Tag: moving

Review: Thistlefoot

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Thistlefoot
GennaRose Nethercott

I’ll cut to the chase, this was one of my favorite books I read in 2023.
Thistlefoot takes place in a world of magic and not, a world where most things are exactly the same as they are in reality but with an important exception —the scars of an event can awaken the spirit of a place.

One of the early mentioned examples of this is a Burger King that grew eyes after a break in.

Thistlefoot, the book’s name sake, is a house that sprouted chicken legs.

The sibling pair at the heart of the story, Bellatine and Issac Yaga, are the inheritors of Thistlefoot and the generational trauma that both makes them who they are and that has been kept from them by their family. They both have their own unusual gifts, which unbeknownst to them are adaptations to that trauma. The book examines disapora in a fascinating way.

The story follows both the Yaga siblings and the history of the house itself in a slow burn reveal of the tragic events that led Thistlefoot to sprout legs and flee.

All while being hunted by a similar oddity, which intends to destroy Thistlefoot.

This book was such a delicate and well constructed handling of generational trauma and particularly genocide. I had gone into it blind and was taken in immediately with the world and characterization.

It’s an absolute recommendation.

Review: The Six Deaths of the Saint

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The Six Deaths of the Saint
Alix E Harrow

A copy paste ! :There are several stories available for free download if you are already subscribed to amazon prime, and I took advantage of that recently and thought I’d spend November telling you about the short stories and novellas I picked up that I liked best and thought was worth the read.

These tend to be stories commissioned by Amazon and put into collections by Amazon

Okay, back to review:

*Vomit, scream, fall over in vomit*
It’s perfect.
Professional start, no?

I absolutely adored this story. It checked every mark for me: time travel, time loop, deal with the devil, character development by progressing through trauma, sacrifice motif, clear evil, unclear anachronistic time period. The tone and voice of the story was so clear and strong immediately, the narrative wasting no time to establish the character outside of anything other than a force to be reckoned with through the motif of willpower.
I have recommended this short story to so many people at this point that even at 29 pages I’m willing to offer it up as one of my contenders for my favorite book I’ve read this year.
It is beautiful, the wording and flow of sentences purposeful and well sculpted.
No notes.

Never Whistle At Night

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As always when I read any collection of short stories there are particular ones which catch my attention, but I really can’t stress how much I enjoyed ‘Never Whistle at Night’. The collection is extremely well put together, spanning a variety of topics impacting indigenous communities, whether that be indigenous folk lore inspired, inspired by racism, classism, internalized trauma, religious trauma, or all of the above and of course more. The cultural weight of each story has its place in the anthology.

The editors deserve all the credit in the world, it’s a wonderful collection. Please support them.

Review: Insomniac City

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Bill Hayes, a memoirist and photographer based in New York City, writes a charming love story to the city and details the loss of romantic partners bookending his initial move to New York and his new life as an established New Yorker.

Famously, Bill Hayes was the partner of the now passed Dr Oliver Sacks and in this book Hayes discusses leaving Los Angeles after the sudden death of an earlier long term partner to a premature heart attack, only to be swept up into a romance with Dr Sacks, their relationship and its age defying and cultural defying nature as Sack’s had been a closeted man. It then details Sack’s cancer and eventual death.

The whole relationship is documented lovingly and sweetly. Something which I lingered on in the telling was the care that Hayes put into not being bitter. Having suffered the loss of two romantic partners, his memoir beginning and ending with loss, it would be easy to see someone fall into despair. Hayes, admirably, writes from a place of love and acceptance.

What first convinced me to read the book was the description of loss in the very beginning chapters, as Hayes details the loss of his partner, Steve—-Of seeking connection and sense in a sudden, unbearable moment. Hayes struck a chord with me early on regarding the nature of grief, yet his optimism, his ability to love again and demonstrate loving again, made this a remarkably wholesome, heartfelt read.