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A review by sbbarnes
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
5.0
Escaping the reality of her life, Liga runs to her own personal heaven. She lives there in peace for many years with her daughters Branza and Urdda, interrupted only by bear-shaped visitors, and, unbeknownst to her, a small angry man stealing jewels. But Urdda is curious; the bears don't exactly have purely bear-shaped motivations, and you can't hide from the world forever, so together their little family has to reenter reality.
This is kind of a heartbreaking book, which is both why I gave it five stars and why I doubt that decision. Especially the beginning is very hard to read. For one, it's full of trauma and horror, and for another, the characters narrating are so...I don't know, uneducated? Distant from the world? Isolated? that it becomes really hard to stomach. As of Liga's entering her heaven, it gets easier to stomach. But the roughness of the beginning is a good quality.
At its core, this is a book about recovering from incredible trauma. Liga's heaven is an extreme example of becoming reclusive - she literally invents a world where there is no unkindness, no cruelty, almost no men, and also no really strong emotions except maybe love. She basically retreats out of life for 25 years. And her daughters' reactions are honestly also spot on. Branza, the elder, is satisfied with reclusivity until she realizes it's not exactly normal, and the guilt Liga feels for having expanded her need for protection and safety onto her children is also understandable. So is her heartbreaking realization that she's waited to long to reenter the world and the options she might have had for happiness and love may have passed her by and gone on to her daughters.
There are some things that are maybe not perfect - Collaby I found kind of unnecessary, except for maintaining the connection to Snow White and Rose Red, which forms the fairy tale basis. A great choice actually, since that's a pretty weird fairy tale. Also the magic, such as it was, seemed kind of underdeveloped. That didn't particularly bother me, because I read it as a trauma story more than a fantasy story.
This is kind of a heartbreaking book, which is both why I gave it five stars and why I doubt that decision. Especially the beginning is very hard to read. For one, it's full of trauma and horror, and for another, the characters narrating are so...I don't know, uneducated? Distant from the world? Isolated? that it becomes really hard to stomach. As of Liga's entering her heaven, it gets easier to stomach. But the roughness of the beginning is a good quality.
At its core, this is a book about recovering from incredible trauma. Liga's heaven is an extreme example of becoming reclusive - she literally invents a world where there is no unkindness, no cruelty, almost no men, and also no really strong emotions except maybe love. She basically retreats out of life for 25 years. And her daughters' reactions are honestly also spot on. Branza, the elder, is satisfied with reclusivity until she realizes it's not exactly normal, and the guilt Liga feels for having expanded her need for protection and safety onto her children is also understandable. So is her heartbreaking realization that she's waited to long to reenter the world and the options she might have had for happiness and love may have passed her by and gone on to her daughters.
There are some things that are maybe not perfect - Collaby I found kind of unnecessary, except for maintaining the connection to Snow White and Rose Red, which forms the fairy tale basis. A great choice actually, since that's a pretty weird fairy tale. Also the magic, such as it was, seemed kind of underdeveloped. That didn't particularly bother me, because I read it as a trauma story more than a fantasy story.