{"id":6033,"date":"2019-09-23T12:39:24","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T12:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=6033"},"modified":"2019-09-23T12:39:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T12:39:24","slug":"laura-mauro-sacrifice-and-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/laura-mauro-sacrifice-and-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Laura Mauro \u2013 Sacrifice and Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

We do book reviews, and we don\u2019t. We\u2019re interested in undercurrents, themes and interconnections, though we do appreciate good prose in its own right. So it\u2019s easy enough to state that the debut collection by Laura Mauro<\/strong><\/span>, Sing Your Sadness Deep <\/em>(Undertow),<\/em> is a work of fine and accomplished writing, as near to flawless in its execution as you might wish for. Her language is evocative but clear; her characterisation is compelling. And\u2026<\/p>\n

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We almost want to stop there, not because we have some wormy criticism to add \u2013 this is simply an excellent collection- but because it\u2019s often more difficult to put down quite what captures the imagination, and explain why some stories reverberate. Also, Laura Mauro is young, clever and interesting, qualities which really annoy crumpled old writers like greydog<\/em>. But we shall be brave…<\/p>\n

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SING YOUR SADNESS DEEP<\/h1>\n

Laura Mauro, Undertow Press 2019<\/h3>\n

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\"Laura<\/a>
customer notice: colour of hair may vary<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is a mythic quality to many of the tales included here. It\u2019s a quality you see in a number of contemporary female writers \u2013 Priya Sharma<\/span><\/strong> and Gwendolyn Kiste<\/strong><\/span> immediately spring to mind, along with others \u2013 and suggests the creation of new myths which ought to be old. Themes which you feel are timeless, applied to, and acted out by, genuine people rather than vaguely sketched archetypes.<\/p>\n

Being mythic, sacrifice and transformation therefore abound in Laura Mauro\u2019s stories. Characters make sacrifices for love, for family (\u2018Obsidian\u2019) and also for understanding (\u2018Letters from Elodie\u2019). \u2018Obsidian\u2019 could easily be a genuine Finnish or Scandinavian folk story, painted afresh to apply to real life. People do things which are unwise; they do things which have an inevitability about them. The sacrifice of a former existence or of a degree of security in favour of an unknown future; the willingness to embrace change.<\/p>\n

Transformation is everywhere \u2013 any minute you expect a troubled young woman to mutate into a huge swan and soar into the night, free of natural restraints at last. Possibly a tattooed, risk-taking swan, though, not a self-satisfied princess. Matters of the body corporeal are not stinted on. From \u2018Sundogs\u2019 to \u2018Strange as Angels\u2019, physical change is as important as any psychological shift, and the two interact on a number of levels. And the transformative aspects of medical syndromes and illnesses are also represented in a number of stories \u2013 birth conditions, disease, and leukaemia (\u2018In the Marrow\u2019) amongst them. Mauro \u2018gets\u2019 bodies.<\/p>\n

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Our other reflection, which sometimes seems to get skipped in reviews, is about the reader. Not \u2018Is the collection inventive?\u2019 or \u2018Has it literary merit?\u2019 (that\u2019s a Yes to both in this case), but \u2018Is it basically a good read?\u2019 Contemporary weird fiction (which we love, by the way) can occasionally be \u2013 how shall we put it? – liminal, multi-layered and slightly incomprehensible. Stuff happens, and it happens intriguingly, even amazingly, but you may have to suspend any yearning for clarity. We often look at a new collection and ask – if the reader isn\u2019t already an enthusiast of the field, will they get anything out of it?<\/p>\n

This particular collection is absolutely a good read. That\u2019s not only down to Mauro\u2019s evident command of her craft, but also down to her presentation of stories which hold up in different ways. \u2018Looking for Laika\u2019, for example, is a tale for anyone. It\u2019s sad, moving \u2013 and accessible. \u2018When Charlie Sleeps\u2019 is what we might call weird horror – not graphic but strange and satisfying; \u2018In the Marrow\u2019 harks back to a particular folk belief, but executed almost perfectly; reality, myth and delusion are beautifully entwined until you can\u2019t be absolutely sure \u2013 but it still has a \u2018completeness\u2019 about it. \u2018The Grey Men\u2019 explores an utterly weird occurrence, but acts as both a strong story and a question about ourselves; \u2018The Looking Glass Girl\u2019 is \u2013 well, it\u2019s a ghost story.<\/p>\n

Laura Mauro is also an internationalist \u2013 an added bonus is the wide range of settings, and the varying feel of tales in different geographies, from the States to Siberia.<\/p>\n

Just to end on a contrary note, we rather liked \u2018Red Rabbit\u2019, which doesn\u2019t quite end, doesn\u2019t necessarily make any sense, but where the ride for the reader is worth it, even if the ride for the characters involved is rather less satisfying. So we\u2019re probably not consistent – weird fiction does that to you – and you can ignore us.<\/p>\n

Except that we think you should pick up a copy of\u00a0 Sing Your Sadness Deep <\/em>by Laura Mauro. Don\u2019t ignore that bit.<\/p>\n

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Laura can be found at her blog here: https:\/\/lauramauro.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n