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A review by monkeelino
The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste
4.0
I was introduced to Kiste via author [a:Leo X. Robertson|7870281|Leo X. Robertson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1571602104p2/7870281.jpg]---he featured her in his podcast (Losing the Plot, episode 9) and one of his short stories led me to the [b:Hardened Hearts|36595730|Hardened Hearts|Eddie Generous|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1510691573l/36595730._SX50_.jpg|58346480] collection where I read her "40 Ways to Leave Your Monster Lover"---I was hooked.
Despite the high expectations her story created, this book did not disappoint. We see a small group of late-teen girls fall under a mysterious illness---their physical decline paralleling the industrial decline of their hometown (Cleveland, Ohio). An entire town down on its luck unsurprisingly turns on its own as these girls begin to rust and leak, as if their bones had become some corrupted metal. At the center of all this is Phoebe. Once, her focus might have been escaping a smalltown fate bereft of opportunity, but she quickly finds herself in the middle of events as her best friend and cousin is one of the Rust Maidens. Kiste deftly navigates between the present (decades after these events) and piecing the story together with chapters located squarely in the past. The novel's subtle horror is hauntingly woven into the decimation of the working class, as well as the way young women are often ostracized, silenced, and/or forced to conform physically. A wonderful tension and supernaturalness pervades the whole book.
Despite the high expectations her story created, this book did not disappoint. We see a small group of late-teen girls fall under a mysterious illness---their physical decline paralleling the industrial decline of their hometown (Cleveland, Ohio). An entire town down on its luck unsurprisingly turns on its own as these girls begin to rust and leak, as if their bones had become some corrupted metal. At the center of all this is Phoebe. Once, her focus might have been escaping a smalltown fate bereft of opportunity, but she quickly finds herself in the middle of events as her best friend and cousin is one of the Rust Maidens. Kiste deftly navigates between the present (decades after these events) and piecing the story together with chapters located squarely in the past. The novel's subtle horror is hauntingly woven into the decimation of the working class, as well as the way young women are often ostracized, silenced, and/or forced to conform physically. A wonderful tension and supernaturalness pervades the whole book.