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The Unwish
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 13, 2018
In November 2017, Nightjar Press published two chapbooks by Claire Dean: The Unwish and Bremen. In stark contrast to Bremen, this story begins in a determinedly domestic and ordinary style, but both ultimately explore similar themes, of being lost and found, remembered or forgotten, loving someone and receiving indifference in return.
Amy, her sister and parents are gathering at their old family holiday cottage, which they haven't visited since Amy was a child. Being around Sara, the older and more accomplished sister, reminds Amy of her own failures. It doesn't help that she's waiting for her new boyfriend to arrive and he's sending unusually cold text messages. This could just be a story of how difficult families can be and how uncertain one feels in a new relationship – until Amy remembers something from a book of children's folk tales that Sara insists she must have imagined.
The Unwish brings otherworldly elements into an everyday situation masterfully; the realistic dialogue is a particularly effective touch. With her realisation about Sara, I wondered if Amy was going to take a form of revenge with another 'unwish', but if she does, it is left unsaid. The final sentence, however, is haunting.
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Amy, her sister and parents are gathering at their old family holiday cottage, which they haven't visited since Amy was a child. Being around Sara, the older and more accomplished sister, reminds Amy of her own failures. It doesn't help that she's waiting for her new boyfriend to arrive and he's sending unusually cold text messages. This could just be a story of how difficult families can be and how uncertain one feels in a new relationship – until Amy remembers something from a book of children's folk tales that Sara insists she must have imagined.
The Unwish brings otherworldly elements into an everyday situation masterfully; the realistic dialogue is a particularly effective touch. With her realisation about Sara, I wondered if Amy was going to take a form of revenge with another 'unwish', but if she does, it is left unsaid. The final sentence, however, is haunting.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
January 14, 2021
“…where all the leaves were really birds…”
Whether Goldfinch or Crow, that seems something to help any reader keen on finding words for things that hide between the otherwise plain lines of this engaging story, more easily expressed than in Bremen, a story with a duty only unto itself, but containing implications towards things that remained concealed since the characters were last here. A family of parents and sisters returned to their holiday cottage of yore, the girls now grown up women, and everyone now beyond pooh-sticks except possibly for the Dad.
One sister happily settled and pregnant, but here alone because of her husband’s business commitments, the other sister waiting for the arrival of her new boy friend whose texts about his planned arrival are not up to loving scratch. I’ll leave you there balanced between a modern Austen and something quite else, creeping up on you as all good literature should. But not only what was lost in the past but also lost today? Another breed-man wished away? And who is that in the window above?
“In Scrabble she got F.O.U.N.D. on a triple word score…”
Whether Goldfinch or Crow, that seems something to help any reader keen on finding words for things that hide between the otherwise plain lines of this engaging story, more easily expressed than in Bremen, a story with a duty only unto itself, but containing implications towards things that remained concealed since the characters were last here. A family of parents and sisters returned to their holiday cottage of yore, the girls now grown up women, and everyone now beyond pooh-sticks except possibly for the Dad.
One sister happily settled and pregnant, but here alone because of her husband’s business commitments, the other sister waiting for the arrival of her new boy friend whose texts about his planned arrival are not up to loving scratch. I’ll leave you there balanced between a modern Austen and something quite else, creeping up on you as all good literature should. But not only what was lost in the past but also lost today? Another breed-man wished away? And who is that in the window above?
“In Scrabble she got F.O.U.N.D. on a triple word score…”
July 18, 2019
A family, a book, a cottage, a wish.
November 12, 2022
An unsettling story that half whispers it's truths to you. A story of sisters and parents, things lost and found. I suspect I'll be thinking of this for some time...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews