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Wednesday reading, once again on Thursday
Aug. 13th, 2020 07:04 pmI finished up Consolation Stories--a strong finish with "Of a Female Stranger" by Jeannelle M. Ferreira and "Love, Your Flatmate" by Stephanie Burgis.
It's hard to talk about "Of a Female Stranger" without giving key information away that you might enjoy coming upon yourself, but two things I can mention: one is that the protagonist, Theo, moves these days through the world with her gender disguised, or maybe not recognized, and more significantly, that's not the only thing about her that's not as it seems.
The other thing I can talk about are the beautiful sensory descriptions--many of water:
But other things, too:
"Love, Your Flatmate" is a fun epistolary tale, the only story in the collection to deal specifically with the pandemic, an enemies-to-lovers story in which a young human editor and a young fey composer whose mothers happen to be besties find themselves forced to quarantine together when the UK goes into lockdown. Emmeline and Maximiliana reeeeaaallly don't hit it off, and yet...
Emmeline to her mother: "she can just find herself another damn flatmate who thinks that glowing green eyes, cute pointed ears and shimmering, hypnotising hair make up for EVERYTHING ELSE about her personality!"
Maximiliana to her mother: "Honestly, I give up on even attempting any meaningful rapprochement with a creature who has so little in common with me, no matter how deceptively appealing her snub nose, freckles, and (rarely seen but admittedly astonishing) smile may be"
The occasion of the turnaround in their feelings was entertainingly portrayed--overall a most enjoyable story.
Really, the whole anthology was excellent. Recommended!
It's hard to talk about "Of a Female Stranger" without giving key information away that you might enjoy coming upon yourself, but two things I can mention: one is that the protagonist, Theo, moves these days through the world with her gender disguised, or maybe not recognized, and more significantly, that's not the only thing about her that's not as it seems.
The other thing I can talk about are the beautiful sensory descriptions--many of water:
No reason for Theo to stand with her boots going brackish in the Patowmack, with only a few greasy lights rippling over the water ...
Theo looked down at the water, its darkness and its running depths. She tried to lower her face to it, though it was oily-cold against her skin
But other things, too:
for a moment all the smells of the tide were lost in old lard and old tobacco smoke ...
[The cloak] seemed cleaner and finer and beautifully made, when Theo turned to look at her: tawny-gray gone to silver in the moonlight.
"Love, Your Flatmate" is a fun epistolary tale, the only story in the collection to deal specifically with the pandemic, an enemies-to-lovers story in which a young human editor and a young fey composer whose mothers happen to be besties find themselves forced to quarantine together when the UK goes into lockdown. Emmeline and Maximiliana reeeeaaallly don't hit it off, and yet...
Emmeline to her mother: "she can just find herself another damn flatmate who thinks that glowing green eyes, cute pointed ears and shimmering, hypnotising hair make up for EVERYTHING ELSE about her personality!"
Maximiliana to her mother: "Honestly, I give up on even attempting any meaningful rapprochement with a creature who has so little in common with me, no matter how deceptively appealing her snub nose, freckles, and (rarely seen but admittedly astonishing) smile may be"
The occasion of the turnaround in their feelings was entertainingly portrayed--overall a most enjoyable story.
Really, the whole anthology was excellent. Recommended!
