A review by coric
Shae by Mesha Maren

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

 

Mesha Maren writes about the modern South in a way that shows her love for the region while not shying away from the social and economic challenges faced by certain inhabitants. As always, she also invites you to inhabit queer lives and shares a humanizing experience of what it means to navigate this place and time with this identity. Readers are given an immersive coming of age story that illuminates how a series of life choices and circumstances can pull anyone into the unrelenting thrall of opioid addiction. If you loved Demon Copperhead, then pick up this one for a completely different voice  with similar themes and setting. Maren successfully captures the voice and setting with her exquisite writing that simultaneously manages to be both spare and rich. Her beautifully crafted characters will capture and then break your heart.