Some characters become indelibly stamped upon your mind within the first few sentences of their introduction. Such are Mama Letty and Ms. Carole Cole née Carole Thompson. Caustic and sharp tongued, they definitely don’t live up to the street name where they live. Both women are forces to be reckoned with and young Avery Thompson swiftly finds herself out of her depth. Avery, with her lesbianism and pierced lip, comes in for particular attack from Mama Letty, who immediately nicknames her Fish, much to Avery’s chagrin.
The author does a fine job of letting us in on Avery’s boredom, her twisted and contradictory emotions regarding her pal Hikari and ex-lover Kelsi who dumped Avery but still wants to be friends. Those two girls still text Avery even though she won’t text back. They’re recollections of her old life and the plans the trio of girls had made—before Covid and Mama Letty’s cancer had upended everything.
But it’s Mama Letty who grips the stage every time she enters. She refuses to dwell on the cancer eating away at her, defiantly smoking cigarettes, working on crossword puzzles while alternately ignoring Avery and taking vicious verbal swipes at her and ignoring Avery’s attempt to probe into the last time they visited.
You sense a mystery underlying the tense encounters among the family. Avery’s mother Zora Anderson and Mama Letty have different notions of how long ago that previous visit was. They disagree on how old Avery was at the time of that stay. Avery has a vague memory of a vicious argument but can’t quite grasp the details. It creates a tension that includes but also rises above the nasty old woman who tries to deflect Avery's questions.
The town of Bardell itself is one of those small, indifferent American cities teetering on the edge of collapse, like a place that’s had a Walmart open up within its borders. A sign at the town’s entrance is riddled with bullet holes, which Avery rightly sees as indicative of what she might expect within the town itself. It’s got a murky river, scruffy homes and trailers with weeds sprouting along the walkways.
All this lends an air of small-town decrepitude that amplifies the subtle unease you begin to experience as Avery asks what she thinks are innocent questions.
We must read the rest of the novel to learn the underlying mystery. It doesn’t promise to be anything good.
The author does a fine job of letting us in on Avery’s boredom, her twisted and contradictory emotions regarding her pal Hikari and ex-lover Kelsi who dumped Avery but still wants to be friends. Those two girls still text Avery even though she won’t text back. They’re recollections of her old life and the plans the trio of girls had made—before Covid and Mama Letty’s cancer had upended everything.
But it’s Mama Letty who grips the stage every time she enters. She refuses to dwell on the cancer eating away at her, defiantly smoking cigarettes, working on crossword puzzles while alternately ignoring Avery and taking vicious verbal swipes at her and ignoring Avery’s attempt to probe into the last time they visited.
You sense a mystery underlying the tense encounters among the family. Avery’s mother Zora Anderson and Mama Letty have different notions of how long ago that previous visit was. They disagree on how old Avery was at the time of that stay. Avery has a vague memory of a vicious argument but can’t quite grasp the details. It creates a tension that includes but also rises above the nasty old woman who tries to deflect Avery's questions.
The town of Bardell itself is one of those small, indifferent American cities teetering on the edge of collapse, like a place that’s had a Walmart open up within its borders. A sign at the town’s entrance is riddled with bullet holes, which Avery rightly sees as indicative of what she might expect within the town itself. It’s got a murky river, scruffy homes and trailers with weeds sprouting along the walkways.
All this lends an air of small-town decrepitude that amplifies the subtle unease you begin to experience as Avery asks what she thinks are innocent questions.
We must read the rest of the novel to learn the underlying mystery. It doesn’t promise to be anything good.