Nalo Hopkinson won a World Fantasy Award for this collection of short stories back in 2002, and nearly 20 years later, they are still boundary-pushing, ground-breaking, and immediate. The way she plays with gender and sexuality in "Fisherwoman" and "Ganger (Ball Lighting)" offers a stark contrast to the horror-tinged folklore of "Greedy Choke Puppy," "Tan-Tan and Dry Bone," and "Precious." The short-and-funny "Whose Upward Flight I Love" balances the provocative racial- and body-conscious "A Habit of Waste." And the Caribbean dialect of Hopkinson's native Jamaica imbues many of the stories with a richness that makes me wish I'd listened to the audiobook. While I felt that this was an excellent collection (it makes me wonder why I haven't read Hopkinson before now — I'll be putting many more of her books on my to-be-read list), the overt sexuality of some of the stories, combined with the gruesome horrific imagery, could be off-putting to some. Can't wait to see what the Orcs & Aliens thought of this one when we discuss it tonight!
No comments:
Post a Comment