Mostly Dead Things

Finished June 20

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

 

This is a most unusual novel. It is set around a Florida family who are all reacting in different ways to recent losses. The main character here Jessa, is a woman in her thirties, who runs a taxidermy shop. The shop was her father's and he taught her most of what she knows. He tried to train her brother Milo as well, but Milo didn't take to it as naturally as she did.  A few months ago, Jessa's father killed himself at the shop, leaving her to clean up the mess. Jessa has thrown herself into work, but isn't doing well. She and Milo are also both grieving the loss of Milo's wife Brynn who has left the family. Jessa considered Brynn her best friend, but she also had a sexual relationship with her. Brynn left behind her son Bastien in his teens and her daughter Lolee who is younger. Jessa's mom is grieving in a different way. She is both free of a man who was very dictatorial in his life, and missing him as a partner. Her way of reacting is very different. She wasn't really involved in the shop before, but now she is taking the pieces and posing them in sexual ways in the window. When a nearby art gallery sees this, they take her on to do a show, and things really get wild. 

Jessa is reacting in a very prudish way to her mother's actions, both aghast at the blatant sexuality, and upset at the way the taxidermied pieces are being taken apart and repurposed. She is also drawn to the owner of the gallery, another strong woman named Lucinda. 

Bastien is also an interesting character. Like Jessa, he is trying to hold the family that is left together, but his methods are off the map. This is a novel that took me places I didn't even know existed and expanded my mind in wild ways. 

I also loved that the author is a librarian. 

The Taxidermist's Daughter

Finished August 17
The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse

This novel is set in the spring of 1912, in the village of Fishbourne and the nearby town of Chichester. The taxidermist, Gifford, and his daughter Connie, live in Blackthorn House, just outside the village. Ten years earlier Connie fell and hit her head badly and cannot remember anything that happened before that time. She is beginning to have flashes of memories that she thinks are from earlier, but her father doesn't wish to discuss it. Gifford drinks a lot and the taxidermy jobs are much fewer than they used to be, and Connie does most of them herself, although the clients don't know that.
As the book opens, Connie has followed her father to a churchyard nearby, worried about him wandering when drunk. She witnesses a strange gathering, and a surprising occurrence. Several days later, Harry Woolston, a young man in Chichester with artistic ambitions follows his father after he overhears a strange conversation between his father and another man. He loses sight of his father, but finds that his destination seemed to be Fishbourne.
When Connie's maid finds a dead body in the marshes near Blackthorn House, Harry comes to help. He finds himself drawn to her and returns the following day to check on her. When the two compare notes, they find that their stories are strangely linked and they resolve to work together to find out what is going on between their fathers.
Interspersed with the story are two other texts. One is excerpts from one of the earliest books on the methods of taxidermy and the other is the jottings of the person behind some of the odd things going on, revealing the backstory to the current events gradually.
This is a story of revenge for a past crime, a story of a cover-up and a deception, and the story of rebirth from destruction.
Not as strong as her other books, but still enjoyable and interesting.

Canadian Fiction

Finished March 12
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
I'm afraid that this book was very much not my thing and I didn't enjoy it. It is a nice short book though!
The main character is a writer, Henry, who writes under a pen name, but when his last project was essentially turned down, he decided to stop writing. He and his wife moved to an unnamed European city and took up a life there. His publishers still forward mail to him and he receives a note along with a scene from a play and a marked up short story of Flaubert's. The author of the note lives in the same city as Henry. This combination intrigues him someone, and he writes a small note back intending to drop it off in person. The author of the note (and of the play) is an older man, a taxidermist. He is regarded as odd by his neighbours, and this proves to be very true. As Henry responds to the taxidermist's request for help with his play, he becomes more involved with him.
I didn't like that the book was one section, not split into chapters. I found that made it hard to find good spots to suspend reading (maybe I was supposed to be entranced and not want to put it down?). The plot was slow and I found it depressing and violent (Now I read violent mysteries, so I'm not sure why this bothered me, but it did). I found that at the end I wasn't surprised, but saddened and numb.