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A review by reasie
Dead Girls and Other Stories by Emily Geminder
5.0
Geminder's prose is lyric and at times breathtaking. Each story feels half a poem, digging deep into human nature, the beauty of the everyday and the way tragedy feels prosaic from too close.
"1-800-Fat-Girl" is as surreal and delightful as the title made me hope it would be, and really about female friendship, which is a consistent theme throughout the collection.
"Edie" is the story that most closely examines friendship, following two girls through playground best-friendship through troubled high school years, with threat and disfunction simmering on the edges of reality like Edie's insistence that she's an alien. (Obviously, you're always going to get me with the promise of an alien best friend.)
"Your Village Has Been Bombed" was haunting with its absurdity and meta-fictive feel.
"Choreograph" ties a story of a sister struggling with mental illness with the history of a famous dancer, and this blend of interesting fact and present fiction works throughout the collection.
I especially loved the relationship with a distant mentor in "Nausicaa" and now I want to read Ulysses for the first time.
"1-800-Fat-Girl" is as surreal and delightful as the title made me hope it would be, and really about female friendship, which is a consistent theme throughout the collection.
"Edie" is the story that most closely examines friendship, following two girls through playground best-friendship through troubled high school years, with threat and disfunction simmering on the edges of reality like Edie's insistence that she's an alien. (Obviously, you're always going to get me with the promise of an alien best friend.)
"Your Village Has Been Bombed" was haunting with its absurdity and meta-fictive feel.
"Choreograph" ties a story of a sister struggling with mental illness with the history of a famous dancer, and this blend of interesting fact and present fiction works throughout the collection.
I especially loved the relationship with a distant mentor in "Nausicaa" and now I want to read Ulysses for the first time.