Review by Booklist Review
Wounds of all sizes and kinds--physical, emotional, psychological--are present in various stages--open, healing, permanently scarred--in these stunning stories. Sometimes the injury is clearly visible--a scar shaped like the outline of an iron, recent bruises on a teenager's face, fresh stitches over both wrists. Other times the damage is less conspicuous--marital strife, the daily dread generated by a stalker. Geni (The Wildlands, 2018) chooses primarily female protagonists to illustrate the interplay between hurt and loss, secrets and transitions. The title story, with hints of Edgar Allan Poe, features an entomologist narrator at a research facility studying how corpses decompose, who plans a perfect (and perhaps necessary) homicide. In "A Spell for Disappearing," a librarian falls in love with a stranger, becomes pregnant, and is warned by a mysterious woman of the danger posed by the relationship. "Selkie" is an exquisite fairy tale about an empathetic young girl whose parents are psychiatrists and whose sister suffers from a severe behavioral disorder. Additional complicated characters include a woman who loses all five senses during the COVID-19 pandemic, a marine biologist, seven daughters abruptly deserted by their father, and a planetary geologist with an alcoholic husband. If readers are craving an exceptional collection of short stories, Geni will grant their wish.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Geni's mixed-bag second collection (after The Last Animal) drapes offbeat details over well-worn narrative threads. In "The Rapture of the Deep," the volume's uneventful opener, Geni gussies up a chronicle of an estranged brother and sister with lush depictions of the sister's marine biology work as a shark tagger. Better is "Across, Beyond, Through," in which a divorced father drives his 14-year-old trans child, Eden, across the country after Eden is beaten by his religious mother for binding his chest. After the father tries to ask informed questions about his identity and transition, Eden reddens and responds cuttingly, "I get it. You did some googling," before he opens up. For "Petrichor," the most frightening entry, Geni shrewdly uses the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic as a backdrop for the tale of a woman losing her five senses. In the title story, an entomologist at an anthropological research center--where corpse decomposition is studied--contemplates murdering her wife's stalker ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately, the narratives of fractured families, late-night escapes, and physical abuse tend to feel a bit heavy-handed and obvious, despite Geni's welcome efforts to bring their settings to life with distinctive details. Readers will hope Genie's fine level of craft pays better dividends next time out. Agent: Laura Langlie, Laura Langlie Agency. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Geni's second collection of short stories, following two novels, is perhaps her widest-ranging work yet. "The Rapture of the Deep," the first story in this collection, is classic Geni--energized by the animal world which, to its protagonist, is preferable to the human one. And why wouldn't it be, when humans do things like succumb to alcoholism ("Starlike"), leave their families ("Mother, Sister, Wife, Daughter"), or ensnare other humans in a nefarious web ("A Spell for Disappearing")? Though there are fewer animals in the rest of these stories, they are embroidered with threads from the natural, scientific, or mythical worlds, which provide gorgeous specificity to the writing by giving the characters a framework for their experiences. This is useful, because Geni's stories all teeter on the edge of horror. By revealing, in her incisive prose, the mundane horrors of being human (add to the above list, Alzheimer's disease, suicide, stalking, and abuse), she opens the door to the possibilities of something more strange, more awful, more uncanny. Occasionally the balance tips. Yet most of these, through the hope and resilience of their protagonists, end with a measured sigh of relief or at least the small comfort of someone having marshaled their better nature in a thorny situation. Except for the last--anyone thinking there might be a noncreepy explanation for a story titled "The Body Farm" will have their hopes dashed. It's almost enough to upend the more optimistic conclusions of the rest of the collection. Destabilizing and beautiful. A rich experience. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
