Jewish Folklore, A Gender Creative Artist, and a Big Ole' Mouth in the Ground - Reviews
Whew, February was A LOT...
As I've likely said before, February is always my busiest month. Between my tranniversary, birthday, and the release of a new song, plus some incredibly unfortunate personal happenings, I feel as though I've run a relay race, which in my current state is incredibly difficult. ANYWAY.
Tomorrow is my birthday! Having been a hopeless and dysphoric sixteen-year-old, I never imagined I'd reach 31, but damn am I glad I'm still here, running my mouth and annoying folks with my special interests and outspokenness. To celebrate, I decided to park my keister in a booth at the cafe and write some new reviews.
Onward Hooooooooo!
Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott, Penguin Random House
I'm truly still reeling from this one. Thistlefoot has been a title I've been interested in since its release in September of 2022. It took me until receiving access to Penguin Random Audio to now listen to the audiobook, expertly narrated by January LaVoy, who I was extremely familiar with after listening to The Book of Love!
I have always been fascinated and drawn to Jewish folklore, even from a young age. Specifically Golems and Baba Yaga, which are two fairly prominent themes in this novel. There was always something deep within me that felt inextricably connected to these themes and characters. In recent years, the Golem became another focus of mine due to the transness that felt like a part of the mythos.
Then I found out from my mom that part of her side of the family is Jewish, which came as a massive shock due to her families fervent Christianity. I was raised to chose whichever religion felt the most natural for me, but was constantly experiencing Catholicism and different sects of Christianity living in Bucks/Montgomery County, respectively.
I eventually settled on agnosticism because I couldn't make sense of many of the structures that seemed intent on asserting their particular faith is the correct and right one. The closest I've recently come to making a choice is my burgeoning scholarship regarding Muslim belief and Islam, but that is a WHOLE other essay.
All of this is to say that I've been diving deeper into Jewish folklore and stories following this news. Suddenly an innate fascination made far more sense to me, so I wanted to learn even more. When I found Thistlefoot on the PRH Audio app, it felt like kismet.
The novel follows the Yaga siblings, Isaac and Bellatine, find themselves brought together again by a sudden inheritance left for them by their great-grandmother. What they find waiting for them is an enormous house, perched upon two large chicken legs. Isaac, who has used his gift as a mimic to traverse the US as a street performer and con artist, sees the opportunity for he and his sister to make some money by resurrecting their old puppet show detailing the legend of the Drowning Fool.
Bellatine, who is able to use an ember that burns through her hands to bring objects, animals, people to stunning life or resurrection, is extremely wary of this proposal. She's worked to hard in her career as a woodworker to fall back into the magical habits that brought her so much childhood shame and fear. Isaac's charm breaks down her nerves and they begin their tour across the states. However, the Yaga home is not the only thing to travel the oceans to find the siblings.
A strange figure, whose small flask of drink heightens paranoia and stokes perhaps dormant prejudices in anyone who drinks from it, has also arrived and will stop at nothing to find the house and finish his work. This Longshadow Man, as he is known to a band of vigilantes following his every move, is bringing destruction wherever he rests, and its up to the siblings to unearth the secrets and legacies of their family and history in order to stop him, leading to a battle of myth, magic, legacy, and identity.
This novel is something truly special, and was a marvelous pairing with the fabulism of Kelly Link's debut. Nethercott's storytelling never loses sight of its humanity when building the magical-adjacent world the Yaga's inhabit. The Gaiman influence is strong, but not overwhelming. Her voice is something altogether entrancing and original. If you close your eyes, you can see the roaring fire keeping you warm, hearing the soft, raspy calm of an elder's voice as she recounts fantastical–yet true–tales. Her slow, yet steady unveiling of details and secrets left me gasping at sections; not solely due to the lushness of her prose, but the expert wit and wisdom of it.
The Longshadow Man also functions as one of the most compelling villains I've read in modern Fantasy. I refuse to give much away, but what he represents as metaphor, entity, and encapsulation of our past haunting us is truly breathtaking. It sure influenced me to look at villains less as a character and more as something much larger than readers may initially conceptualize. Nethercott additionally reconceptualizes the Golem in what may be one of the most emotional explorations of self and life I've come into contact with yet. You have never experienced a character quite like Winnie, and the way I dropped everything for the queerness that pops up in this novel!!! Ugh, in love.
Thistlefoot is an epic, vital, and thoroughly engaging Fantasy that keeps the action consistent while constructing the characters, world, and mythology in the nooks and crannies as it moves along, so by the time you arrive at the compelling ending, your heart is bursting with love and belief. You need this novel in your life.
Liberated: The Radical Art and Life of Claude Cahun by Kaz Rowe, Getty Publications
If this is your first time hearing the name Claude Cahun, I'm certainly glad to introduce you to this revolutionary artist, photographer, and activist.
Forever assisting in the dispelling of that annoying falsity that Republicans posit when they say gender creative folks did not exist in decades reaching back in our history, Claude Cahun is a genderfluid icon who, along with their partner Marcel Moore, took on fascism and binary obsession in the 1920s-1940s. Besides blatantly racist, the concept of trans identity being new is ridiculous, but with the active campaigns of Nazis erasing not only leading trans medical research (see the Institute for Sexual Research of Berlin) but history regarding gender variance in Jewish history as well, many have fallen prey to such conspiracies as a sudden trans worldwide takeover.
This new graphic biography is written and illustrated by YouTuber Kaz Rowe, who utilizes primary sources of Cahun and Moore's own words to add to the narrative and dialogue of the bio. We follow Claude from their early childhood to their passing in 1954 in Saint Helier, Jersey, witnessing their blossoming love and creative partnership with Marcel, plus their eventual occupation under Nazi rule and their ways of fighting back as the war came to a close.
Cahun was a prominent artist during the Surrealist period, which is my personal favorite. Studying the work of feminine artists during this period is what ultimately brought me to their work, and my fascination deepened as I dug beneath the surface and discovered that the history was far queerer than some art historians may admit.
Along with the kaleidoscopic works of Leonora Carrington, Cahun's pictures and art transcend form, leaving the body and its limitations as a fluid and ever-shifting in its presentation. The dynamic couple would constantly challenge gender roles of their time, dressing masculinely in public and eschewing their given names for more gender creative monikers.
The book doesn't entirely stray from the facts in terms of how Cahun and Moore did come from relatively comfortable means and privilege, however in no way condemns the artists either. Part of their ability to act as chameleons in the public they inhabited was their privilege as white folks, though their Jewishness kept them wary. Ultimately, it's Cahun's Jewish background that compels them to fight the injustice of Nazism, using subversive means to undermine their occupation of Jersey in the 40's, leading to Cahun and Moore's arrest and trial as the war concluded.
Being that Claude Cahun wrote frequently about their experience and thoughts throughout their life, there is a wealth of information regarding their history, politics, and beliefs regarding identity and art. Liberated serves as a fantastic introduction for queer and non-queer readers alike, giving a succinct timeline of the largest events of Cahun's life and stoking interest in further exploration and reading.
If you are someone who greatly enjoys comics and graphic novels, this is one you should read as soon as possible, as it helps to affirm so much of what queer folks are contending with, and revolting against, in our modern day. Plus the art is DIVINE.
Mouth by Joshua Hull, Tenebrous Press
Starting off 2024 the TENEBROUS WAY. Next month, the world is introduced to Mouth, a loveable carnivore living in the ground of a secluded farm. When Rusty inherits the property from a friendly stranger, he finds that he has bitten off more than he can chew once he meets this disturbing anomaly. Needing to keep Mouth fed, Rusty reluctantly does what he can to avoid the suspicion of the town, but never sees Abigail coming. A whip-smart worker at the pet store Rusty typically buys from, she quickly catches on that something isn't right, quickly becoming entwined with this anxious man and his unconventional pet.
Mouth is the longform debut of Joshua Hull, co-writer of Shudder darling Glorious, which I had the delirious pleasure of streaming last year. This novella retains much of the cosmically black humor of the aforementioned film, prompting a hilariously unhinged scenario that offers all manner of ethical quandaries for our central characters. Rusty wants nothing to do with this hellish situation he's been thrust into, meanwhile, Abigail sees Mouth as her way of transcending the trauma inflicted upon her by the life she's led, moving toward a fresh start where she can be free from her past.
This book goes in a direction I did not expect and that may be my favorite aspect of it. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be tearing up at the end of a book about a mouth in the ground that eats people. What Hull achieves in a hundred pages, some authors struggle to capture in several hundreds. Questions of ethical or moral responsibility lead from dark humor to something astoundingly tender and wholesome, cementing Mouth as a story that fits into the Tenebrous family seamlessly.
When it releases in a couple weeks, you should absolutely grant Mouth your attention. You'll be amazed how deeply you may feel for a giant mouth in the ground.
I never tire of finding my reading going in directions I both expect and could never expect. There's so much joy that's unlocked through the connections my brain feels the need to foster as I experience such wonderful tales. It's a skill I appreciate more and more as I get older, both within my writing and scholarship, but as a thinker as well.
Maybe I'm particularly sentimental because my birthday is imminent. Who's to say?
You can find GennaRose Nethercott on Instagram @_gennarose_ and be sure to also consider her newest collection of short wonders, Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart, out now!
You can find Kaz Rowe on Instagram @kaz.rowe. Maybe check out their YouTube videos and be on the lookout for further illustrations and books.
You can find Joshua Hull on Instagram @joshuathehull and be sure to give a follow to Tenebrous Press as well @tenebrouspress. Mouth will release 03/13/24.
Seeya next time!
