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A review by jamiee_f
Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Sophia was made for her husband. She wakes up in their perfect house, in their perfect community run by a strict HOA, and makes handmade, generous gifts for their neighbors. Her only problem is that her husband is often away and she can get a bit lonely. However lately, people have been asking her if she's happy. She notices people staring at her, watching her when her husband is away, but they also seem almost afraid of her. Is the veneer of her perfect life...cracking?
Sophia awakes one day, and begins her morning routine at her beautiful perfect nightstand. However this morning, unlike all the others, she feels compelled to open a draw she's never noticed before. In it she finds a thick ponytail of black hair and a brush. As a blonde, this doesn't really make sense for her, and she's disturbed, but continues her chores. She goes to visit her friends, Mrs Fisch and Mrs Lyon, and confides in them about the hair. They tell her not to worry too much because, oh isn't her husband so wonderful! Then, there is an unexpected visitor, Mr Semengelof, a skinny musician who has just returned from hunting down a criminal who threatened the community and now is here to teach the children music lessons.
That night, Sophia eats her dinner alone, childlike in the somehow enormous home, and as she cleans up, one of the knives won't go into the block. Upon further inspection she finds a small nub of bone--a finger bone. Between this and the hair she found earlier, she is deeply uneasy, but ends up just putting them both back where she found them.
The next say her husband returns and Sophia is overjoyed! She lauds him for doing such important work and asks him what he doesn when he is away from her....does he ever talk to other women? Her husband dismisses her and says she is the only one for him. He then begrudgingly agrees to go to the community pantomime night for entertainment, while also making some barbed comments about Sophia and what she does.
The pantomime night is a bizarre play that reenacts the exact story of Sophia and her husband meeting! Sophia is tickled by it but her husband seems angry. After the play, he ends up leaving and says she can stay and socialize, and the star of the show whispers to her saying "Do you understand now?" which Sophia does not.
Later, alone at home after restless nights of sleep, Sophia is determined to get to the bottom of things. She tears the house apart and finds all of her husband's secret hiding spots. She finds hair, bones, organs, and blood from seemingly dozens of women and she knows she is not her husband's first wife. In a fit of pique, she runs away from her home, runs to the garden of the gated community, and encounters a forbidden fruit tree and a serpentine man names Cascavel.
Cascavel speaks in riddles and says that if she wants to embark on this journey, he will go with her, but Sophia must start it. And so she does. She chooses knowledge, she eats the forbidden apple, and learns that there have been many wives before her. Cascavel shares that only one has survived, Lillith, who managed to flee the community and now exists outside its fences. Semenglof was tasked with capturing her. Cascavel also shares that this has been going on forever, and the community hoped that maybe she would be the one that was right, but her husband keeps finding things to change. She discusses with Cascavel what is likely to happen to her, and he gives her the apple and beseeches her to get her husband to eat it.
Sophia returns home and carefully puts her home back together, returning all of her husband's trophies and trinkets to their hiding spots. She prepares a delicious dinner and an apple pie. When her husband returns home, she confronts him. It turns out, he is Adam, as in Adam from Eden, and his father God has been helping him build and rebuild his perfect partner for eons. Adam is a spoiled, entitled pieve of shit serial killer who has never faced a consequence and absolutely embodies the patriarchy. Sophia begs him to spare her, to tell her the truth, and he does. He tells her everything, because there are no consequences. He rebuffs her offer of the apple pie, and explains in detail how it all worked, and why he keeps creating new wives. He emphasizes that it's not fair he has to give up a wife that didn't work out, so he keeps pieces of them around the house to revisit. He knows that it's sad Sophia wasn't perfect, but he will kill her and keep a piece to visit, and she will always live on with him. Sophia is, obviously horrified, but there is nothing she can do to evade the wrath and love of God and Adam.
The book ends with Eve waking up, thinking to herself how she was made for her husband Adam.
This novella absolutely slapped. I really enjoyed it, it's one I would read again because I know I would notice all the little pieces of the story that the author has laid out, but until it clicksthat we're in the garden of Eden, you miss it. This story was a beautiful mosaic that all came together so succinctly and powerfully.
I thought this was a strong social satire, a well done feminist retelling ofAdam and Eve , and an incisive criticism of patriarchy, all while also being coyly funny and extremely smart. Absolutely recommend!
That night, Sophia eats her dinner alone, childlike in the somehow enormous home, and as she cleans up, one of the knives won't go into the block. Upon further inspection she finds a small nub of bone--a finger bone. Between this and the hair she found earlier, she is deeply uneasy, but ends up just putting them both back where she found them.
The next say her husband returns and Sophia is overjoyed! She lauds him for doing such important work and asks him what he doesn when he is away from her....does he ever talk to other women? Her husband dismisses her and says she is the only one for him. He then begrudgingly agrees to go to the community pantomime night for entertainment, while also making some barbed comments about Sophia and what she does.
The pantomime night is a bizarre play that reenacts the exact story of Sophia and her husband meeting! Sophia is tickled by it but her husband seems angry. After the play, he ends up leaving and says she can stay and socialize, and the star of the show whispers to her saying "Do you understand now?" which Sophia does not.
Later, alone at home after restless nights of sleep, Sophia is determined to get to the bottom of things. She tears the house apart and finds all of her husband's secret hiding spots. She finds hair, bones, organs, and blood from seemingly dozens of women and she knows she is not her husband's first wife. In a fit of pique, she runs away from her home, runs to the garden of the gated community, and encounters a forbidden fruit tree and a serpentine man names Cascavel.
Cascavel speaks in riddles and says that if she wants to embark on this journey, he will go with her, but Sophia must start it. And so she does. She chooses knowledge, she eats the forbidden apple, and learns that there have been many wives before her. Cascavel shares that only one has survived, Lillith, who managed to flee the community and now exists outside its fences. Semenglof was tasked with capturing her. Cascavel also shares that this has been going on forever, and the community hoped that maybe she would be the one that was right, but her husband keeps finding things to change. She discusses with Cascavel what is likely to happen to her, and he gives her the apple and beseeches her to get her husband to eat it.
Sophia returns home and carefully puts her home back together, returning all of her husband's trophies and trinkets to their hiding spots. She prepares a delicious dinner and an apple pie. When her husband returns home, she confronts him. It turns out, he is Adam, as in Adam from Eden, and his father God has been helping him build and rebuild his perfect partner for eons. Adam is a spoiled, entitled pieve of shit serial killer who has never faced a consequence and absolutely embodies the patriarchy. Sophia begs him to spare her, to tell her the truth, and he does. He tells her everything, because there are no consequences. He rebuffs her offer of the apple pie, and explains in detail how it all worked, and why he keeps creating new wives. He emphasizes that it's not fair he has to give up a wife that didn't work out, so he keeps pieces of them around the house to revisit. He knows that it's sad Sophia wasn't perfect, but he will kill her and keep a piece to visit, and she will always live on with him. Sophia is, obviously horrified, but there is nothing she can do to evade the wrath and love of God and Adam.
The book ends with Eve waking up, thinking to herself how she was made for her husband Adam.
This novella absolutely slapped. I really enjoyed it, it's one I would read again because I know I would notice all the little pieces of the story that the author has laid out, but until it clicks
I thought this was a strong social satire, a well done feminist retelling of
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Gaslighting