Picked this up randomly at Barnes and Noble at the Jordan Creek Mall in Des Moines. The cover looked intriguing. Hadn’t read anything by the author.
It’s engagingly and beautifully creepy. Would make for a great movie in the hands of an adept director. Or maybe we should all leave this beautiful work alone.
Spoilers!
Repressed homosexuality, possible asexuality, untreated mental issues, late-stage Capitalistic ennui, and body dysmorphia do figure in the story amidst plenty of other themes. But Abby is profoundly, debilitatingly lonely and empty. The text and imagery convey these real horrors perfectly. She is terribly exploited and disappointed by every system she’s a part of and every character she meets. A sad (but beautifully drawn and written) trainwreck to behold.
“Through The Woods”
I went looking for other books by Carroll and bought “Through the Woods” (2014), a collection of five short stories, one of which, “His Face All Red”, attracted quite a bit of attention on Twitter a while ago (at least in the circles of those who read these sorts of things.)
Lovely stuff. I’ll be reading more by them soon.