When Your Therapist is Worried

So, this week I got more bad news and more things have happened and it led to a sleepless night and a lot of crying and a very low mood. Thankfully, I had a therapy session the next day and as much as I thought I was putting at the least my rudimentary pieces back together, the fifty minutes of actually talking about the problem and focussing on it, made me feel a lot more in control than I usually do at times like this. More than that, it’s helped my lovely spouse too. She worries about me a lot and, really, me being in therapy has helped the both of us. She helps me with homework, we talk about it together and, wow, it has made so many things better and made me feel so much more connected with both my own mental health and what I can and cannot do when it comes to helping myself and drawing boundaries.

More Short Stories

I came across ’Pemi Aguda’s Ghostroots as a random find in a big bookstore I happened to be browsing in. I was definitely drawn to the compelling cover art and beautiful book design (also done by the amazing designer Beth Steidle who I highlighted in my Victorian Psycho review last week). I may have bought the book partially for the cover, but the content did not in any way disappoint.

Aguda’s short stories are the perfect spooky selection for my love of narratives that feature the ordinary world turning off-kilter with deadly, disturbing consequences. More powerful than gore, I find an eerie atmosphere is what really makes a collection like Ghostroots tick. And that eerie atmosphere takes a lot of careful writing and skill to create.

Family Fractures

I particularly like that these stories have a subtle focus on family fractures and dysfunctional relationships between mothers and daughters, parents and children, and extended families including close friends. She even includes objects and places that are often imbued with family associations and traditions, like houses and neighbourhoods.

The message is that family of origin can be a force for good but can also leave a malevolent stain on our lives that is nearly impossible to escape. Taking this statement and exploring it with horror and supernatural elements is just such an incredible concept. Then Aguda adds an exploration of how the past infects the present, and it reaches the level of a chef’s kiss.

My favourite stories include ‘Manifest’, and ‘24, Alhaji Williams Street’.

Connections of Style

The stories in Ghostroots reminded me, in style, of a more literary version of the urban legend. There is a sense that these stories are old, often repeated, and often adapted to different places and times, and they have a cautionary aspect. This could be you or your friends or family or acquaintances. These narratives are modern, but also timeless. Distant but also close.

It’s hard to imitate this nearly indescribable feeling, but it is definitely present here and it makes the whole collection both very readable and very haunting.

At Least the Homework Sounds Good

My homework this week is to do things that we enjoy and try to leave some of the problems behind us for even short periods of time. It’s a bit difficult to do that. I know I tend to ruminate and carry everything with me until I get crushed by it. I’m trying to just let my lovely spouse spoil me with attention and time together — that always makes problems seem far away.