WE WERE CALLED SPECIMENS is a wholly unique reading experience unlike anything I've ever read before.
The 30 micro-narratives in this collection feel like a web of tiny fever dreams - each adding a new layer of depth to Marjorie and those caught in her perpetual gravity. Where, in one story, Marjorie might be a hapless kiosk operator, the next depicts her as an Aunt exploiting her undead nephew or niece's newfound immortality, or as a powerful televangelist, or as a saintly presence that protects children from active shooters. The book isn't so much a revelation of Marjorie as it is a series of snapshots of her constant evolution, and we, as readers, are encouraged to unmoor our expectations and follow her supposed divinity in all its paradoxical forms.
The collection has a little bit of everything - horror, absurdism, fabulism, suspense, sadness - and one would be hard-pressed if asked to choose which one of these is the collection's defining element. What's certain, though, is that Teal has effortlessly woven these threads together to create something fresh, something snappy, something deep, and something varied.
WE WERE CALLED SPECIMENS is an entire spectrum of otherworldy experience and it is absolutely weird as hell. But, if you are looking for something unique, or strange, or experimental in a way that isn't at all tedious, then this book is a perfect book for you!
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Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2020
WE WERE CALLED SPECIMENS is a wholly unique reading experience unlike anything I've ever read before.
The 30 micro-narratives in this collection feel like a web of tiny fever dreams - each adding a new layer of depth to Marjorie and those caught in her perpetual gravity. Where, in one story, Marjorie might be a hapless kiosk operator, the next depicts her as an Aunt exploiting her undead nephew or niece's newfound immortality, or as a powerful televangelist, or as a saintly presence that protects children from active shooters. The book isn't so much a revelation of Marjorie as it is a series of snapshots of her constant evolution, and we, as readers, are encouraged to unmoor our expectations and follow her supposed divinity in all its paradoxical forms.
The collection has a little bit of everything - horror, absurdism, fabulism, suspense, sadness - and one would be hard-pressed if asked to choose which one of these is the collection's defining element. What's certain, though, is that Teal has effortlessly woven these threads together to create something fresh, something snappy, something deep, and something varied.
WE WERE CALLED SPECIMENS is an entire spectrum of otherworldy experience and it is absolutely weird as hell. But, if you are looking for something unique, or strange, or experimental in a way that isn't at all tedious, then this book is a perfect book for you!
The 30 micro-narratives in this collection feel like a web of tiny fever dreams - each adding a new layer of depth to Marjorie and those caught in her perpetual gravity. Where, in one story, Marjorie might be a hapless kiosk operator, the next depicts her as an Aunt exploiting her undead nephew or niece's newfound immortality, or as a powerful televangelist, or as a saintly presence that protects children from active shooters. The book isn't so much a revelation of Marjorie as it is a series of snapshots of her constant evolution, and we, as readers, are encouraged to unmoor our expectations and follow her supposed divinity in all its paradoxical forms.
The collection has a little bit of everything - horror, absurdism, fabulism, suspense, sadness - and one would be hard-pressed if asked to choose which one of these is the collection's defining element. What's certain, though, is that Teal has effortlessly woven these threads together to create something fresh, something snappy, something deep, and something varied.
WE WERE CALLED SPECIMENS is an entire spectrum of otherworldy experience and it is absolutely weird as hell. But, if you are looking for something unique, or strange, or experimental in a way that isn't at all tedious, then this book is a perfect book for you!
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