Reviews

Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes by Sonia Patel, Anna Drury, Karen Jialu Bao, Rocky Callen, Val Howlett, Mercedes Acosta, Nikki Grimes, Alechia Dow, Ebony Stewart, Patrick Downes, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Francisco X. Stork, Nora Shalaway Carpenter, Isabel Quintero, James Bird, Marcella Pixley

Only show reviews with written explanations

melannrosenthal's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging hopeful reflective medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

anaaa_b98's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective

Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Also on Snow White Hates Apples.

Written by authors of various ethnicities, sexualities and gender identities, Ab(solutely) Normal is an anthology of sixteen mixed-genre fiction that focuses on mental health and subverting the stereotypes attached to it.

Kicking off this anthology is ‘They Call Me Hurricane’ which centres around a young boxer whose father had passed and every day becomes a struggle for her and her mother to get by. While I think that the author was trying to make Aida’s emotions more punch-like by utilising reiterations, I also felt that the narrative was too repetitive. There was just too much telling and not enough showing, which made the story too straightforward despite the complexity of Aida’s struggles. The romance thrown in here also felt a little off.

Following the first piece is ‘A Body with Wholes’ which is a collection of poetry and prose that focuses on struggles relating to body image. While I liked the messages behind it, I personally prefer stronger rhythms so not every piece here was to my liking.

The third piece is ‘Spider Sense’ wherein a girl with OCD is somehow able to sense the world around her and feel a pull when creatures and people need help. It’s an interesting piece with a lot of potential but was alas, too brief. I think it would’ve been better as a full-fledged book.

‘Nothing Feels No Pain’ comes next and it features toxic relationships, cutting and PTSD. I wished there was a complete focus on Vijali’s relationship with her mother instead of the whole drama she had with Kaminari because the romance sincerely felt inessential here and what Vijali needed to work on was the strained relationship between her and her mum.

Fifth is ‘Peculiar Falls’ where an anxious vampire boy meets a girl ghost who tasks him with saving their town because he’s the only one who can see her. Although I’m glad there’s no unnecessary romance here, the story is still incredibly cliché and truthfully, it felt pointless too.

As a piece that references schizophrenia and severe anxiety, ‘Avalanche’ is written as a short verse novel that’s sadly, not as impactful as I’d hoped for. Additionally, when I reached this point of the anthology, I started feeling that every piece is a repeat that’s merely executed differently. While I understand that there will be similarities in the processes that people in similar situations go through, it still makes everything repetitive in this collection.

And, again, is romance truly necessary in ‘Beggars Would Ride’ ? I’m all for love when it’s written well, but the girl our narrator here is crushing on had only just broken up with her cheater of a boyfriend so the twist that she also liked our narrator back the whole time is hella sus? Also, the other twist related to the girl is so out of the blue?? Other than that, as cool as the wishing well aspect is, I think it’s a needleless addition to the story too. Nevertheless, I like where this short story ended and how it’s more realistic than the earlier short stories, though it did feel pointless as well.

As the eighth piece, I’m so happy that ‘My Sister Rafaela is a Good Person’ marked the beginning of an upturn in this anthology. This short comic was such a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed the scenes where Ana interacts with her therapist and the realistic take this comic has on therapy, but I do have to admit that the abrupt time skips made it feel rushed.

Continuing the upturn is ‘Verbatim’ , a strong, emotional play-like dialogue between a grieving boy who was in a car accident after trying to save his deceased younger brother and a chaplain visiting him at the hospital. This piece had the exact kind of emotional impact/thought-provoking aspect that I wanted from this entire anthology.

Next is ‘Back of the Truck’ where the narrator who has obsessive thoughts and severe anxiety goes clubbing but an unintentional slip disrupts her groove and leads to an anxiety attack. This piece is one of the more realistic ones, plus it’s free from superfluous romance which I greatly appreciated.

Eleventh is ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ , which honestly, is one of my least favourites in this anthology because it has so much telling instead of showing. What made it an even more tedious read for me is that it’s a cheesy pomposal where the girl leads a guy through this treasure hunt thing where he has to find the next person holding the next confession-letter for him to read before ending up in front of said girl asking him to prom.

Fortunately, ‘We Are Stardust’ is an interesting short story that returned to me the hope I had for this anthology. I really liked how it’s about stars falling to earth and they turn into humans after wishing for company because they’re lonely. The hopeful, kind tone made this piece touching.

‘River Boy’ , on the other hand, featured a male character prone to crying and a strong female character — a combination that’s different and interesting for the message it’s sending, but this also made the short story feel too try-hard.

Following ‘River Boy’ is ‘A Bridge Over Silence’ which is about how it feels to start feeling again, and I think this piece would’ve been more impactful and beautiful had it been a novel instead. Again, there’s too much telling and not enough showing. However, the tone of the narrative does reflect Rachel’s muted world after all that she went through. The switch from Joanna to Jo was a little sudden, though I’d like to think it’s like a mental switch to flip Rachel’s brain back to starting to relearn how to feel again.

The second last piece of this anthology is ‘Almost Beautiful’ and it’s powerful, emotionally impactful and hits close to home for anyone who has or has had a loved one who’s been hospitalised for anything serious.

Lastly, we have ‘The Call, a One Act Play’ , a piece wherein an almost stranger of a girl calls another in the dead of the night. As with the others, I think this would’ve had an incredibly strong emotional impact had it had more pages to it. In its current state, it feels like only a glimpse of its power and potential was given to us readers…

Overall, while some mental health stereotypes and misconceptions were subverted, other tropes unrelated to the topic gained a bigger presence and overshadowed the efforts placed in the aforementioned subversion. While I greatly appreciated them showing the reality that those struggling with mental health are also very normal people, I think just about all of the romances here felt forced and unneeded. Like, must romance ensue just because two people appear in the same feature?

Moreover, I think that many of the short stories here could’ve been more impactful and memorable had they been better fleshed out. Some were too barebones and shallow, others were too rushed and disjointed — but, all had so much potential so it was such a shame that their potentials weren’t met.

Thank you so much Pansing for sending me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review! Ab(solutely) Normal edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter and Rocky Callen is available at all good bookstores.

Content Warnings