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A review by sarahyjackson
House of Cotton by Monica Brashears
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This story felt to me as if Jordan Peele directed a season of American Horror Story - erotic southern gothic horror.
I saw another reviewer name a kind of fun-house experience reading the novel and that resonates for me. The interjection of Grimm vignettes added to the kind of dark fairy tale disorientation. Was glad to have Labyrinth named on the page - definitely a sense as a reader of wandering through a maze!
Magnolia’s (and Mama Brown’s) experiences of sexual agency and body autonomy - and perhaps more importantly the denial thereof - were really viscerally presented and affecting to me. I’ll be thinking about them for a long time.
I was really glad to read a contemporary narrative by someone from Tennessee set in Tennessee and imagine my experiences and reflections will become more refined with time!
I saw another reviewer name a kind of fun-house experience reading the novel and that resonates for me. The interjection of Grimm vignettes added to the kind of dark fairy tale disorientation. Was glad to have Labyrinth named on the page - definitely a sense as a reader of wandering through a maze!
Magnolia’s (and Mama Brown’s) experiences of sexual agency and body autonomy - and perhaps more importantly the denial thereof - were really viscerally presented and affecting to me. I’ll be thinking about them for a long time.
I was really glad to read a contemporary narrative by someone from Tennessee set in Tennessee and imagine my experiences and reflections will become more refined with time!
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Alcohol
Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Vomit