Catherynne M. Valente has been one of my favorite authors ever since I stumbled upon "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" (yes, that's the title). She has a delightful gift with words, description, and imaginative scenarios, and even in her early works I found she was intent on creating strong, out-of-the-ordinary characters -- monsters that weren't truly monstrous, heroes who occasionally bungled the job of being a hero and just wanted to be normal, princesses and other female characters who didn't just serve as love interests or sit around waiting to be rescued, etc. And though "The Refrigerator Monologues" is a fair-sized step away from her usual realm of fantasy and mythology -- it's set in a world of superheroes -- it still carries on her tradition of brilliant wordbuilding, gutsy women, and taking a wry, often cutting look at the well-worn universe of superheroes and comic book characters.
In Deadtown, an underworld inhabited by gargoyles and the dead, a group of women calling themselves the Hell Hath Club gather on a regular basis, always wearing whatever clothes they were buried in and reminiscing about the events that led them here. All are connected by the fact that they were once superheroes, girlfriends/lovers/wives to superheroes, or some mixture of both -- and all recognize that their existences were cut tragically short in order to further the stories of male superheroes. There's Paige Embry, girlfriend/creator of Kid Mercury who died during Mercury's first battle with his arch-nemesis; Julia Ashe, a heroine of fantastic power who was edited out of existence because her mentor and her male teammates were afraid of her power; Bayou, queen of Atlantis who lost her son to a supervillain and loathes how her husband sees their child as nothing more than a reason for vengeance; Polly, a psychotic fangirl of the villain Mr. Punch who ultimately met her fate at his hands, and others. All of them tell their stories with varying degrees of fury, dark humor, and resignation... and all find common ground with one another.
Valente has a knack for fantastic and quirky wordplay, and this book is no exception. And while some of the whimsy is toned down for this book, with Valente opting for a more realistic approach, it's still a joy to read. Her writing is vibrant and never boring, and she gives us plenty of her trademark imaginative imagery amidst the gloom and horror of these women's stories. And while quite a few of these women are thinly veiled copies of real characters from famous comic books (Polly and Mr. Punch are Harley Quinn and The Joker in all but name, Ashe's story is reminiscent of Jean Grey's "Dark Phoenix" saga from "X-Men," etc.), there's still plenty to make their stories unique and fascinating.
This book, short though it is, is less a cohesive story and more vignettes laced together with the framework of the Hell Hath Club... but it's still a fascinating and often cutting read. As evidenced by both the title and the author's afterword, it's heavily inspired by Gail Simone's "Women In Refrigerators," a list of female comic characters who are injured, killed, or depowered as a plot device to further a male character's story. And boy howdy, these women are NOT happy being relegated to plot devices to push their boyfriends'/teammates' stories along. This book is often scathingly furious, but for good reason... and it's certainly an eye-opener when it comes to how women are treated in fiction in general, and comics in particular.
The illustrations in this book, done by comics artist Annie Wu, are a nice accompaniment as well, giving us a look into the life of each girl and capturing the style of a comic quite well. It's telling that each illustration is focused solely on the women in question -- the men already have their stories, so it's high time the women got their share of the story, without having to compete with the men who have taken over their lives.
A short but powerful and important read, especially for comics fans, this is high on my list of favorite books by Catherynne Valente, and high on my list of favorite books period. If you enjoy comics, you need to read this book. And if you're upset with how women are treated in fiction, this book will make you angry but, regardless, has some valuable things to say about women who are sick and tired of being relegated to side characters and plot devices in their own stories.
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Top reviews from other countries
Euan Donald
COMIC WOMEN, TRAGIC TALES
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2020
