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Disturbed by Her Song

by Tanith Lee, Esther Garber, Judas Garbah

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 · rating details · 50 ratings · 11 reviews

Disturbed By Her Song collects the work of Esther Garber and her half-brother Judas Garbah, the mysterious family of writers that Tanith Lee has been channeling for the past few years. Possibly autobiographical, frequently erotic and darkly surreal, their fiction takes place in a variety of eras and places, from Egypt in the 1940s, to England in the grip of the Pre-Raphael...more

Paperback, 204 pages

Published August 1st 2010 by Lethe Press

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Aug 23, 2011 Jean Roberta rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tanith Lee is a legend among fantasy writers and the author of over ninety novels. Her work has been attracting a cult following since the 1970s, when she sold her first book to DAW Press. Her tales are elaborate, and her words are as carefully chosen as precious jewels. Her eccentricities can be forgiven.

As an example of her quirks, she claims that this collection of stories was co-written by two other people. In “Meeting the Garbers,” Tanith Lee claims:

“I first met the Garbers in the 1990s; th...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Alexis Hall added it

Shelves: books-i-could-not-live-without, queer, sci-fi-and-or-fantasy

Tanith Lee is a writer who has always inspired strong reactions in me. When she hits, she hits it out of the park. And when she misses she bangs you in the face heavily with a bat. There appears to be no middle ground. I’m not sure how best to characterise Disturbed by her Song, as it seems to defy any particular genre classification - some of the stories involve the supernatural, either explicitly or implicitly, and some of them don’t, thought they all have an elusive, tantalising, other-worldl...more Tanith Lee is a writer who has always inspired strong reactions in me. When she hits, she hits it out of the park. And when she misses she bangs you in the face heavily with a bat. There appears to be no middle ground. I’m not sure how best to characterise Disturbed by her Song, as it seems to defy any particular genre classification - some of the stories involve the supernatural, either explicitly or implicitly, and some of them don’t, thought they all have an elusive, tantalising, other-worldly air to them. So let's go with 'queer, surrealistic and semi-fantastical.'

I’m not a big fan of short stories in general, which I know makes me a philistine, but it’s a personal preference thing, not a judgement thing. I like to be able to swim about in a text; short-stories barely dampen the feet. But the transitory, fragmentary feel of Disturbed by her Song contributes to the eerie pleasure of reading the book - one of the few instances when wanting more and not getting it is the right sort of literary gratification.

Moreover, the stories - although they each stand alone - are united and contextualised by their common themes, and the fact that they drift in and out of a fictionalised reality. The collection, which is broken into parts, ‘Youth and Age’, ‘Youth’ and ‘Age’, consists of stories and/or remembrances, ‘written’ by Esther and Judas Garber / Garbah, who are half-siblings. I mean, obviously they’re written by Tanith Lee, writing as Esther and Judas, but it provides an extremely effective meta-text. Esther and Judas have markedly different voices - Judas is distant and somewhat melancholy whereas Esther is frank and more expressive - but remain united by familial connection and experience. Equally the boundary between fiction and ‘reality’ remains vague at best, so, whether as characters, narrators, or writers they remain intriguingly unreliable figures, layering text on text on text, with Lee somewhere at the bottom of it all.

Like most story collections, your mileage may vary on an individual basis, but holistically I found Disturbed by her Song rather dazzling. The truth is, there’s a deep pleasure in reading a text set within a fully queer context. It’s one of the things I remember find warm-fuzziest about David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy. This is not say everyone in a fictional world has to be gay, but it’s just plain nice when same-sex desire is permitted to be normalised as well as explored.

On the other hand, Disturbed by her Song has - frankly - the weirdest prologue I’ve ever encountered. It’s several pages long and begins with Lee telling us something about the lives and characteristics of Esther and Judas, as though she’s constructing her own Wikipedia page. Then reveals they don’t actually exist and they’re people she’s made up in her head (no shit) and burbles on about how they’re, like, totally real to her and she has to write all their stuff down longhand because that’s how they would do it. And finally she wraps up by explaining that they are, like, her but not her, split from her and yet she’s drawn to them, and she, like, met them first in a dream- OH WHAT THE FUCK? COME ON? I guess it’s basically harmless writerly bullshit but I could have done without having to read it. I also genuinely can’t tell if she’s freaking out and trying not to freak out about the fact she’s writing queer stories as a straight woman and doesn’t want to come across as appropriative:

“That they are both gay is decidedly not the reason. I have written about Lesbian and male homosexual aspiration, love, lust and longing in several other places. Just as I’ve written about and as, ‘straight’ women and men, gifted sorcerers, murderers, gods, demons and saints...”

I do respect that, and I appreciate that a writer might feel uncomfortable about it. On the other hand, the way I see it, if you’re writing queer-friendly stuff and it’s DAMN GOOD, then I think pretending to be channeling two imaginary people who are like totally you but not you is on the borderline of offensive when just WRITING isn’t. I mean, sheesh, this came out in 2009 - I like to think most people could pick up some queer fantasy and not have to have it painfully explained to them where it came from.

But, anyway, I’ll forgive Tanith Lee a hell of a lot. Because I love her. Even when she’s being weird.

I'm not going to analyse every single story because that'd be dull as all hell but my favourite stories were Black Eyed Susan, Ne Que V'on Desir, Death and the Maiden, and Disturbed by her Song.

Black Eyed Susan is a delicious little lesbian ghost story, ‘written’ by Esther (though told in the first person, as herself, so it hovers on the fiction/reality precipice). It’s gloriously creepy and has a lovely old-world feel, like a piece of Victorian gothic. Esther - either as character or narrator - gets a job at a creepy Parisian hotel, where she has an affair with one of the other servant girls and falls for a ghost called Black Eyed Susan. That summary does not remotely do this story justice. The hotel, and its strange, often hostile denizens, are exquisitely portrayed in a few deft sentences - the Mademoiselle Coudeban, for example, who has a ‘scalpel of an eye’ and sits around sewing peculiar items the narrator characterises as ‘bags for octopuses’ or the excellently named Madame Ghoule who needs no further elucidation. Ne Que V'on Desir is a werewolf story that never once mentions the word werewolf ... uhh, guess I just spoiled it but, no, it's totally obvious. Judas has a wonderful voice, strange and broken, and melancholy and beautiful. I kind of have something of a crush on the poor bastard. Also the commingling of violence and eroticism, alienation, homosexuality and lycanthropy works insanely well. Death and the Maiden is stunningly creepy exploration of art, eroticism, gender and identity. And Disturbed By Her Song is completely heartbreaking.

I could babble on about this book for ages - I really really did love it. Please, Tanith Lee, keep channelling your imaginary gay people if this what results. (less)

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Sep 12, 2010 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthology, ebooks, queer-fiction

I was given Disturbed by Her Song as a review copy from Lethe Press, and I've got to say, this was one of the most unusual things I've read in a while. It's a collection of short stories written by Tanith Lee, but under the conceit that two of her characters are actually writing the stories. "Esther Garber" and "Judas Garbah" are half-siblings, and each of them is gay. The stories Lee writes for them explore same-sex relationships, and she does a very impressive job giving each of the siblings a...more I was given Disturbed by Her Song as a review copy from Lethe Press, and I've got to say, this was one of the most unusual things I've read in a while. It's a collection of short stories written by Tanith Lee, but under the conceit that two of her characters are actually writing the stories. "Esther Garber" and "Judas Garbah" are half-siblings, and each of them is gay. The stories Lee writes for them explore same-sex relationships, and she does a very impressive job giving each of the siblings a distinctive writing voice. I didn't think I'd like the conceit of her "channeling" these characters; thankfully, though, that's gotten quickly out of the way in the intro, and the stories themselves stand strongly on their own.

Judas' stories I liked less than Esther's, but I think this was mostly a question of them being generally darker of tone and not terribly happy. It is however a testament to Lee's skill that I picked up the strong impression that Judas' stories are perhaps intended to be partly autobiographical. Of the lot, I found "The Crow" most intriguing, in no small part because it's got enough substance to it that it would reward a second reading to pick up on what I missed.

Esther's stories on the other hand quite impressed me. It is here that Lee's language frequently shone. While I couldn't quite call this collection erotica, it is nonetheless very sensual, and Lee's command of her words goes a long way towards making this work. There are particularly lyrical passages in "The X's Are Not Kisses" and "Death and the Maiden", for example.

But hands down, the title piece of this work is the best. "Disturbed By Her Song" is a deeply bittersweet story, tying beautifully in with the ancient tale referenced by its title. Like Judas' stories in the collection, it is not particularly happy. But it's definitely one that stays with you.

All that keeps me from giving this five stars is how Judas' stories didn't captivate me as much as Esther's. That said: a very, very strong four stars.(less)

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Jan 01, 2012 Cindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short_stories

Lee usually writes high fantasy with cranky heroines (in my experience so far). This small press offering of short stories finds her channeling two characters who write queer erotica with a touch of magical realism. The stories are emotionally intense. Esther writes a great love story while Judas tends to write memoir-like shorter pieces. They are both a little cranky too.

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Sep 22, 2011 Cindywho rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short_stories

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Feb 22, 2012 E rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, ebooks, fantasy, female-author, lgbt, short-stories, favourites

A great collection of stories held together by the three authors- Tanith Lee and the characters she channels, Esther Garber and Judas Garbah. The story I liked best was the longest one, Death and the Maiden, but they were all really high quality and thought-provoking. I will definitely be reading again soon.

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Mar 04, 2012 Jay Z rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: feminism-queer

Hmmmm. Interesting. Very weird and well-written. But a little more than vaguely Orientalist - Tanith Lee, who knew?

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Apr 06, 2011 Paige rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories, over-the-rainbow-project

Reminded me of Angela Carter's fairytales. I'm interested in reading more by Tanith Lee.

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Aug 04, 2010 Craig Laurance rated it 5 of 5 stars

"The Crow," "The Kiss" and "Ne Que V'on Desir" are among the finest texts Ms. Lee has written--magical, dark and erotic. "Black Eyed Susan" and "Death and the Maiden" are a kind of lesbian gothic fiction, while the title story will bring a tear to the reader's eyes.

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Jul 29, 2012 Xdyj rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fa, poc, q, l-f-ar-af-s, sfhf_challenge, o, rtw, favorites, uk

IMHO Tanith Lee deserves to be more popular than the likes of Neil Gaiman or Anne Rice or most of the contemporary urban fantasy/PNR writers. IMO like many other short story collections the quality of stories might be uneven but all of them are beautifully written & the good ones are amazing.

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Apr 26, 2011 Dina rated it 4 of 5 stars

i've heard a lot of good stuff about this book, and it all turned out to be completely true. all the stories in the book are great, especially the title story. pleasure to read. i might even reread it sometime soon.

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Feb 07, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

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About Tanith Lee

Tanith Lee is a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She is the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She has also written four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a...more

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