Karen Russell is a fearless writer. She makes no excuse and offers no explanation for the audacity of her vision. She simply tells her stories... fabulous stories about children and about the mythological world that they inhabit. A world where a young boy's father can be a Minotaur. A world where a boy's sleep disorder can be so unsettling that he doesn't fit in, even at a camp for sleep apneics and somnambulists, somniloquists and headbangers, night eaters, gnashers and narcoleptics. "And then there's us. Cabin 4: Miscellaneous. The ones whose parents checked the box marked "Other'." (
Z.Z.'s Sleep-away Camp for Disordered Dreamers).
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves is a collection of short stories (including
Ava Wrestles the Alligator which inspired her bestselling novel
Swamplandia). In these 10 stories, Ms. Russell introduces us to a world that would make Carl Jung blush. This is a book to be sipped like a fine Merlot. The stories are redolent with the subtle aromas of black fruit and cassis, and flavors of spice, blackberry and plum. This is a book to be gulped like a liter of Oktoberfest. The stories will leave a white foam on your face. Brush the foam from your lips and have another gulp.
Karen Russell wrestles the English language into submission, making words her own, the better to tell these darkly human stories of hope and despair. Pick up a copy. You won't be disappointed.
Comments (1)
I love this book! I have never seen anybody else mention it. When I was in Boston a friend of mine picked this book up for me at the Harvard Bookstore when I wasn't looking. He gave it to me at a pub down the street. I love the memory of that, too.