3 New Books About Monsters in Unexpected Places
Ilana Lucas
Ilana Lucas
Ilana is an English professor, theatre consultant and playwright based in Toronto, Canada. When she’s not at the theatre or insisting that literary criticism can be fun, she’s singing a cappella or Mozart, occasionally harmonizing with the symphony, or playing “Under Pressure” with her rock handbell group, Pavlov’s Dogs.
Gated suburbia. A kindergarten classroom. A medical research lab. None of these places, on the surface, seem like a place for monsters (although perhaps that depends on your feelings about kindergarteners and how many times you’ve read Frankenstein). The dark secrets in these new novels prove otherwise, showing that the monstrous can appear in a pleasant, unlikely guise. They also show that “monster” is an easy, reductive label for something that’s more complex and multifaceted. That being said, your spine will still tingle and your breath catch as you read the roster of this week’s book club.
<em>The Mere Wife</em>
“Beowulf” is the OG of English lit (so OG it’s in OE, or Old English), and the titular character, a Scandinavian warrior who eventually defeats a horrible monster, then the monster’s mother, becomes king of the Geats and then dies defeating a dragon, has met everyone from Wonder Woman to Xena to the crew of Star Trek: Voyager. The Mere Wife updates this story to be set in a planned suburban neighborhood called Herot Hall and its nearby mountain, whose cave is home to a former soldier with PTSD, Dana, and her son, Gren. (As a clarification, mere in this case isn’t a reductive label; it’s Old English for “sea.”)<em>Baby Teeth</em>
“Hanna kept her words to herself because they gave her power. Inside her, they retained their purity. She scrutinized Mommy and other adults, studied them. Their words fell like dead bugs from their mouths. A rare person, like Daddy, spoke in butterflies, whispering colors that made her gasp. Inside, she was a kaleidoscope of racing, popping, bursting exclamations, full of wonder and question marks. Patterns swirled, and within every secret pocket she’d stashed a treasure, some stolen, some found. She had tried, as a little girl, to express what was within her. But it came out like marbles. Nonsense. Babbling. Disappointing even to her own ears. She’d practiced, alone in her room, but the bugs fell from her mouth, frighteningly alive, scampering over her skin and bedclothes. She flicked them away. Watched them escape under her closed door. Words, ever unreliable, were no one’s friend. But, if she was being honest, there was another reason — a benefit. Her silence was making Mommy crazy.”<em>Give Me Your Hand</em>
Another epic rivalry brews in Abbott’s novel about two ambitious women whose lives become inextricably linked. In high school, Kit Owens meets Diane Fleming. Kit is very bright and wants to succeed, but not as much as Diane, who is so hyper-determined that their friendship can’t help but push Kit further, towards a scholarship funded by Dr. Severin, a scientist who studies what many would consider “women’s problems.” Kit and Diane seem good for each other, and everything is great — until Diane reveals a secret to Kit that is worse than anything Kit has ever heard, and Kit runs from the budding friendship.Ilana Lucas
Ilana is an English professor, theatre consultant and playwright based in Toronto, Canada. When she’s not at the theatre or insisting that literary criticism can be fun, she’s singing a cappella or Mozart, occasionally harmonizing with the symphony, or playing “Under Pressure” with her rock handbell group, Pavlov’s Dogs.
Ilana Lucas
Ilana Lucas
Ilana is an English professor, theatre consultant and playwright based in Toronto, Canada. When she’s not at the theatre or insisting that literary criticism can be fun, she’s singing a cappella or Mozart, occasionally harmonizing with the symphony, or playing “Under Pressure” with her rock handbell group, Pavlov’s Dogs.