Okay, Bog Wife by Kay Chronister. It was, just that, okay. Longer, spoilery review under the cut.
tl;dr:
Over all, underwhelming without any pay off, it rotted away into an end that wasn't an end, but a beginning that was arguably, narratively, as bad as the actual beginning. Repetitive, dilute gothic with only the occasional highlight, of which most were the love with which the bog was written.
Also not enough bog wife, honestly. If I wanted to be uncomfortable and think about committing patricide I could visit my family.
Got through it in 3 afternoons, will be donating.
4.5/10
I liked the premise and the set up was handled nicely and loosely, a vague cradle on ill footing. I don't loathe any of the characters but neither did I like them, which we'll come back to in a minute.
The atmosphere was on and off good, I think it really shone in the moments of juxtaposition, especially fond of the Walmart scene directly after the house, the meandering to mundanity of driving away from chaos but knowing you have to return is a delight. But it did get a little more... obvious as time went on. Towards the end there are just billboards with words on or the babbling of a radio and it was ehh, it felt clumsy in comparison.
There was also an issue with repetition, and not in themes, that was on purpose and enjoyable, the cyclical of family, land and story was nicely handled, but PER PARAGRAPH? Girl, I beg. The re-use of words barely a sentence from each other was jarring and not in a narratively interesting way in a 'see Spot run, run Spot, run' way. It happened enough for me to clock it as an issue and it really could've been resolved with an editor.
(Likewise SOME repetition due to POV change, which couldn’t been handled with more subtlety, or more brazenly, just pick your poison and neck it.)
Characterisation! I didn't go into this with any pre-conceptions, so it was nice to have a distinct feel and voice for everyone but I remained neutral on all of them. (Even their mum and by all rights I shoulda pack bonded with her out the gate). It's not that they weren't unsympathetic people, it was that they were too on the nose for the majority of the time. I understand that there is a pre-destiny in the rolls they were allotted at birth, but the way things played out left them flimsy and damp feeling.
Disability in fiction, a TedTalk: I get it, he was a ruined patriarch and all that matters about that is breeding yadda yadda but WHY is it always something like that??? These people are boglings (although I suppose there was misty unresolved possibilities that Charlie was a bastard) why was it not natural disability as body horror? Why was it 'OOPS pop goes the bollock' and oh my GOD that that was his ONLY character flaw, sad, no nads. I wish I had the ebook so I could see how many times "testicle" was mentioned cause lord have mercy, more balls than bingo.
On the one hand I'm grateful it was infertility from a blokes perspective rather than a sobbing woman but also.. No. Not a fan.
I suppose my issue was it wasn't odd enough. It became reliant on the psuedo incestuousness of entangled family living and then the actual incestuosness of fucking your mommy recursively and indefinitely and... I was neither shocked, nor appalled let alone surprised. It was obvious fairly early on there was no wife, just One, and after that there wasn't really much in the way of shock value with Percy in the forest other than 'Oh I thought he'd be more horrified about spitting in her mouth, maybe he’s into that?'.
Oh and also -1 for the weird mum exposition at the end, yes I understand the premise here, calm thyself, subtle it up.
so I gave in and watched Conclave and I have to say Deeply enjoyable! Cried!
Not too brutal a play time, well edited cause there was still breathing room in the script without it dragging; and the pauses made it tbh. The juxtaposition between modernity and tradition in the cinematography is delicious (always been a bit weak for nuns in asics but the lifts and mini buses? delightful), some slightly heavy handed metaphors but hey it IS catholicism, and I think Tucci let it down pretty badly considering how prominent he was, but Fiennes was a tour de force what a PATHETIC wet little man?? Koman too!!!
Highlights: Sister Agnes' lil curtsy
Adult Normal Cardinal Turtles
Old dudes just fuckin sobbin
The cuddliest Jesus allegory in cinema??
Adequate display of how grown men are petty teenagers
Just started Leech today and I am fucking eating well already. Genderwhomst gothic?? Putting the pathologique in parasitism?? MEDICALLY ACCURATE BODY HORROR??? THE ALPS, BUT WORSE. I'll cum on the spot
