Customer Reviews

Mama Fish

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you read the back blurbs of this book, you find readers that were affected by the story Rio Youers wrote. And every one of them hit on a facet of this short, yet complex tale of emotion and fate. In truth it is two different stories that are connected, thought you never know how until the very end of Mama Fish. Both center on the main character, Patrick. One when he is a teenager, the other as paralyzed adult. The adult story line is what is meant to be followed with the teenage story line adding the mystery and suspense.

Personally, I thought the teenage story was the stronger of the the two. The bourgeoning friendship of Patrick and Kevin Fish had the same emotional impact as the friendship of George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men. I could almost se this story as a modern version of how those two characters might have become friends in the backstory of Steinbeck's classic. The emotional impact and growth of both characters happen in that story.

The adult story is incredibly well written, but felt more like a social commentary than character revelation in a few spots. Never so much that I was pulled out of the story. Youers has an incredible talent of flooding you with information and ideas in just a small chapter an let it creep in under the active story. It just felt off balance with everything Youers was able to do in the other story.

One of the elements that both story arcs have is an incredible sense of realism. If anyone wants to understand how a fantastical story needs to feel real to the reader in order for them to suspend their disbelief -- read this book. It's not about the setting descriptions or the details that are exactly correct for they year the story is written in. It is about the details that we all take in everyday: other people's quirks, the way a person would describe a smell or sensation because of the life they've had, background noise of life that our brain filters out what we think we need and throws out anything deemed useless. Youers is able to make that all happen in this novella, something that even some novels can't do and a challenge to any writer as the story has fewer and fewer words alloted.

Mama Fish is only the first story of Rio Youers' that I have read. But based in the strength, passion, and artistry this book is brimmed with, it won't be my last and I bet there will be many more stories for a long time.

I sat down to read MAMA FISH knowing very little about it, and, incredibly, before I stood back up, I had finished the entire book. The fact that Youers enthralled me so thoroughly with this novella without relying on go-for-the-jugular action or in-you-face shocks is even more incredible. Instead, he relies on his talent for writing exquisite prose and trusting this unique story to unfold at its own perfect pace. The characters, too, are full realized, sympathetic and engaging. To reveal too much about the plot would cheat new readers from the mysteries that lie in wait for them, but I will say that MAMA is not who/what I expected her to be...

After winning me over with his first novel, END TIMES, Youers has created a die-hard fan in me with MAMA FISH. This guy's going to go far.

Mama Fish is a great little story with interesting twists and unexpected turns. The writing style is clean, reminiscent of Robert R. McCammon's later work. Frankly, if Rio keeps writing stories that are so well crafted he'll soon be the hottest new writer in the world. Do I recommend this book? Oh yes. I most certainly do...


James Roy Daley, author of The Dead Parade - The Dead Parade

Author Rio Youers is a relatively new writer on the scene, but has amassed quite a few accolades and critical acclaim. "Mama Fish" is a novella full of vibrant ideas and energy, carefully threaded with a considerable danger and a growing curiosity that will have readers flipping pages as fast as they humanly can. The story is fresh and original and you will find yourself completely submerged in the familiar, yet strange, world of our main characters.

Things do fall into place as the astute reader might expect, but that doesn't cloud the enjoyment factor or experience. My only big disappointment was the cover of the book. It simply gave away too many details that you encounter late in the tale. Although beautifully painted, this was an unfortunate marketing decision. I can't go back in time and erase what I now know, but I wonder how much more exciting and mysterious this book would have been if I had not seen the cover. Oh, well. "Mama Fish" is still a hell of a read and without a doubt, I will be reading more of Rio Youers in the future.

Favorite quote: "The trees gossiped and trembled." "...her smile will make flowers open." "I could hear the apple trees rustling their naked branches in agitation."

What I didn't like: Nothing much quite honestly. If I have to pick something, there was a line or two that had to do with inappropriate sex that the main character conjured in his imagination. But really it was just a passing daydream that I feel was simply a reflection of the mystery of Kelvin and his home life. I acknowledge that sometimes bizarre thoughts just infiltrate your mind, so if you do try this book and are squeamish don't let it put you off.

What I liked: "Isn't it amazing how the smallest decisions can have such a massive impact on our lives?" Patrick says this in the story and to me, this is what Mama Fish is about. That and how friendship can be so strong it can span time. The story is not what I thought it was going to be and therefore the twists and turns were more of a surprise. It was haunting, sad and nostalgic. While reading it, I felt dread, melancholy and pity. However, it left me feeling very hopeful.

The story is relayed by Patrick and we see Kelvin through him. Although Kelvin appears to be a somewhat monstrous person, Patrick sympathizes with him and senses there is something more to his frightening exterior. He and Kelvin do not seem to have much in common but Patrick recognizes something of himself in this other outcast and wants to be his friend.

One day he decides to follow Kelvin home and the ensuing events change his life. Patrick says for many years he wishes he never followed him home that day. That was such a great line to build tension and made me feel Patrick's regret. Isn't there an event in everyone's life that they wish did not happen? That they wish they had taken just one step sideways to avoid?

The story flipped from Patrick's childhood to his adulthood with skill, increasing the suspense. What happened to him as a child? How have those events effected him? He is sympathetic both in his younger days and in the present. He is a simple guy, a normal guy. But he's holding onto a memory that effected him profoundly. The mystery of Kelvin is hinted at, then revealed. At first it is horrifying and then it becomes wondrous.

The writing was powerful. Unique similes and descriptions were used to illustrate thoughts and meanings. It's exciting and inspiring to find prose that moves the story along like in Mama Fish. Youers uses lovely words to describe otherwise mundane events and objects. When relaying a horrifying incident he compared time with a jester. A bully had "rock like fists" and "...fear growled and snapped."

If you really must put Mama Fish into a genre, you can say it's a little bit of Horror, with a lot of Sci-Fi, maybe a bit Steampunk and also a Coming of Age story. It's just as hard to fit this story into one specific genre as it was for Patrick to fit in among his peers. For such a short book, it took me a while to put my thoughts together to write this. Thought provoking and deeply layered, it is a poignant page turner. I will definitely be reading more by Rio Youers.

5 out of 5 stars.

FROM THE FUNKY WEREPIG

Look at this title. It tells you everything you need to know about the story. Titles are meant to sum up a story in just a few words. Some even come damn close to ruining the entire tale, such as `Joel's Revenge' or `The Children That Ate Flesh'. You pretty much know what you're getting into the minute you pick it up. So with a title like Mama Fish, go ahead and guess what you're about to read...

You're wrong.

And that's all you need to know. Whatever you think this story is about, nope. In the beginning you figure it out easily. Kid who is kind of a nerd tries to make friends with maybe the only kid in school who is an even bigger nerd. It's not an instant match-up but with patience, determination and even a heroic stand against bullies, they do become friends. We've enjoyed this storyline before.

And that's where Youers leaves you in the dust. Like a prankster with the $100 bill on a string, he yanks it away every time you reach for it. I thought I had it in my grasp several times while being sucked into his novella but each time I grabbed only air. And pure enjoyment.

I don't know if you can pigeonhole this book into horror but I will tell you there were chapters that made me panic and cringe. Yet there were also sections that hit me hard and made me appreciate what it means to have a true friend. By the end, I actually woke up my wife because I had to discuss this story with someone. Anyone. That's what Mama Fish will do to you.

Rio Youers is quickly becoming one of the best writers of our generation. I know accolades are thrown around today like cheap opening lines at an open shirted meat market. But I'll punch anyone in the mouth who tries to tell me Youers doesn't deserve every bit of praise he receives. I will. Right in the mouth. Horror is lucky to have him in our corner because talent is a gift and Youers proves once again that the emotions he pours into his work know no boundaries.

This is a difficult review to write because I simply can not explain the story too much without risk of ruining the funhouse ride the reader gets to go on. Every time I had the plot spin figured out, the next page slapped me back down. Youers keeps you off balance even more by jumping back and forth between the nerd as a child and the man he's become haunted by the memories of someone who changed his life forever. But I think the best way to sell you on this book is to have you simply stare at that title.

Mama Fish.

Plag Meen, baby. Plag Meen.

Here's why you want to read Mama Fish by Rio Youers: you'll be pissed when it's over.

Youers splices together two tales of Patrick Beauchamp: one from high school when Patrick is trying to befriend school oddity Kelvin Fish; the second features an older Patrick, parent of two and beloved husband. Yes, they come together, in a sense. Any more plot points would taint your reading of Mama Fish, and I'm not here to do that.

The prose is delicious, fast, and propels you to the end. Unfortunately, I feel like the end came too quickly--maybe because I devoured it in one sitting. With two rug-rats running around the house, I don't devour much over ten pages in one sitting anymore. Even when the end becomes inevitable, and it does, Youers held my attention, winding it around his easy style and showing not only Patrick's final choice but why he made it (again, no spoilers here).

Some may be put off by the alternating time frames in the book (instead of all the "high school" story followed by the "older Patrick", Youers goes back and forth), but I enjoyed the way Mama Fish unfolded. With Shroud as the publisher, one might expect horror, and the novella has horrific moments, especially when Patrick is younger. But to simply file Mama Fish in the horror bin limits readers. This is slipstream at its best--a little science fiction, a little fantasy, and a dash of horror.

Why was I pissed when I finished? I wanted more. Give me a few Youers' short stories at least. I know I'll be looking for something with his name on it.

Damn, Rio Youers can write.

Mama Fish is an interesting little novella and one that is hard to categorize. Part coming-of-age, part befriended misfits, part urban horror, and part speculative, this novella is most certainly a page-turner, keeping me engrossed the whole way.

The novel alternates between the present of narrator Patrick Beauchamp at age 36, and his past as a high school student. The young Beauchamp feels a need to befriend the school oddball, Kelvin Fish, the kid everyone makes fun of and creates inventive and disgusting stories about. At first, he's not sure why he needs to do this. There is something about Kelvin...he's a misfit, and Beauchamp, despite going through all the motions of fitting in, feels a bit of a misfit himself. Yet, Beauchamp himself lets his imagination get away with him when it comes to Kelvin, creating a grotesquerie of a relationship between Kelvin and his mother, Mama Fish. But what is imagined and what is real could not be further apart and the reality of Mama Fish is more shocking than Beauchamp could ever have imagined.

Youers really captures the awkwardness of youth, of being a misfit, and the relationship he develops between Beauchamp and Kelvin Fish rings true on every level. Beauchamp is a fully developed character and even Kelvin, who speaks almost no words for the first half of the novella, is endearing, evoking a modern take on Lennie Small. When events take a tragic turn, the reader is so invested in the characters--and Youers has developed them so well (with sparse text which tells you how good a writer Youers is)--that you are as devastated as Beauchamp.

Likewise, Youers, in the older Beauchamp, captures the encroaching cynicism of age, of feeling disconnected in a world that seems to be changing faster than you want it to. The balance between the two manifestations of Beauchamp is really artful and serves to tie the two storylines together.

What I also enjoyed is that Youers plays with some of the tropes of the horror genre and even with the trope of homoeroticism often implied by the need of two male misfits to be friends. He gives these things interesting little twists that I found refreshing.

Likewise, Youers also captures the disconnect of the modern world, the disintegration of urban life into strip malls and TGI Fridays, and a society which is so technologically in touch with one another that they've grown distant. Computers and iPods and Blackberrys and Bluetooth that mute the human relationship despite their promise to bring people closer together.

Youers also manages to create a lot of suspense and tension in the story with a nice fluid prose style that is engaging and realistic, but somewhat ominous. THe pace of this story is pitch perfect.

I think the only quibble I had with this novella is that the revelation of Mama Fish and Kelvin Fish's life was a bit of a let down for me. But I think this is largely due to Youers' expertise at building these two characters and my fascination with misfits rather than any flaw with the novella. I was far more interested in exploring the relationship of Kelvin and Beauchamp and their odd friendship that the reveal of Kelvin and Mama Fish's life kind of took something away from that. Still, Youers brings that around with the ending of the novella, tying the older and younger Beauchamp storylines together in a really satisfying (yet not spoon-fed) ending.

This is my first time reading Youers' work and while the price tag ($7.99) may be a bit high for Mama Fish considering the length, I have to say it was worth it because I feel I've found a writer who really, really intrigues and excites me. This wont be my last time reading Youers and if you're looking for a good, creepy yet utterly emotionally truthful quick read, Mama Fish may just be someone you wanna spend time with.

8.5 stars/10