Ava Reid is awesome, her prose is amazing, her imagery is sharp and haunting, and this book did secure I will read anything she publishes as soon as iAva Reid is awesome, her prose is amazing, her imagery is sharp and haunting, and this book did secure I will read anything she publishes as soon as it comes out, BUT:
If I recall correctly, The Wolf and the Woodsman could be pretty brutal, but the body-horror in Juniper & Thorn is very different and feels more visceral and gruesome. It's a different kind of violence, specifically the psychological violence from fantasies of someone who has been sexually abused, and some of the images really squicked me out and made me had to skim some scenes. While Woodsman could be historically brutal and violent, it didn't feel as pervasive and keenly felt as it is in Juniper, and it managed to balance a romantic plot without the edges being blurred. Juniper & Thorn is explicitly about abuse, and while there is a romance, the horror is always lurking on the edges of their interactions and it doesn't feel the like the same classification of romance fantasy retelling. It's a very different book, a lot darker, and different from what I was expecting, but I really loved it regardless. ...more
This is more of a general question, but has anyone noticed gothic/thriller books coming out in recent years have been using weight as a body horror elThis is more of a general question, but has anyone noticed gothic/thriller books coming out in recent years have been using weight as a body horror element as a theme? I ask because the gothic genre especially has roots in not adhering to social norms or being considered and outsider, and I think I'm assigning it that intention because I really, really don't like this trope for people's bodies. I like gothic as a genre for exploring social norms and non-conformers as a means discussing of what is considered deviancy. The camp embrace of the gothic genre isn't a mistake: it's a celebration, and that's why I love it. But the extended passages on the narrator wearing her dead mother's ancient shapewear to squish down her stomach, her body as a constant target for humiliation, and a marker for her undesirability actually made me yearn for the humble dignity of a queer-coded villain.
So. This one is a weird book. It floats by quite quickly and I enjoyed the setup, but it hinges on one key liar and that's where I get caught up. It's not multiple people telling many lies but one massive liar, and unreliable narrator, and one guy who seems normal but is weirdly involved in all of this so I would have loved to know more about him. The set-up is actually really well done: Frances and the mysterious couple end up in the gutted estate to write reports on its contents and condition for the new owner. The meandering summer days are really enjoyable. I like that there's a found treasure trove that they loot.
But. But.
The devil is kind of in the details with this one. You're not supposed to get a good read on this character, who drives the plot and manipulates the narrator, however, I think the characterization of her as a liar is exhausting. Cara is introduced as a shouting Italian. But she's not Italian, she has a posh English accent, but she's Irish. She apparently can barely speak Italian. But she can cook Italian food like someone's Nonna. She screams in Italian when upset. Her husband, who is not her husband, doesn't speak any Italian. But he can understand her when she's screaming in Italian to him and spoke a fully articulated, not generic phrase in Italian when they first met (allegedly the only one he knew). They never made it to Italy. But they did.
Also, she had a virgin birth. But the baby died. But there was no father.
From the beginning Cara is framed as delusional but to a point where it's hard to understand why anyone keeps her around or listens to her. Even poor, pathetic Frances. Cara claims she's not having sex with her "husband" who is still married to his first wife, that they never have sex and he's impotent, but Frances observes this isn't true. Clearly he's not the father of her child, and there's two male figures that it could be, BUT after the child dies by her hand it's supremely suspect why he keeps her around.
The story begins and ends with Frances in prison for two murders and her wasting disease. We learn Frances killed her mother, and perhaps lied about the deaths of the couple at the house. But Cara killed her own child, and according to Frances killed Peter...
It's a lot! It's just like a lot that won't be answered because everything about Cara is fake anyway, so who knows if Peter is trustworthy, or if Frances is in her account of the story, and there's not enough to kind of work pleasantly in your mind because either Cara was mentally ill or just a pasta-making supervillain. (hide spoiler)]
I'm going to bullet point to sort of organize my thoughts for now:
-I really wanted to love this book
-As in the marketing of this book really sold me oI'm going to bullet point to sort of organize my thoughts for now:
-I really wanted to love this book
-As in the marketing of this book really sold me on a concept that I don't think was entirely accurate
-The actual supernatural (and not just ghosts) elements kind of surprised me and not in a good way
-This isn't really a book where a Mexican aesthetic and sensibility is made gothic. It is a Mexican heroine supplanted in a traditional (British) gothic environment in the middle of Mexico. There's some really searing criticism of colonialism in this premise, which I appreciate. However, I think to me it was weird to retread so much of the same characters and tropes recycled for a premise (again, substance of what would make a "Mexican Gothic" and not a Mexican lens for these same tropes). It felt like you were in an English Victorian Manor, not in the mountains in rural Mexico, and only one of those places is a setting I have never read in a gothic novel set in: so I was a little let down to end up in the place it always is.
-The colonialism is still a good angle. It leeches all the fun and color of Mexico City's 1950's society from the heroine and you definitely feel accurate dread from in. Especially when eugenics and colonialism are a central theme. So it's still creepy as it needs to be.
-Prose was kind of tedious and I did end up skimming
-And then very quickly got very wild
-aaaaaand yeah, it was just a difficult book for me to get through and it was hard to saw through my expectations. That's kind of it for now....more
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