Book Review : Salt Slow
Book Name: Salt Slow
Author: Julia Armfield
Publisher: Picador
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Format: Paperback/Kindle
Print length: 160 pages
Rating: 4/5
Salt Slow by Julia Armfield is a short story collection that explores the themes of womanhood, and unsettling worlds.
Book Blurb On Amazon
The electrifying debut from the winner of the White Review Short Story Prize 2018. In her brilliantly inventive and haunting debut collection of stories, Julia Armfield explores the body, mapping the skin and bones of her characters through their experiences of isolation, obsession, love and revenge.'Thrilling . . . A writer whose next move you wouldn’t want to miss.' Clever prose and a sense of humor that seems to loom up like a character in itself'. Teenagers develop ungodly appetites, a city becomes insomniac overnight, and bodies are diligently picked apart to make up better ones. The mundane worlds of schools and sleepy sea-side towns are invaded and transformed, creating a landscape which is constantly shifting to hold on to its inhabitants. Blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, Salt Slow considers characters in motion – turning away, turning back or simply turning into something new entirely. Salt Slow marks the arrival of an ambitious and singular new voice. Salt Slow is exemplary. A distinct new gothic, melancholy, powerful and poised. Armfield is an enormous, gut-wrenching talent.
Review
Salt Slow is a debut story collection that explores unsettling and weird experiences beneath the ordinary, focusing on women and their experiences. This book also explores the body, mapping the skin and bones of woman characters through their experiences of isolation, obsession, love, belonging and revenge. Stories like Mantis, which talks about experiences of puberty, and The Great Awake, which emphasize the city with people lacking sleep more sleep-deprived, are melancholic yet impactful that will leave readers in surprise.
The characters in each story leave a lasting impression on readers dealing with their unique challenges. Readers would find themselves in the characters as the author did not restrict herself from talking about daily challenges and societal taboos, impacting everyday lives of readers.
The writing style of the author is full of vivid imagery and descriptions that would make readers crave for more. Also, few stories conclude with ambiguity leaving readers to search for answers which this book does not offer.
Few of the stories that took my attention include:
Mantis:
It is the first story in the book that will leave readers in awe of the theme explored in it. It is a metamorphosis of a young girl whose puberty turns scary with her shedding skin and teeth, transforming more like a mantis than a human being.
This story set in a Catholic school will allow readers to explore the visuals of girls' school and their routines throughout. Readers can connect with the scenes as in this story, the author pictures the gossiping, rituals of assembly, sports, and how teachers treat students to keep them disciplined.
The Great Awake:
The Great Awake is a phenomenal story where readers will explore a world that does not sleep. A person who can sleep feels guilty of doing it and punishes oneself for it.
This story will impact readers strongly as it delves into the societal influence of mass insomnia and the desperate desire to sleep. The imagery and comparisons used in this story are flawless.
For example, let me read the opening of the story. When I was twenty-seven, my sleep stepped out of me like a passenger from a train carriage, looked around my room for several seconds, then sat in the chair beside my bed. Also, the author beautifully illustrates sleep, walking beside a person but not letting the person sleep. Sleep is emphasized as a central character.
Isn't that admirable? I am sure you have already started with the thoughts of reading this book.
Formerly Feral:
Formerly, Feral is a deep-knit story exploring a family dynamic led by the remarriage of a man with two daughters. One stays with him after marriage, and the other stays with her former wife.
The life of her daughter living with her turned upside down after he remarried a woman who moved with him with her pet wolf named Helen. The phrase I read in the beginning was from this book.
This story saddened me a little, seeing the two sisters separating because their parents divorced and how their intervention in each other's life impacted after Helen and the second daughter got along like sisters called feral sisters by their father. The story dives into strengthening the relationship between the wolf and the girl, diminishing the boundary between animal and human.
This book is not for everyone but those who enjoy reading weird fiction with central female characters exploring innovative, and strange worlds should dive into this book.
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