Beguilingly inventive and edgy tales.
This gruesome collection of short stories explores the perils and pleasures of encounters with the unknown.
“You are entering strange territory,” remarks Schaller in a smart, sinister introduction that cautions readers that any stranger encountered “might be the Stranger”—or rather, the devil himself. Fourteen stories are offered here, many of which draw inspiration from fairy and folktales. In the opening story, “The Five Cigars of Abu Ali,” an old friend returns to tell a tale about his encounter with a genie while in Pakistan. Meanwhile, in “North of Lake Winnipesaukee,” the surviving wolf of a slaughtered pack wreaks vengeance on colonists in the most perverse fashion. The collection also features a trilogy of urban folktales, one of which introduces readers to “the city of rats,” in which the mayor’s beautiful rodent daughter is in search of a suitor. Schaller also has an interest in mechanical devices, and stories like “The Watchmaker” and “Automata” ponder the blurred divide between the human and the artificial. At the close of the volume, the author includes “Story Notes,” in which he reveals his inspiration for each of the tales here. Schaller’s plotlines are devilishly unsettling. In “Wildflowers,” a young boy learns that grazing sheep in certain pastures can cause them to give birth to lambs with cyclopia. As an adult, he knowingly offers his pregnant partner a salad of hand-picked wildflowers—and readers must brace themselves for a horrifying outcome. Similarly, “A Study in Abnormal Physiology,” set in Victorian London, is a Holmes-ian story of botched abortions and stolen fetuses. This is a compelling, fast-paced tale, punctuated by weirdly intriguing, if unsettling, descriptive details: “Pinkish membranes spanned the digits of its hands and feet. Gill slits parted behind its ears, revealing downy frills crimson with oxygenated blood. It lacked obvious genitalia, suggesting a female, but I could not be certain given its erratic development.” Schaller’s writing is not for everyone, but those happy to give it a chance will leave satisfyingly disturbed. The lure of these tales is that anything is possible—and the author does a fine job of keeping readers on a knife’s edge. Fans of Angela Carter’s rewriting of fairy tales will find particular delight in this skillfully written, if grisly, collection.
Beguilingly inventive and edgy tales.Pub Date: March 5, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-59021-744-3
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Lethe Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet bedtime story.
A boy and his stuffed bear head into the woods.
Having captured readers’ attention with Born a Crime (2016), his bestselling memoir of growing up in South Africa, comedian and television host Noah has written a parable about decision-making. As he puts it in a brief prologue, “It’s about disagreements and difference—but it’s also about how we bridge those gaps and find what matters most, whether we’re parents or kids, neighbors, gnomes, or political adversaries. It’s a picture book, but it’s not a children’s book. Rather, it is a book for kids to share with parents and for parents to share with kids.” With plentiful illustrations by Hahn and in language aimed at young listeners, it tells the story of a small boy so impatient to start his Saturday adventures that he rebels against the rules of his household and heads out without brushing his teeth or making his bed, despite the reminders of his stuffed bear, Walter. “We can’t just run away,” protests the bear. “Your mother will miss you. And where will we sleep? And who will make us waffles?” “We’ll build our own house,” the boy responds. “And we’ll grow our own waffles!” From there, the pair go on their walkabout, encountering a garden gnome, a pair of snails, and a gang of animated coins who have lessons to offer about making choices. Though the author suggests in the introduction that adult readers might enjoy the book on their own, those looking for a follow-up to the memoir or a foray into adult fiction should be warned that this is not that book.
A sweet bedtime story.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780593729960
Page Count: 128
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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