A review by asterope
The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherynne M. Valente

4.25

 A very personal and dreamlike collection of stories and poems influenced by Valente’s time living in Japan. While some of the shorter pieces didn’t make a huge impression on me, the one’s that did were incredible. My favourites were: Ghosts of Gunkanjima, Story No. 6, Fade to White, Killswitch and Silently and Very Fast. 

Silently and Very Fast is the last piece in the book - a novella about an AI that joins a unique family in their isolated house in Hokkaido. It took some time for me to grasp, but once it got going, I was enthralled. I want to say I’d love a full length novel of this, but actually it works best as a novella. Her vivid writing style really shines here. I’ll definitely reread this at some point because I have a strong feeling I’ll enjoy it more the second time. 

The other pieces were poems that I found too abstract for my liking. But this is probably linked to my unfamiliarity with Japanese myths too. And I’m not a big poetry fan, so that didn’t come as any surprise. I could still appreciate Valente’s skill and how these pieces link with her experiences alone in Japan. When looking back over the full list of the 13 pieces in this book, there were only 3 poems I wasn’t into. 

I must read more of her work that I’ve previously been unsure about it. I’ve been dithering over reading Deathless for the past 12 years, ever since that one quote was endlessly making the rounds on Tumblr. I can feel she has potential to become one of my favourite authors.