Book: Gore, Lust & Kin: Stories of Women on the Brink by Suzanne Mattaboni
Reviewed by Quinn with Hobbies
Rating: 4/5
I don't usually go out of my way to read collections of stories, but this one had me in a chokehold. The cover firstly snagged my attention, then the title. But what really got me invested was the first story, The World is Lava hit me straight in the gut. Most of the stories in Gore did. Lust is, well, it's exactly that, a feeling of either rolling into a story that I was greedy for it to keep going, like with Screaming on the London Tubes; or something that was quick and left me feeling like I was missing something as with Ex Smoker, though I think I understand that one a little more after thinking about it a bit longer (but maybe not, which is the fun of short stories in my opinion.) But what really hooked me in this collection was the Kin section. It nailed the different, weird feelings about lover and family. The Last Ember and Reunions are going to stick with me for the rest of my life, specifically.
The emotions in this is what made me love it. Suzanne Mattaboni really captured the different faucets of the weird, and intense, and darker corners of womanhood. Her writing in particularly really vibed with me as I was reading, it almost reminded me of gothic or lit. fic. at times, which made the horror elements of each piece feel surreal. I'm rambling at this point, but overall I really did enjoy this book and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a collection of the weird, wicked, and wonderful with a dark feminist touch.