words_on_paper_official's review
5.0
What an amazing collection of short stories and flash fiction. You can tell that David Demchuk has many years of storytelling under his belt. I love the way he shapes a story in a matter of a few short pages. He writes these fairytales and stories that are eerie and chilling. Stories of witches, ghosts, a golem, mythical creatures and beings. My favorite part are the beautiful photographs that accompany these great stories.
enairabutcher's review
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
I was absolutely thrilled when I found out that Chizine was on the long list for the 2017 Scotiabank GIller Prize. It’s not even that I’ve red much by the Toronto-based publisher, but it’s a “win” to bridge that invisible gap between literary and genre. Over the past couple of years – if you pay any attention to the debates in the book world – you’ll know that many people, with legitimate opinions or not, have weighed in on what constitutes “literary” and “genre”.*
I won’t get into the debate right now, save to say that I read and love both, and they they both have incredible merit in the grander literary canon.
But now, The Bone Mother, what a dark and mysterious collection. Through a series of short stories, they weave a web so shimmering that you can make out the individual threads that brush connecting tales.
They are fairytales rooted in the folklore of the Ukraine and Romania. They are dark like Grimm’s and Hans Christian Anderson, full of potent meaning and off-kilter lessons. Well, I’m not actually sure if there are lessons, beyond something like, “don’t be a dick.” (note: Slavic ww2 ish)
Together, the stories – all named for a character’s point of view – reveal the spirits and monsters , government cover-ups, community secrets, witches, and seers.
Like with all fairytales, I want a good outcome for each character, but we’re never given it, unless it’s bittersweet.
Demchuk’s writing is tight; he accomplishes a lot in few words. By the end of the first story – Borys – a tone was established. Each story added to that tone in subtle ways:
Through character set-up: “Mine was an ordinary childhood, until I was thirteen years old. As the chill of autumn crept over us and the first frosts wreathed the windowpanes, I discovered almost by accident that I had grown unaccountably strong, as strong as a man twice my size.”
Through text messages: “I HAVE MISSED YOU, it read. IT WAS HIM YOU KNOW. UP FIRE ESCAPE WITH CAN OF GAS.”
Through detailed clues: “Many times my aunt Maryan told me a story from the old country about a young girl whose sailor brother was taken by a sea witch and hidden in a twisting winding tangle of caves under an island of barren rock. Unlike the slender pale lake spirits her other tales from the first land, the sea witch was a voluptuous woman with the lush full tentacles of a giant squid, and she would search the ocean for shipwrecked sailors to take back to her lair, where she would mate with them – somehow – and then eat them alive. The witch was beautiful and regal and solitary and voracious.”
I read this in November with the rain pattering against the window and the fireplace on. The perfect setting. Be prepared for chills... and some tattoo ideas.
*EDIT. Since writing this, some concerning news has emerged about Chizine, including allegations of sexual assault. It saddens me and my heart goes out to the victims. I will continue to support their writers, especially through this trying time as they sort out their affairs.
oddly's review against another edition
3.0
The Bone Mother is a very unique set of interconnected short stories. Each story begins with an old (and often haunting) portrait or illustration and each is told from the first person.
The stories have a dark aura, but often the true depth of the darkness isn't uncovered until the very end. Demchuk certainly has a flair for making the reader feel as though they've missed a step in the dark—feeling that strange plummeting of your stomach, the truth of what you though you knew ripped out from under you.
While I liked the interconnected structure, I felt that the world of the stories could have been explored more. The stories are so short, most of them just a couple pages, that I never really felt attached to any of the people or their specific narrative. But at the same time, each story didn't seem to further the world-building enough that I felt I had a full picture of this place, the timeline between characters, or the events that happened there by the time I finished the book.
Though the writing is captivating and there are some truly scary moments, I felt this narrative was just too scattered for me to really connect to it, which would have been fine if it were just a short story collection, but as they are meant to be linked, it left me wanting more cohesion and finality.
I would definitely be interested to read more writing by this author. He has a strong and unique voice, and I love that he decided to shine a light on Russian folklore and history in this way.
My thanks to Chizine Publications for sending copies of this one to the Nightworms to read.
The stories have a dark aura, but often the true depth of the darkness isn't uncovered until the very end. Demchuk certainly has a flair for making the reader feel as though they've missed a step in the dark—feeling that strange plummeting of your stomach, the truth of what you though you knew ripped out from under you.
While I liked the interconnected structure, I felt that the world of the stories could have been explored more. The stories are so short, most of them just a couple pages, that I never really felt attached to any of the people or their specific narrative. But at the same time, each story didn't seem to further the world-building enough that I felt I had a full picture of this place, the timeline between characters, or the events that happened there by the time I finished the book.
Though the writing is captivating and there are some truly scary moments, I felt this narrative was just too scattered for me to really connect to it, which would have been fine if it were just a short story collection, but as they are meant to be linked, it left me wanting more cohesion and finality.
I would definitely be interested to read more writing by this author. He has a strong and unique voice, and I love that he decided to shine a light on Russian folklore and history in this way.
My thanks to Chizine Publications for sending copies of this one to the Nightworms to read.
ericgaryanderson's review against another edition
5.0
This is a tight and scary as hell collection of short stories/chapters that rise up from eastern European borderlands under duress. From the back cover, which I quote because it speaks the truth: "Eerie and unsettling like the best fairy tales . . . incisor-sharp portraits of ghosts, witches, sirens, and seers—and the mortals who live at their side and in their thrall." Some of these mortals are gay or lesbian, and of course the monstrous often queers—renders non-normative—the people, places, and things it touches. Demchuk explores these queer engagements sensitively and unflinchingly; his writing is deft and precise and he's also good at setting the scenes of and for horror, which is so important whether these scenes are urban or rural backcountry or Cold War apartments or lonely streets or wherever. One of the other real strengths of this book is its monstrous diversity—all the various Sinister Creatures that roam, settle in, embed themselves, and so forth, so that you never feel like you're reading the same story twice. Also, most of the chapters open with creepy photos from the Costica Acsinte Archive—black-and-white pics from 1935-1945 or WWI, some in eerily less than perfect pristine condition. It's kind of like looking at black-and-white photos of the dead on their gravestones, which for me is pretty much one of the most unsettling and uncanny things ever. If you like horror fiction, with folkloric and political undercurrents, you'll love this.
sawyerbell's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Spooky little tales accompanied by otherworldly photos. A perfect read for October.
vangluss's review
4.0
+ Use of an Underutilized Setting: I can easily count the amount of fiction involving lesser known Eastern European mythology I've read on one hand. So being able to read this book that not only featured it, but did it damn well was quite the treat. For example, there are a couple vaguely familiar nods to the mythology I've read like Eastern European ghost stories/Fairy tales and Baba Yaga-esque entities, but the Bone Mother brought in a bunch of new and exciting ghoulies for me to enjoy and become inspired by. Folklore horror of overlooked cultures is such a good well to tap fiction from, and this book seems to have struck deep in that well.
+ Consistent Quality: Usually I tend to shun short story anthologies because I hate the swingy quality many posses. You read a good one. You read an okay one. You read an awful one. You read another good one. I don't like to abide by that literary gamble, but the Bone Mother has convinced me other wise. Maybe it's because of the size of this book (300~ pages or so), but I don't recall reading a short story in this collection that disappointed me in anyway. They all ranged from good to very fucking good.
+ Wonderful Atmosphere: Alongside the consistent quality, all the the stories had the mood I was looking for to hype myself up for my beloved Halloween season. Every last story has the shifting, foreboding, skin-crawling moods of darkness, coldness, menace, and death that I'm borderline howling for more of. Did I mention the short length of this book made me sad because I couldn't have more? Well, now I am, and you know how I feel.
+ Emotionally Propelling: I believe that one of the the best kinds of horror is the horror that hits you in the feels. And, my god, some of the stories in the Bone Mother wrecked me like I ran in front of a sixteen wheeler stocked with bricks. One especially good example is this short I forgot the name of. But in it, some people become ghosts, and it's absolutely heart-wrenching.
+ Consistent Quality: Usually I tend to shun short story anthologies because I hate the swingy quality many posses. You read a good one. You read an okay one. You read an awful one. You read another good one. I don't like to abide by that literary gamble, but the Bone Mother has convinced me other wise. Maybe it's because of the size of this book (300~ pages or so), but I don't recall reading a short story in this collection that disappointed me in anyway. They all ranged from good to very fucking good.
+ Wonderful Atmosphere: Alongside the consistent quality, all the the stories had the mood I was looking for to hype myself up for my beloved Halloween season. Every last story has the shifting, foreboding, skin-crawling moods of darkness, coldness, menace, and death that I'm borderline howling for more of. Did I mention the short length of this book made me sad because I couldn't have more? Well, now I am, and you know how I feel.
+ Emotionally Propelling: I believe that one of the the best kinds of horror is the horror that hits you in the feels. And, my god, some of the stories in the Bone Mother wrecked me like I ran in front of a sixteen wheeler stocked with bricks. One especially good example is this short I forgot the name of. But in it, some people become ghosts, and it's absolutely heart-wrenching.
neuravinci's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
isobelthewizard's review against another edition
4.0
This book was delightfully horrifying. I ached for the truth within these stories, and will probably do a full Ukrainian research spiral in the wake of this book.
The book is written in short stories, all from the first perspective. Some are told by the living, some by the dead. The book divided into two halves, "The Thimble Factory" and "The Night Police." It took me a while for the common threads between the stories to shine through, but when they did I was floored. Myth and legend, monsters and men, future and past, all swirling together in a thought provoking text that grapples constantly with the terrors of history.
The book is written in short stories, all from the first perspective. Some are told by the living, some by the dead. The book divided into two halves, "The Thimble Factory" and "The Night Police." It took me a while for the common threads between the stories to shine through, but when they did I was floored. Myth and legend, monsters and men, future and past, all swirling together in a thought provoking text that grapples constantly with the terrors of history.