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A review by justabean_reads
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo
4.0
This year's continuing discovery is that I might not actually get horror. Rather, I wonder if horror doesn't work for me? I really liked the ratcheting tension in S.L. Coney's Wild Spaces, but then couldn't grok the ending. Here, I like the story and the characters, but the atmosphere fell flat for me. (This makes me want to read more horror, just to see if any of it does the thing in a way I get.)
Anyway! This is about a trans dude working as a frontier nurse in the Appalachians in the 1930s. He's a WWI vet, with accompanying PTSD, and is trying to live as a butch woman, for lack of other sustainable options. That goes over poorly in his latest assignment, a small town in the grip of religious fervour. He's in the middle of turning around to walk right back out again when he realises there's a young person in the town who might be a lot like him, and also something very strange is happening in the forest.
Mandelo provides a two-page list of his sources, on queer culture, frontier nursing, contemporary lit, WWI nurses, et cetera, and I really loved how of a time it felt (Though he did cite Bad Gays, which gives me an eye twitch). For me, it hit the balance between "there have always been people like us" and "the past is a different country," and the main characters were both lived in and real. I liked that they were a bit of a disaster, and all the references to queer life outside of the nursing program/small-town Virginia.
I also generally liked the set up for the horror element: something very old in the forest, all the twisting paths, various cranky old women who know more than they're saying. On the other hand, I found the evil Christian pastor a bit one-note, and though I could see what Mandelo was doing with "everyone knows about the rot, but no one will break ranks to say it" in regards to rape culture, it didn't quite land for me. So while I certainly enjoyed the resulting carnage ("I need to finish my book! There's carnage!" I kept saying to people.), the general vibe didn't quite come together. I wonder if maybe it could've been longer? Shorter? Something.
Worth reading just for historical queer characters done right, even if it wasn't perfect. (And it might just be that I don't get horror.)
Anyway! This is about a trans dude working as a frontier nurse in the Appalachians in the 1930s. He's a WWI vet, with accompanying PTSD, and is trying to live as a butch woman, for lack of other sustainable options. That goes over poorly in his latest assignment, a small town in the grip of religious fervour. He's in the middle of turning around to walk right back out again when he realises there's a young person in the town who might be a lot like him, and also something very strange is happening in the forest.
Mandelo provides a two-page list of his sources, on queer culture, frontier nursing, contemporary lit, WWI nurses, et cetera, and I really loved how of a time it felt (Though he did cite Bad Gays, which gives me an eye twitch). For me, it hit the balance between "there have always been people like us" and "the past is a different country," and the main characters were both lived in and real. I liked that they were a bit of a disaster, and all the references to queer life outside of the nursing program/small-town Virginia.
I also generally liked the set up for the horror element: something very old in the forest, all the twisting paths, various cranky old women who know more than they're saying. On the other hand, I found the evil Christian pastor a bit one-note, and though I could see what Mandelo was doing with "everyone knows about the rot, but no one will break ranks to say it" in regards to rape culture, it didn't quite land for me. So while I certainly enjoyed the resulting carnage ("I need to finish my book! There's carnage!" I kept saying to people.), the general vibe didn't quite come together. I wonder if maybe it could've been longer? Shorter? Something.
Worth reading just for historical queer characters done right, even if it wasn't perfect. (And it might just be that I don't get horror.)