, while mildly uplifting after an intense climax, is not a simple “happily ever after.”
It’s a weird little book with lots of complexities; its biggest strength is that it shows the messiness of humanity (as well as the importance having good people in your life). The ideas and emotions are really strong. The actual series of events didn’t really allure me too much, it seemed like certain happenings occurred without much purpose to the storyline. I would have liked for a lot of the side characters/events to be more fleshed out, and for this to be a novel, rather than a novella. I want Theo’s quirky 1st grade teacher who he met in the gay bar to show back up in later chapters, and for the little sister to have some kinda narrative-altering effects. That sort of thing.
See if the library has a copy, or support the author by buying the book.
Book Review: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M Danforth
This behemoth of a YA coming of age story is 470 pages. The internet recommended it to me, and I was immediately drawn to the idea of it: a teenage lesbian coming of age in farmy and conservative Miles City, Montana, who gets sent to what is basically an “ex gay” boarding school (you know, like along the lines of the one in the genius film But I’m A Cheerleader, and uh, unfortunately in real life too (see map)).
I’m going to start with the critique so that I can end with the really good parts: There are two distinct (and I think unintentional) halves to this book: the first takes place at home in Miles City, and the second takes place at the ex gay boarding school. I don’t feel like they mix well; most of the characters from the first half are totally dropped, and characters in the second half just show up mid-book. Also, the ending leaves you hanging, and I My impression is that the author had a really huge body of work and the editors were like “let’s delete a bunch of stuff and cram this into one book,” rather than “let’s turn this into a miniseries/trilogy” or something… Or the contrast is intended to highlight just how different Cameron’s life suddenly gets when she’s sent away…
But the good! The writing is great, and the setting of Miles City is thoroughly and wonderfully described. I grew up totally West Coast, but the descriptions of how Cameron navigates the space as a young teen felt so familiar. There’s such lovely and nostalgic attention to detail. The coming out parts between teens are so super right on, and I really believed in her relationships and friendships in the first half of the book. I found the religion part really interesting (her aunt moves in and starts practicing as a very Born Again Christian), and while that’s the detail that unfortunately gets Cameron eventually sent away to the ex gay school, it indeed makes for a captivating setting.
The book is a hulking 470 pages, but I remain impressed with the large quantity of information and “story” that gets fit into it. I could really go for a sequel, but I can’t find any evidence of one being in the works.
Get a copy at the library, and check out the book’s website.
Book Review: Red Audrey and the Roping by Jill Malone
At the right time, I think that I could have gotten obsessed with this book.
Because holyshit the writing. The author does such a great job that you can pretty much smell the air, taste the food, feel the sand between your toes. You want to be there, you can pretty much feel yourself there, passionately– even if you’ve never cared about Hawaii before. But this isn’t a book about Hawaii. As a reader, you can also pretty much palpably feel the grief, the anguish, the dissatisfaction, and the infatuation of our protagonist.
We begin in Jane’s hospital bed, some kind of terrible accident has happened. She’s awake from her coma, but the hospital staff has been unable to reach anyone who knows her. She has secrets, and pieces of her memory are still filtering back. Between typically terse interactions with the various hospital staff, we are retold the story of selections of Jane’s life (particularly those that are relationship-related) that lead her to her current circumstance. The pieces are intense.
Read this book because it is brilliantly and beautifully written. You’ll enjoy the trip if you’re into that kind of thing. I thought it was gorgeous– but I couldn’t really handle the abruptness of the ending (I wanted more from the two big parts of the title– personal meaning wasn’t enough for me). The supporting characters were all pretty likable and multidimensional, but I didn’t feel terribly committed to the protagonist.
Buy a copy from the publisher here, or get one from the library.
Book Review: Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block
Francesca Lia Block and I go way back– like all the way to the 6th grade. I stumbled upon Weetzie Bat sometime before it “went missing” from the local library (oooh, yes, it’s a “banned book”), and was immediately obsessed with bleached crew cuts, pink cowboy boots, Dirks&Ducks (omg I could not believe what I was reading!), & pastel-bleached summer so-cal days. Love In the Time of Global Warming is less about life and beauty and finding a sense of place– and more about an Odyssey. And I mean that Homeric-ly. Penelope a.k.a. “Pen” (remember that Odysseus’s wife’s name was Penelope)is the only one left at the site of her family’s house after a huge disaster hits. She holes up along in the rubble for a while until a mysterious man brings her a map and a van…
A dreamlike odyssey follows, and some of the critics point this out as a weakness, but I think it’s kinda beautiful. It’s been well over a decade since I was forced to read the original in school, but I can tell you that the obstacles that Pen encounters mirror those in the classic Odyssey, but in a fresh and unique way. You meet the Cyclops, but it happens somewhere supermodern and kinda apocalyptic anyway (etc). FLB is FLB, so she also finds lovely ways to weave in narratives of LGBT teenagers, which will probably change some kid’s life, first relationships, elements from her real life, and hazards of genetic engineering… If it sounds like a lot it is, and is it literal, or is it an dreamy meditation about how to function, and ultimately love, in a world so damaged by everything our kind has done to it? My recommendation is to avoid going into this book with expectations of tidy points, simplistic resolutions, or clear-cut anything. Just dive in, and see what happens.
Get a copy at the library or from an indie bookstore
Book Review: Blue is the Warmest Color
This graphic novel recently got famous, as (an apparently really great film that I haven’t seen yet) is based upon it. I waited for ages for it to come in at the library– and I want to turn it in quick because there are tons of people in line behind me who have been waiting for it for ages as well.
This is one of those tragically sad/beautiful love stories that people like so much. Based on Clementine’s diaries, the story centers around her coming of age as a lesbian, and her (tumultuous) relationship with Emma. But the whole story begins with Emma reading those diaries at Clementine’s (horribly homophobic) parents’ house after she has died. Sigh, I know.
The writing and art is solid enough that a few minutes of reading past this tragic premise (in the first few pages), I’d forgotten the sad part (until the end, of course). The art is totally gorgeous, and the (often really drawn out) sex scenes come as close to being to being hot as cartoon sex scenes are going to get for me. Certain parts of the story seem a little trite (like the conclusion to the beach scene near the end), but over all there’s a whole lot of solid romantic story compressed into a mere 156 beautifully painted pages.
Find a library copy here or buy one from the publisher here.
book: A+E 4Ever by I.Merey
Just a heads-up that this kinda awesome graphic novel exists. It somewhat poetically tells the story of two queer high school students (a tough girl and a soft boy) who find each other as friends, go on coming-of-age adventures and get into conflicts, etc. The feel is pretty passionate and teenage (lots of song lyrics and drama), and the art totally wins. Check out the “Look Inside” section on the amazon page to see some samples. There’s not really a beginning-middle-end to the story– it’s more of a snapshot in time.
Book Review (sorta): Roving Pack by Sassafras Lowrey
Hey, this book exists and its kind of great. It tells the story of what happens during an impressionable era in the life of Click, a genderqueer kid in Portland, Oregon. If you ever spent any time as a broke young queer punk in a broke young queer punk social scene, this novel may provoke some nostalgia that just kinda settles in a fine layer atop your skin, often lovely, sometimes cringe-worthy. There are bad relationships and hormones and power dynamics and rat pets and living together and more. Lots of us have been there.
The ending didn’t quite exist. I’m assuming there will be a sequel?
You can buy a copy here, or try to find a library copy here. It’s self-published, so buy it if you can.
Book Review: If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
This is the first book I’ve ever read about teenage lesbians in Iran.
So if you don’t already know, homosexuality is illegal in Iran. It can be punishable by death. Women must cover their heads when outdoors, and arranged marriages are fairly common. Obviously, it’s an entire country with lots of other dimension, too– but these are some of the ways that it differs from my life in a liberal city on the west coast of the USA.
Our protagonist Sahar and her BFF Nasrin have been in love since they were children. It’s a secret that’s pretty much been going fine until just recently when Nasrin’s parents have arranged a marriage for her. Nasrin decides to go with it because she doesn’t want consequences, and Sahar’s really upset. Her disquiet leads her into an Iranian queer underground that her cousin Ali is close to the top of…
If You Could be Mine was awesome; the setting was super interesting to me. I thought it wrapped up a little quickly– I want a sequel. Check this book out for its unique context, its solid writing, and its decent amount of depth for a YA novel.
Book Review: Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
After “It Gets Better” got co-opted into a generic non-LGBT-specific anti-bullying campaign, there was this magical cloud over everything that started to imply that the problems of queer kids all over America are due to bullying by their peers– not due to the institutionalized homophobia of the entire society that they live in. Suddenly there was this notion that simple things like purple tshirts and signing online anti-bullying pledges, and carefully-planned interviews on national talk shows had ended homophobia forever, and that queer kids no longer had anything to worry about.
Not the case.
Granted, purple tshirts and signing online anti-bullying pledges, and carefully-planned interviews on national talk shows help make things better. And some things really have “gotten better.” But the system is still broken. Queer kids are still killing themselves because they’re queer.
It really does get better if you can figure out a way to strategically make it better– but it’s not like some equation just goes *zing* and gets magically solved when you turn 18, and suddenly everything that’s been holding you down for your whole life dissipates. We gotta show people how to do the math.
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan is pretty great. Written from the perspective of the ghosts of gay “ancestors” who lived amongst the 80’s and AIDS, it describes a few days in the lives of 5, sometimes 6 teenage gay boys. Two are working on beating the record for the longest same sex kiss, two are starting a new relationship, one is fleeing his abusive family, and another is observing the kiss while still reeling from a recent homophobic attack. There’s tons of details, it’s David Levithan so the writing’s totally lyrical, and you’ll probably read it in one or two sittings. A+, this is definitely one I’ll be recommending.
Book Review: Nevada by Imogen Binnie
Despite a plot that didn’t really go far enough for me, I found Nevada by Imogen Binnie to be quite enjoyable. The writing is super modern and quirky and on-point. Upon finishing the first chapter, I wanted to return my library copy that I’d waited 3 months for, and purchase a keeper copy.
I found the protagonist, Maria, to be relatable in her interests, self-deprecation, and general world-view. Obviously somewhat based in reality, her life was not unlike the lives of myself and my friends (aside from the, uh, heroin). Maria lives in NY and is trans, and the book tells the story of her dramatic breakup with her girlfriend Steph, and part of the road trip that follows. The reason I began this review with that disappointing first sentence is that the book feels cut off. It stops at an awkward point and there is no resolution. Poor Maria! I would have wanted to see what was next for her.
Despite that, I still am going to keep my eye out for Binnie, because she’s quite good with words.
Zines and Comics, oh my.
I feel like a little bit of a jerk for so rarely giving comics and zines their own posts. But the thing is, I tend to read them between and along side bigger books, and so they kinda pile up on my table after I’m done, and I have a hard time getting around to writing reviews for them because I’m already reading something else and too lazy… Maybe that’s a crappy excuse. But I want it on the record that I think that comics and zines are just as important as books. Sometimes even more important because they’re saying stuff that isn’t always marketable to mass audiences.
Phew.
Truckface #14 and Truckface #16 by LB
I’ve only read 3 Truckfaces (see other mention here), and they’re hard to find online and it’s sad because I totally want more. Truckface is a fantastic fat little perzine that LB writes about teaching in public high school in Chicago. Ack, they’re packed full of good though provoking descriptions of teacher strikes and issues of the real world reflected in classrooms, and how fucked up implementations like “no child left behind” are. Not interested in teaching at this moment? It doesn’t matter. LB will make you see how it and the education system all tie into the wider world.
Find them both (along with lots of other awesome stuff that I want) at Ms Valerie Park Distro while they last!
Invasion of the Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
Omg, I had forgotten how totally great this comic was. When I was a teen, the strip was in the lesbian weekly (which I devoured), and the books were some of the only non-erotica queer books by women that could be found at the local gay-friendly indie book store I devoured it, and the characters were a decently sized fraction of the queer culture that I was absorbing. Bechdel recently got more famous for her memoirs (Are You My Mother and Fun Home), but I want to remind my few readers and accidental Googlers that Dykes To Watch Out For is a freaking awesome comic that confronts all sorts of stuff in a really awesome way: corporate america, politix, gender roles, unintentional hypocrisy, human habits, relationship un/conventions and more (and duh, is fun to read).
Find a copy at your library, or ask for it at your local indie book store (if you don’t buy things there but can technically at least kind of afford to, then you’re not doing anything to stave off its inevitable demise… I realized this recently and bought a bunch of stuff at Dog Eared Books)
Book Review: Venous Hum by Suzette Mayr
I kept thinking about Monoceros by Suzette Mayr for weeks after I read it. My review really doesn’t do it much justice, but I guess my reviews sometimes don’t when I’m kind of floored by something. Oh well. I guess I can reiterate now: Monoceros is bizarre and interesting and poignant and well-written, and I recommend it for people who like these things.
So anyway, after realizing that I was still hung up on Monoceros, I searched my library’s catalog for more books by Mayr.
There was nothing.
I searched Link+ (a consortium of West coast public and academic libraries that facilitates the sharing of materials between systems).
Nothing.
I stepped things up and took my hunt to InterLibrary Loan.
Results.
(PSA: if your library doesn’t have a book that you want, ask the librarian if there are any other ways to get it.)
Venous Hum was amongst those results. After a two-week wait that felt like it took forever, I pretty much devoured (plot pun intended) the book as soon as it came in. A venous hum, according to the internet, is a typically benign occurrence where a person can basically feel and hear their own heart beating and blood flowing. You can hear an example here.
It’s difficult to explain the plot– In the present day we are supplied with a chunk of time in the lives of a woman, her wife, best friend, best friend’s husband, mother, sister, father, baby, fetus, high school reunion, and affair. In the past we are shown all of the same characters, but with the addition of the woman’s teachers and classmates. Add in past Canadian politics, racism and race politics, the supernatural, and some light human eating– and you get closer to what’s going on.
An usual element to Venous Hum (and Monoceros, too) is that they both (might) fuck with metaphor. Supernatural stuff goes on and it might be a metaphor– and it might not– but it’s presented literally. There were multiple points in Venous Hum where I had to say aloud WHAT THE FUCK; Mayr does this well. But the WTF moments are simultaneously well-balanced with the really familiar human moments, so really, you still find the story believable.
Find a copy at the library, or ask a librarian to find it for you. We want your questions.
glitter and dirt-- scraps and dessert 