General info: Collection of short stories, published in 2008
Storytelling: 10 - Admittedly, I bought this book at Urban Outfitters because it was $5, it sounded mildly interesting, and I had nothing with me to read (I tell you, my reading addiction is an illness). I finished it in three days because I just couldn’t put it down. Russell is immensely talented, and this is the most creative and unique collection I’ve read in a long time. Each of her stories (most of them narrated by pre-teen children living in the Florida everglades) have a fantastic or supernatural element that makes them quirky and slightly uncomfortable, but just enough so that the reader is left wanting more. It’s obvious from her stories that Russell is one of those individuals who exists on another plane of imaginative thought.
This book features ten stories and to give you a snapshot, it starts with the story of a 12-year-old girl abandoned by her father at a Florida gator wrestling complex and left to deal with her older, obese sister who is mentally ill and sleeping with an incubus. There is a story about a boy away at a summer camp reserved for kids with sleeping disorders, all separated into different cabins based on their ailments (narcoleptics, somnambulists, head thrashers, incontinents, etc.). There’s a story about a theme park of sorts, featuring small-house-sized giant conch shells that make eerie noises in the wind. One main character has a minotaur for a father. In another tale, a set of brothers are searching for their dead sister with a pair of goggles that allow them to see underwater ghosts. Russell’s creations are absolutely wild, and I enjoyed diving into her expansive imagination with a childlike glee. She crafts each of her tales to be almost believable, and I had a few foolish moments thinking “Wait…could that really be the case? Conch shells that large?”. I have always had a soft spot for magical realism, but I believe Russell pushes the envelope here in a macabre and satisfying way.
Writing: 7 – I obviously enjoyed this book since I sped through it. I wouldn’t be able to have done that if the writing weren’t pretty grand. (Life is too short for mediocre writing, unless the storytelling is off the charts) Russell’s MFA from Columbia is apparent and she pulled out a few vocab words that I had completely forgotten, or never known (ululate is a new favorite). However, she’s got to work on her voice, which I imagine will come with her maturation as a writer. Each of her protagonists were precocious, insightful children, aged 10-12, but they all sounded awfully adult-like. I appreciated the concept and was at first looking forward to a childlike perspective, but by the third or fourth story, I realized it was never going to come. Russell is very good, but this approach almost seems like she is trying too hard, which I guess is to be expected from a young author fresh from Columbia, attempting to prove her chops.
Additionally, I can’t decide if I loved or hated the abrupt endings she springs on the reader. Each of her stories seemed to end harshly and almost randomly, leaving a slightly unsatisfied reader to shrug, say “Well, I guess that’s that…” and charge forth to the next tale. Endings to me are more important than beginnings; that is the taste you are left with as you leave the book. However, there is a part of me that appreciates Russell’s change of pace, and it almost highlights the ethereal quality of the book. You’re meant to come up with an ending on your own; it challenges your imagination. I give credit to any author who doesn’t assume her audience is filled with nitwits and calls on them to participate, but I understand that this harsh approach is not for most and can leave many unsettled.
Characters: 7 – I suppose this ties closely in with Writing, considering a lot of my lamenting about voice had to do with the one child character Russell seemed to adopt throughout her tales. In a lot of ways I had a lot of connection with Russell’s children, since they all seemed to be misunderstood and intelligent little creatures living half in our world and half in another, and I’d like to think I was this way at 10-year-old. They were all observant and interesting, a little terrified of everything, and the type of kid that you wouldn’t mind having an adult conversation with. Again, this is probably because they were all basically written as adults. The way they interacted with the other secondary characters was fine. I wasn’t particularly blown away with Russell’s construction of other figures and her attempts to express unrequited teenage love kind of fell flat in many ways.
Best part: Russell’s final story, and the name of the book, which speaks of a Catholic private school for were-girls who are separated from their wolf families and taught to behave like humans. This story is hilarious and enormously unsettling as you hear about small girls learning to speak English (instead of growling), walk on two-legs, not urinate all over their bedrooms, and rid themselves of the craving for raw meat. This conversion is painful and confusing for this girls, and you feel for them as they are struggling to learn humanness. This story made me wonder if Russell was alluding to anything happening in our world today that we might not be approaching with the proper perspective, but maybe I’m taking it too far.
Recommend to: Fans of magical realism and anyone who feels that their imagination needs some food for thought.
Reminded me of: A grown-up, more disturbing Roald Dahl
How I would murder the main character: This is an easy one. I’d leave each of Russell’s leading children alone in the Everglades, miles from humanity and without any provisions, in the hopes that they would be eaten by an alligator.
Sexy parts: Osceola, Ava’s older teenage sister in the first story, is overcome sexually at night by her mysterious “boyfriend”. One can only assume she’s being visited by an incubus or is leading her naïve sister astray. Russell never gives you any satisfying answers. Ava believes her sister is overcome by a nocturnal spell and that she is leaving in the middle of the night to go roll in the swamp with her magical lover. Ew.
To sum it up: A dreamlike and chilling look into a not-so-childlike other world.
Overall: 8
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