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Monstrous Affections
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 09:56:17 -0500
Like Emily, I appreciate the way this collection explores the idea of what's "monstrous."There are ghosts and monsters and beasts for sure, but sometimes what's monstrous is a way of thinking or behaving or believing; monstrousness can be a sacrifice; or the weight of grieving. There is a supernatural element to all of the stories but that isn't necessarily what proves to be most monstrous, at least not to me. In M.T. Anderson's "Quick Hill," for example, a sweet boy whose family has married someone to the hill for generations dares for awhile to believe he might have a different future when he falls in love with a young woman in town. Then terrible things start happening, and everyone insists he must fulfill his duty and marry the hill, to return the town to balance and safety.I found myself wondering what is more monstrous---that the hill seems to insist on claiming him, or that no one challenges the sacrifice? (And is it a sacrifice? It definitely feels like one to the young woman he loved, but he has become part of something else by story's end.)
Like the other stories in the collection, this one offers so much to consider about what's monstrous in our world and in ourselves, while exploring other themes so resonant to teens, from love to identity to many kinds of longing.
Megan
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 09:56:17 -0500
Like Emily, I appreciate the way this collection explores the idea of what's "monstrous."There are ghosts and monsters and beasts for sure, but sometimes what's monstrous is a way of thinking or behaving or believing; monstrousness can be a sacrifice; or the weight of grieving. There is a supernatural element to all of the stories but that isn't necessarily what proves to be most monstrous, at least not to me. In M.T. Anderson's "Quick Hill," for example, a sweet boy whose family has married someone to the hill for generations dares for awhile to believe he might have a different future when he falls in love with a young woman in town. Then terrible things start happening, and everyone insists he must fulfill his duty and marry the hill, to return the town to balance and safety.I found myself wondering what is more monstrous---that the hill seems to insist on claiming him, or that no one challenges the sacrifice? (And is it a sacrifice? It definitely feels like one to the young woman he loved, but he has become part of something else by story's end.)
Like the other stories in the collection, this one offers so much to consider about what's monstrous in our world and in ourselves, while exploring other themes so resonant to teens, from love to identity to many kinds of longing.
Megan
--
Megan Schliesman, Librarian
Cooperative Children's Book Center
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Room 401 Teacher Education
225 N. Mills Street
Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503
schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
ccbc.education.wisc.edu
My regular hours are T-F, 8-4:30.
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Received on Tue 21 Oct 2014 09:58:17 AM CDT
