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Book Review: The Last Days of Salton Academy by Jennifer Brozek

Cover art for The Last Days of Salton Academy by Jennifer Brozek

The Last Days of Salton Academy  by Jennifer Brozek.

Speaking Volumes, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1645406822

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

I at first thought this might be dark academia, and it technically qualifies, but really it’s zombie survival horror that happens to take place mostly at an isolated boarding school. The premise is that 26 people were trapped at the school when a zombie outbreak hit (it’s unclear exactly when that was, but the novel starts after they’ve had a first freeze, and need to go on a second supply run before it snows, so it starts in mid-to-late October).

 

The book has been praised for character development, but it is fairly short and with so many characters it would be difficult to fully develop them all. Jeff, the boy in charge of guarding, rationing, and distributing food, is an interesting character to watch. Another memorable character is Evan, who keeps a zombie dog (nothing can go wrong with that, right?) and is running out of the medicine that keeps his JRA at bay (it’s not specifically mentioned, just described). Mr. Leeds, a predatory, hebephilic teacher who takes advantage of the isolation and vulnerability of the girls at the school, and Mrs. Hood, a teacher interested in protecting them, are also important to the plot. A few others worth mentioning are Shin, who doesn’t get a lot of page space but is very strategic, Maya, who is secretly stashing supplies in her room, and Nurse Krenshaw. (spoilers below)

 

Jeff decides residents will have to be eliminated in order for the food to last through the winter, and carefully plots to make it happen. He and  his fellow student Ron, a psychopathic killer, plan to kill off the weakest. They plan to send four students out on a supply run, then off the principal, Evan and his dog, and the teachers. They don’t count on Evan letting the dog loose and turning into a zombie, taking a couple of other kids with them.

 

In the meantime Mrs. Hood and the nurse conspire successfully to kill Mr. Leeds for his predatory behavior. In the end only Shin and Maya survive. Of the four on the supply run, two are infected and kill themselves, but the others encounter friends with a map to a well stocked bunker where they stay until spring.

 

This is what I’d expect from an old-school zombie novel– short and fast-paced. Despite its characters mainly being teenagers, this doesn’t read as a YA book to me. A similar YA title I can highly recommend is Marieke Nijkamp’s At The End of Everything, which is better developed and has a more hopeful ending.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on February 13, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Jawbone by Monica Ojeda translated by Sarah Booker

cover art for Jawbone by Monica Ojeda

Jawbone by Monica Ojeda., translated by Sarah Booker

Coffee House Press, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1566896214

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

( Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

 

Fernanda wakes up, disoriented, to discover she has been kidnapped by Miss Clara, her literature teacher. Figuring out how she got there is the first step in navigating a twisty narrative.

 

Fernanda, her close friend Anne, and their friends had found an abandoned, isolated house where they told horror stories, participated in violent dares, and worshipped the White God (as friend groups of teenage girls do). Fernanda and Anne pushed their limits further than the other girls, but Fernanda finally reaches hers.

 

Anne is forced to take extra lessons from Miss Clara after the teachers discover an irreligious drawing of an insect god in drag. Miss Clara has closely modeled herself on her mother and has anxiety and frequent panic attacks that result in repetitive and neurotic behaviors and self-harm, making her a perfect target for Anne, who is angry with Fernanda for drawing boundaries. Anne uses her conversations and assignments with Miss Clara to manipulate Miss Clara’s anxieties and turn her focus on Fernanda as a villain victimizing Anne…

 

The writing varies in style. Parts of the book record Fernanda’s therapy sessions; conversations between Anne and Clara;  and a long essay on “white horror” by Anne for Clara. Others get into the mental state of Clara or Fernanda which are quite disorienting, vivid, and sometimes gut-punching, with insect and body horror. The descriptions of physical responses to anxiety and panic attacks are hard to read. It gets harder and harder to trust any perception of events.

 

There is so much left to the imagination that it creates a real sense of unease. The violence keeps escalating but a lot of it happens off the page. This is generally effective but left me confused with the ending. There is so much left to the imagination that it creates a real sense of unease.

 

This is far from being a straighforward narrative, Readers who enjoy experimental narratives and unreliable narrators will find much to recommend it, though. ,.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Editor’s note: Jawbone was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award in Translated Literature. 

Posted on November 9, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin

I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin

Wednesday Books, 2022

ISBN-13: 9781250239570

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org  )

 

 

In comparison to the other two books I’ve read by Capin (Foul is Fair, retitled Golden Boys Beware, and The Dead Queens Club) I Am Margaret Moore is more experimental, slower- moving, and more pessimistic. Margaret Moore has attended the same naval-themed summer camp with her friends Flor, Nisreen, and Rose for nine years, and what happens at camp is supposed to stay at camp. Margaret breaks that rule when she falls in love with a boy from a wealthy family, resulting in an inconvenient pregnancy. Now there are stories that she drowned in the lake from heartbreak.

 

Her friends have uncovered most of the story, including the name of the boy responsible, who has faced no consequences and is admired in the camp. They decide to tell what they know but it backfires on them. Flor and Nasreen, who are in love, are separated, and the names of all four girls are stricken from the camp records.

 

Margaret’s ghost narrates most of the story and isn’t great at keeping track of time or stringing events together coherently. It is unclear through most of the book how much time is passing until the end (62 years). Figuring out what actually happened is complicated by the changing stories about Margaret the campers tell as time passes as well as the jumping around in time and Margaret’s unreliable memories and interpretations of events.

 

This was not an easy book to read, not just because the characters felt ephemeral, the stream-of-consciousness style of writing or because the topic was difficult and heartbreaking but because it took time to piece together what actually happened and how. In many ways this book is as much about the way we tell stories and how they change as anything. Those readers looking for a fast-paced, straightforward narrative aren’t going to find it here.

 

Margaret and her friends are made to feel small, worthless, erased for the convenience of the entitled white guys in this timely book. The story at the center of the book takes place in 1957. That abortion wasn’t an option for Margaret Moore leads to tragedy. It could not be more timely, with today’s Supreme Court decision at hand.

 

Recommended, for readers willing to take their time.

 

 

 

Posted on June 24, 2022 by , Reply
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