Scan barcode
A review by nicobellfiction
Monstrosity by Laura Diaz de Arce
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
5.0
Monstrosity is filled with delicious short story morsels that combines wit, horror, science fiction, and feminism. The collection is divided into three parts: hominum, mutatio, and monstrum. Each section contains four gripping stories guaranteed to connect with readers.
In hominum, we meet a woman who morphs into the perfect partner for her various boyfriends, a lady who seeks therapy to quench her anger, an addict, and a love story written in Spanglish. Mutatio focuses on body horror and mutations including a story of a young woman fleeing an abusive stepfather, a goddess finding her place on Earth, a science fiction story of an explorer seeking a better planet and future for her family, and another scifi tale of space exploration and mining. The final section monstrum tells the story of a young woman lost on a hike, a group of sisters with a secret, an AI sexbot, and a mysterious bookstore owner just trying to take care of her child in a small town.
With a largely female cast, there is a strong wave of female empowerment through these stories as well as memorable strong-willed characters with dark secrets. There are graphic moments of disturbing images balanced with beautiful imagery and insight into human behavior. Readers of various age, gender, and life experiences will interpret these stories completely differently. For me, I sympathized with the raw anger and frustration felt by the woman protagonists trying to navigate a demanding and often unfair society. The stories of mothers protecting and sacrificing for their children will resonate with many readers. This would make a great book club selection as I imagine the discussion would include a lot of rich and eye-opening insight.
I got a free copy for review.
In hominum, we meet a woman who morphs into the perfect partner for her various boyfriends, a lady who seeks therapy to quench her anger, an addict, and a love story written in Spanglish. Mutatio focuses on body horror and mutations including a story of a young woman fleeing an abusive stepfather, a goddess finding her place on Earth, a science fiction story of an explorer seeking a better planet and future for her family, and another scifi tale of space exploration and mining. The final section monstrum tells the story of a young woman lost on a hike, a group of sisters with a secret, an AI sexbot, and a mysterious bookstore owner just trying to take care of her child in a small town.
With a largely female cast, there is a strong wave of female empowerment through these stories as well as memorable strong-willed characters with dark secrets. There are graphic moments of disturbing images balanced with beautiful imagery and insight into human behavior. Readers of various age, gender, and life experiences will interpret these stories completely differently. For me, I sympathized with the raw anger and frustration felt by the woman protagonists trying to navigate a demanding and often unfair society. The stories of mothers protecting and sacrificing for their children will resonate with many readers. This would make a great book club selection as I imagine the discussion would include a lot of rich and eye-opening insight.
I got a free copy for review.