mikerickson@bookwyrm.social reviewed She Said Destroy by Nadia Bulkin
Review of 'She Said Destroy' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This book was a wonderful companion to me on a recent vacation; who knew fear of oppressive government systems was an effective distraction from a fear of flying?
Pretty much any review of this book might use the word "political" in one way or another, and I won't be an exception, but it might help to understand the context here. The introduction by Paul Tremblay explains that the author has advanced degrees in Political Science and International Politics and partially grew up in Indonesia. That goes a long way in explaining why many of the entries have recurring motifs of jungles, strictly enforced curfews, generals and war criminals, factional disputes, etc. But all of the elements float around the background of any given story and don't distract from the central plot in any instance.
As with any short story collection, some will be better than others (or at least my …
This book was a wonderful companion to me on a recent vacation; who knew fear of oppressive government systems was an effective distraction from a fear of flying?
Pretty much any review of this book might use the word "political" in one way or another, and I won't be an exception, but it might help to understand the context here. The introduction by Paul Tremblay explains that the author has advanced degrees in Political Science and International Politics and partially grew up in Indonesia. That goes a long way in explaining why many of the entries have recurring motifs of jungles, strictly enforced curfews, generals and war criminals, factional disputes, etc. But all of the elements float around the background of any given story and don't distract from the central plot in any instance.
As with any short story collection, some will be better than others (or at least my opinion of them will be), but there weren't any obvious misses here. Was there context and symbolism going over my head that I would have picked up if I had a better understanding of Indonesia's post-independence history? Almost undoubtedly, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a good time reading this anyway.
There were thirteen stories total, but my favorite three were:
No Gods, No Masters - A woman in the 1600's makes a pact with a demon for a favor, and in return, the first boy born from her bloodline will become possessed by him and destroy the world. Fast-forward to modern day and the extended family members have to reckon with a pregnant cousin who wants to release the Beast once and for all.
Endless Life - A war criminal commits suicide in a hotel room before his enemies can catch up to him. Later, a lowly cleaning lady dies in the same room and is quickly forgotten. Her spirit strives to be remembered, but her hauntings are attributed to the warlord instead. She decides to roll with it.
Only Unity Saves the Damned - Three teenagers trapped in small-town rural America stage a ghost sighting video that goes viral. Everything goes downhill from there.