Drowning in Books
We all know that fall is literary release season. It is abundant with literary awards, Penguin re-issues, and so much new and contemporary literature that my head is spinning. Mostly with excitement, but there’s more than a bit of guilt lurking there. Why? Well, I read about three hundred books a year and I don’t keep most of them. But even though I don’t keep most of them, I am still running into a storage problem.
No, I am not a book hoarder, but I’m going to start to have a hard think about whether I need to do another purge or if the library has to undergo a serious reorganize soon. I also need to reign in some of my acquiring. Books cannot form the bulk of my Christmas presents this year.
More Short Stories
I am continuing with the momentum of last week’s review with another collection of short stories, this time a collection of Silvina Ocampo’s short fiction Thus Were Their Faces. This book is a selection of work spanning multiple decades, and particularly has a focus on showcasing Ocampo’s tendency to be both insightful and at the same time grotesque, haunting, and fantastic.
My particular favourites were ‘The House Made of Sugar’, ‘Mimoso’, and ‘Voice on the Telephone’. All of these read almost like the delightfully spooky EC comics of the 1950s, but with a twist of social commentary. ‘The House Made of Sugar’ is about the previous owner of a house gradually taking over a man’s wife, but it is also about the residue of previous lives lived in shared spaces. ‘Mimoso’ is about the loss of a dear pet and revenge taken on those who judge the grieving, but it also contains a statement about how close we are to our animal companions and how cruelly some judge those that mourn them. Lastly, ‘Voice on the Telephone’ is a statement about the separateness and isolation of women’s lives, couched in a story about a party and a fire.
A Bit of a Comparison
Ocampo’s short fiction shares a few traits with the work of Robert Aickman that I reviewed last week. Like Aickman, Ocampo uses a realist framework as the base for most of her stories. Normal routines. Normal lives. Normal occurrences. All of these are both intricately detailed and then turned on their head as the mundane takes a dark turn.
Ocampo more effectively uses more fantastical elements and pushes the sense of surreality a lot farther than Aickman does. She also grounds these devices more in social commentary. Her use of these elements is more of a statement, not simply a way to add something spooky to a story.
Not an Easy Read
Ocampo’s collection had several stories that I did really enjoy, but I’m not sure I fully enjoyed it as much as I wanted to. Sometimes Ocampo tends to delve into the theoretical and philosophical, and that just wasn’t my cup of tea — especially when the stories in question often had the setup of a traditional ghost story. I can appreciate the experimental aspect of her writing. ‘Cornelia Before the Mirror’ is a great example of experimental technique.
I just had a different expectation that I couldn’t quite shake off, which is mostly my fault. However, there is a complexity as well that can stray into the obtuse. In short, if you want a collection of simple ghost stories, I would definitely choose a different book. Ocampo requires effort and it is definitely not straightforward.
Leaning Into the Holidays
House stuff and dealing with house stuff is difficult, so I am trying my best to lean into the holiday season. Both holiday seasons, really. Halloween stuff is starting to pop up in our neighbourhood and my lovely spouse shouts with joy every time we see a new 12-foot skeleton sprout from a nearby lawn.
And, even though it is way too early, I have gotten a small spark of joy from some Christmas bath stuff and the slowly gathering of holiday goods and décor at our local shops. I do love this time of year, and while things have been difficult, I don’t need to be scared of it coming because I’m afraid of more things going wrong. I need to lean into the small things I enjoy and try to focus on the happy times — not the disasters.
