Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories (2018)
Written By: Kelly Barnhill
Genre: Magical Realism/Short Stories
Pages: 304 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Why I Chose It: I wanted to try something new and I don’t read a lot of magical realism or short stories. And since Kelly Barnhill won the World Fantasy Award for the last story in this collection, I figured this was a good place to start.
The premise:
From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Kelly Barnhill comes a stunning first collection of acclaimed short fictions, teeming with uncanny characters whose stories unfold in worlds at once strikingly human and eerily original.
When Mrs. Sorensen’s husband dies, she rekindles a long-dormant love with an unsuitable mate in “Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch.” In “Open the Door and the Light Pours Through,” a young man wrestles with grief and his sexuality in an exchange of letters with his faraway beloved. “Dreadful Young Ladies” demonstrates the strength and power—known and unknown—of the imagination. “The Insect and the Astronomer” upends expectations about good and bad, knowledge and ignorance, love and longing. The World Fantasy Award–winning novella The Unlicensed Magician introduces the secret, magical life of an invisible girl once left for dead.
By an author hailed as “a fantasist on the order of Neil Gaiman” (Minneapolis Star Tribune), the stories in Dreadful Young Ladies feature bold, reality-bending fantasy underscored by rich universal themes of love, death, jealousy, and hope.
Spoiler Free!
Discussion: Here’s the thing: I haven’t read a lot of short stories because the few that I have, I’ve found disheartening and a little depressing. I always assumed that was a genre thing. As if all sci-fi/fantasy stories were expected to be creepy and weird. And I didn’t want to keep complaining about something that was obviously a “me” problem. Like when someone says they don’t like The Music Man because everyone bursts into song every five minutes. Or they hate the Lord of the Rings because there’s magic. If you don’t like the genre, get out of it and stop disparaging it to everyone else who does happen to like it.
But Barnhill’s stories weren’t what I’d come to expect from other short stories. Yes, there were still some that I just didn’t quite get, and one or two that were disturbing to the point of macabre. But for the most part they were strange and fanciful and thought-provoking. I found Barnhill’s style very pleasant and easy to read and the stories themselves were beautiful and evocative and very compelling. I practically flew through the book because I couldn’t stop turning the pages. If you like magical realism, I think you’ll love her stories. I know I fell in love with a couple of them like “Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch”, “The Insect and the Astronomer”, and especially “The Unlicensed Magician” which won the World Fantasy Award.
Mrs. Sorensen’s search for family might have ended in an odd place, but I could understand that wrenching desire for children and a family even if you have to look outside the normal to find it. And while the Insect was literally a giant bug, I found his quest for acceptance and love from someone just as strange as him deeply human and poignant. And the unlicensed magician’s drive to do something meaningful, to be remembered, was moving and so well portrayed.
In Conclusion: I’m really glad I tried this. I think these were gorgeous stories, even if I didn’t connect with all of them. Based on the writing alone I think I’ll check out some of Barnhill’s other work. Especially her novels.
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