Literary Horror discussion
This topic is about
Bonding
Monthly Reads
>
August 2021 monthly read: Maggie Siebert's Bonding
date
newest »
newest »
hi all! my friend br yeager kindly tipped me off that this is happening. absolutely an honor, and if there’s anything you all need from me let me know.
Maggie, welcome to Literary Horror! And thanks for making the free pdf available. I'd read the first two stories this morning, then saw your post.I think it's tough to work with body horror in fiction. But "Messes" was impressive: the quick setup of the context, the job interview, the mundane and sordid occupational details, then finally that climax... whoa. The last sentence is hilarious.
I like the narrator's voice in "Opportunities", as we helplessly watch him lose control of his life. Then things take a surprising turn into nightmarish delirium.
(I loved No Trend. Will have to dig out my old records.)
I've only read Messes so far and loved it, it spoke directly to my Gen-X nostalgia for perfect expressions of anomie. And the last line was perfect.
In "Ammon", I like how the interleaved testimonies of the adults are handled. A quiet tone is maintained for the most part, dark hints are dropped, we sense some catastrophic event coming, but it's still a surprise when it hits. (Yeager's blurb is pretty spot-on.) I'm not sure I can connect the boy's name with the biblical references (or the Mormon ones, from wikipedia), hmm."The Alumni Association" is pretty funny. I can certainly relate, ha.
Are other people planning to join in the discussion? Wondering if you intended to space out the stories for people to catch up. I'm almost done, and so far every one of these stories has been a shining gem; gems with shit and viscera splattered on them, but still shiny. Writing like this, where small details reveal volumes about the world and characters, always seems like a magic trick to me.Opportunities. Like a really messed up Twilight Zone by way of a Ligotti gas station. (I know Ligotti is becoming a cliché, but - gas station!).
The Alumni Association. Yes! I am ready to go underground and join the AA resistance, despite knowing that victory is impossible.
Ammon. I also thought the interview style of this one was really effective. I had assumed Ammon was just a good, Old Testament name, in keeping with whatever fucked up religious cult his parents belonged to. I'm interested in hearing if there's more to it.
Best Friend. He made the right choice.
Coping. I thought this one was the least original in the collection, but some very satisfying wish-fulfillment details.
I'll pause here at the halfway point.
Whitney wrote: "Are other people planning to join in the discussion? Wondering if you intended to space out the stories for people to catch up."Usually we play it by ear. Probably good to pause for a bit? Ok, LH folks (especially if you supported Bonding in the poll), please let us know where you are in the collection. We're happy to slow down and wait if you need a little time.
Five stories so far (yes, they are quite short, but I just read one story a day -- as with many story collections, I like it best taken in small bites)...Good collection, with spare, evocative prose. Lots of dark humour (I thought "Messes" was a laugh, really. So was "The Alumni Association", though it also had a very effective paranoid atmosphere, of course). I also love the slacker characters and the mood that goes with them. Weirdly enough, though the themes, the atmosphere and the writing are quite different, it sometimes made me think of Robert Shearman : there's the same kind of disturbing simplicity, like something poised between a horror story and some kind of warped fable, and even sometimes the same surprising tenderness.
Yes, there's definitely a Twilight Zone feel to "Opportunities" (though this particular gas station seemed decidedly unligottian to me)! I had previously read a shorter version titled "Pit Stop". I think both were good, actually -- but this one certainly has added cruelty (oh, Maggie! Five times, really!)
"Ammon" may be my favorite story so far. The strangeness and the sadness linger after reading it, with the feeling that there are many things one will never understand about this boy.
"Best Friend" sometimes read like a canine version of Machen's "White Powder", but with this weird tenderness I was mentioning earlier. It was good.
"Messes" was super short and very chilling. The man keeping his hoodie on was immediately threatening, playing to an anxiety I feel that most of us who've worked low end jobs before will recognize. I can't count the amount of times–as a housekeeper, desk clerk, shelf stocker–some customer or guest has entered a room where I'd been alone without me noticing, scaring the hell out of me. This feels like such classic horror in that it takes those situations and asks the most horrifying 'what if' imaginable. And all said and done, what happens is essentially a scuffle, a few moments of struggle, a bad day at work. The ending line reads almost sardonic, and I agree it does have a pinch of humor, but below that it is a devastatingly sad line. Just like the blind queen, bought and used, enduring trauma after trauma, cleaning up and getting ready again, a job is a job. What happens to the protagonist is essentially sexual manipulation and assault, but once it's done its just another mess to deal with, both the physical mess and the mental trauma.
Also, Siebert's use of setting is so good here. The pervy old men waiting to lock eyes, and that really memorable segment "It strikes me how this building is like a playset for a make-believe city." So killer
Wodwo wrote: ""Best Friend" sometimes read like a canine version of Machen's "White Powder"..."Hmm, I hadn't thought of that, but I see what you mean. Siebert got the job done in much fewer pages, and with less handwringing. And I agree there's a sort of tenderness, despite the bizarre circumstances.
"Coping": successful applications are all about wish fulfillment. But watch what you wish for."The Prime Minister" is hilarious, with that snide narrator's voice, and the gruesome survival rituals. Black. Black.
Jackson wrote: "The man keeping his hoodie on was immediately threatening (...) below that it is a devastatingly sad line. (...)What happens to the protagonist is essentially sexual manipulation and assault, but once it's done its just another mess to deal with, both the physical mess and the mental trauma "Yes, that's entirely true -- but for some reason, what strikes me most in this particular story is a kind of comedic tone. Darkly comedic, of course. I don't know, maybe it's the contrast between the rather extreme body horror and the deadpan prose of the narrator.
Bill wrote: " Siebert got the job done in much fewer pages, and with less handwringing"Ah, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one (I just love Machen). Anyway, the connection is slight, of course, but I couldn't help thinking of Machen's story when reading "Best Friend".
I found it hard not to laugh at the guy's almost goofy optimism in "Opportunities." He's a type of guy who hides behind his isms, the kind of stuff you'd see bumper-stickered on a big diesel truck, and Siebert just destroys the guy. Found it kind of funny at first, the breakdown of this guy's steadfast confidence, but damn I felt bad for laughing by the end. Totally agree with the Twilight Zone comparisons, too, takes the best of those episodes where the circumstances go unexplained, and what you're left with is just the suffering of the protagonist.
Wodwo wrote: "... it sometimes made me think of Robert Shearman..."From the Shearman I've read (mostly from one collection), I haven't found him to be very distinctive. I do understand the parallels you mentioned. Shearman's "The Swimming Pool Party" really knocked my socks off though; it's one of my favorite stories of the last few years.
(I'm going out of town, sorry about not waiting for everyone.)"Witches" not surprisingly reminded me of the movie River's Edge. I liked the descriptions of the boys' distanced way of dealing with the traumatic discovery. The witch cackling is so... grating.
I have to read "Marriage" again soon. The tension with the multiple voices is nicely done, but I need a second time to keep all the threads in my head.
"Every Day for the Rest of Your Life", whew. So much is threatened in the scene in the plant, the tension is really unbearable.
I read the first half of this at my desk during quick little work breaks over two very hectic days. It was weirdly relaxing, but it was not great for taking notes.Ammon is my favorite so far. I love short stories in an interview style, and I like that there was some ambiguity because of the characters' different perspectives. I also liked how Twilight Zone-like Opportunities was. The combination of the classic morality tale plot and the very modern protagonist and violence felt very fresh.
My theory about choosing the name Ammon is that it is an indication that the family is Mormon, which gets the reader thinking about apocalypticism in American Christianity. The Ammons in The Book of Mormon are better people to name your kid after than the Biblical ones. (They aren't uncontroversial, but I'm pretty sure incest is not involved like the Biblical ones.) While the belief that the end times are coming soon is something that a lot of American religious movements have in common, I think that the LDS Church is one of the better known ones.
"Coping" : the story was somewhat predictable (actually, that would be my main criticism of the collection as a whole : quite often, the first pages are intriguing enough, but the ensuing plots are rather straightforward), but the writing was as good as usual, and it had emotional power."The Prime Minister" : another darkly funny one, humorous and disturbing at the same time. Plus, what I begin to see as one of Maggie Siebert's trademarks : some hilarious turns of phrase. "Somebody nobody likes (for example, say, Patricia)"... Or "We did not know what or where he was the Prime Minister of". These are unforgettable.
"Smells": Well-written, predictable, nice satire of another lousy job; black comedy with a few disturbing moments : ok, I begin to see a pattern there. The last sentence actually made me laugh.
Ok, that's two-thirds mark, and I won't spend any time online during the next ten days -- my comments on the last stories will have to wait a bit.
Bill wrote: From the Shearman I've read (mostly from one collection), I haven't found him to be very distinctive.
Which collection was that?
I would argue that he's stylistically distinctive, essentially because he has found a kind of formula that works for him.
I certainly don't like everything he wrote (anyway, only a few of his stories can be classified as "horror"), but some stories are great. "Alice Through the Plastic Sheet" was one of the highlights of "A Book of Horrors" anthology.
Wodwo wrote: "I would argue that he's stylistically distinctive, essentially because he has found a kind of formula that works for him."What formula is that, I'm curious?
I believe the Shearman collection I've read is Remember Why You Fear Me: The Best Dark Fiction of Robert Shearman. But oddly enough, I don't see it in my goodreads library. This sounds like the start of a paranoid and unreliable narrative by Brian Evenson.
Finishing my thoughts on the rest of the collection.The Prime Minister. I share other's appreciation of the humor in this one. I love the weird, unexplained situation. Also the recognition that no matter how fucked up the situation, people find their routines and continue to nurse their petty grievances.
Smells. Reminded me of the time when I realized a week later that you shouldn't eat popcorn after getting your wisdom teeth pulled. Last line is another gem of ironic detachment, and lack of decent health care as the cause of the apocalypse is good and correct.
Witches. I loved how it went from the "boys finding a body" story to the POV of the mother. The details of Charles wanting to wear his cowboy vest everywhere and then the increasing number of phone messages ratcheted the misery really effectively until this perfect line: "She stained the house with her sorrow, the walls forever glazed with its nicotine patina." That's some great writing.
Bonding. Ugh. Some stories really make me glad I'm not a guy.
Marriage. My second favorite in the collection. I think "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" is a theme for all of these stories (and probably for most good body horror collections). I definitely had to read twice to untangle the voices, and it still seemed like some were unconnected, such as the one talking about his uncle taking over a radio station. I loved the connection to "Witches". It feels like all of these stories share a universe, were any other voices references to other stories?
Every Day for the Rest of Your Life. This one really hit me. I really don't like animals dying in fiction (I'm a veterinarian, I see enough in real life), but mostly I'm tired of writers using animal torture to show how someone is a budding psychopath. This story showed the devastating effect of that accidental death on the psyche of a sensitive kid. That final scene may be the most disturbing thing I've read in fiction because it was so perfectly earned.
Summary is "wow". This is an amazing collection. I hope it gets a lot more recognition and that we get a lot more stories from Siebert.
https://twitter.com/k_masterkoda/stat... Thought I’d share this. This artist sometimes does series of works related to books. She did some for B.R. Yeager’s Negative Space which you can see all of on her website, but she’s currently working on a series for Bonding, uploading to her Twitter as she works through the stories
Nominations for September's monthly read? Please share here:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Well well, I think I'll make this last to the very end of the month, apparently..."Witches" : sad, sad, sad. Everything that had to do with the two boys and the curious fascination elicited by their discovery of Charles' body was good. The way they foolishly insist to be recognized as the real discoverers was particularly psychologically convincing and striking, like something from Poe.
I was somewhat less impressed with the final part about the mother. As usual, it was really well written (and unbearably sad), but I couldn't help seeing it as more conventional.
"Bonding" : reminded me of a poem by Henri Michaux (but it could also be a bloodier version of a Kafka story). Good, but too short to be really memorable, maybe.
Poll is up!https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...
Might be some mutual trumping going on there.
Please vote by Saturday 9/4. If you vote for a book and it wins, you are committing to participate in the discussion.
Wodwo wrote: "I was somewhat less impressed with the final part about the mother. As usual, it was really well written (and unbearably sad), but I couldn't help seeing it as more conventional."Me too. I would have preferred more focus on the boys and their interactions.
Whitney wrote: "Finishing my thoughts on the rest of the collection.The Prime Minister. I share other's appreciation of the humor in this one. I love the weird, unexplained situation. Also the recognition that n..."
Agree with your points on "Every Day for the Rest of Your Life," although she does at point allude to the friend who watches the animal torture for pleasure ending imprisoned for murder. By doing this Siebert nicely balances the nature of accessible violence in the age of the internet. I agree also that it ranks as one of the most disturbing endings, even though the most disturbing part is only left off as a possibility.
"Witches" turned out to be my favorite of the bunch. I really enjoyed Siebert's scene building in this story, and the witch lore is handled so delicately. I'll never get over the witch cackling doorbell, such a haunting ending. It felt like a mix between the best of Stephen King and Dennis Cooper, and totally original to the voice permeating this book. I think that, yes, the part with the boys was the strongest, but everything else was weaved in so well. This story more than any other made me wish we had a full length Maggie Siebert novel, given the strength of her character and world building.
Jackson wrote: " I agree also that it ranks as one of the most disturbing endings, even though the most disturbing part is only left off as a possibility."For me, it's already at that pinnacle of disturbing; the death and casual cruelty that has brought someone's psyche to that extreme. Already being covered with cuts from the blades and and raw offal, turning on the grinder or not at that point seems almost incidental.
What did you think of the use of second person? I'm usually wary of it, but in this case I thought it was incredibly effective.
Whitney wrote: "Jackson wrote: " I agree also that it ranks as one of the most disturbing endings, even though the most disturbing part is only left off as a possibility."For me, it's already at that pinnacle of..."
Ya, I guess the most *viscerally disturbing part is that which is left unsaid, but you're right about the culmination of trauma. Just another example at how good Siebert is at digging beneath the horror into the toll it takes on the psyche of those involved, that she can disturb to the point where something as horrible to imagine as getting chopped up by a meat grinder becomes incidental is crazy.
The second person was good in this. I'm in the same boat, for the most part I have always found the perspective a little hokey. But, like DFW's "Forever Overhead," the employment of 2nd to the coming-of-age story works really well here. I think it helped drive home the mostly hopeless feeling over the course of the story.
Literary Horror
Books mentioned in this topic
Remember Why You Fear Me: The Best Dark Fiction of Robert Shearman (other topics)Bonding (other topics)
I don't see reviews on the usual fiction review sites. But here's one:
https://www.ligeiamagazine.com/summer...
Dennis Cooper's recent blog post includes an interview and other resources:
https://denniscooperblog.com/5-books-...
Bonding is available on paper, and as a free pdf from the author (thanks!):
https://twitter.com/maggiecsiebert/st...
Let's start close to next weekend!