Smothermoss

This was such a strange nugget of a novel, in the best possible way. I picked it up thinking it was a horror novel, but I don???t quite think it???s that, either. Despite that though, it???s a wonderful read.
The core of this novel is about the two sisters, Sheila and Angie, and how they deal with their lives - lives that, incidentally, are in flux, as Sheila and Angie both grow towards new stages in their lives (Sheila towards adulthood, and Angie towards her teen years). In a way this story is all about navigating those shifts: in themselves, in their relationship with each other, and in the way they navigate the world around them. This alone would make for a potentially interesting coming-of-age story, but there???s the added layer of strangeness that follows the two characters. Sheila, for instance, lives with an invisible noose around her neck she can???t take off. Angie, in the meantime, has these monster cards that she draws herself on index cards, and which seem to have a mind of their own.
But those aren???t the only ???weird??? elements in this story. There???s the rabbits, for instance: both the ones that the sisters??? family keeps for food, and the wild ones that inhabit the mountain on which they live. In this novel they stand for a whole host of things: innocence and vulnerability, of course, but also the quiet menace of the hunted turning on the hunter. There???s also the mountain itself, which is practically a character in its own right that exerts its influence on the sisters and a few other characters throughout the story.
All of these elements are brought together in the author???s writing, which has a tone reminiscent of folktales and fables. Events and images come together in ways that don???t make any kind of logical sense unless one is willing to squint, tilt one???s head, and see everything with fairytale logic. To be clear, that???s not an insult to the writing, because the quality of it is such that it IS possible to view the plot as a kind of folktale and have it all make perfect sense. It kind of reminds me a bit of the podcast Old Gods of Appalachia, and actually tempts me to find the audiobook version of this book just to see if it has a similar feel.
As for the themes, they do kind of fall in line with the usual themes of folktales and fairytales: coming of age, exploration of one???s sexuality, the dangers and wonders of the natural world. But there are other important themes here too, such as the crushing poverty can squeeze a soul down into a shade of itself, and how that poverty can make it difficult to escape one???s circumstances and find a better life. It also tackles the ways humanity alters the natural world for the worse, and how those changes can come right back to haunt us - as has been illustrated recently in the most horrible way by the storm and subsequent floods that ravaged Asheville, North Carolina and neighboring areas.
Overall, this was a lovely and lush little read that is less horror and more Grimm???s fairytale in terms of feel, but the themes are very much real and contemporary. Some readers might not like the tone, or the fact that there are very many questions that are asked and never given answers, but readers who are willing to simply go with the novel???s flow will find themselves charmed.