The Low, Low Woods

[cornerofmadness]

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This one gets bonus points for having queer characters of color as the mains. I feel like it was pulling from European folklore, Greek myth and the all too real story of Centralia, PA. Shudder-to-think is a mining town in some rural part of PA where everyone knows something is wrong, especially with the women. Vee (highly intelligent, young woman of African descent) and El (plus-sized Latinx perhaps a little neurodivergent) both live here, trying to make the most of it, fighting a little because Vee wants El to go to college with her and El sees no financial path there. More importantly both are getting disturbed more and more by the way women in this town lose their memories, sometimes just found wandering around in the town or the surrounding woods.

This comes to a head when El and Vee wake up in a movie theater realizing neither remembers the movie period. They fear they're falling prey to whatever it is that takes over the women. Another open secret are the skinless men that crawl out of a gash in the earth that burns from the mine fire under their feet.

The story follows them as they try to save themselves (and Vee's white popular girlfriend who has serious issues of her own) find out why people just don't move out of this god forsaken town and is it even possible to come back from the true secret of the town.

The story is creepy and has enough magic in it to keep me engaged. I find El a wee bit more crass than I usually like but I do like her and Vee. Content warning: themes of rape, aftermath of rape, violence against women,misogyny and pedophilia. Overall, a well paced story. The art was mostly good but then you have some panels that are just so weird and off that it's disturbing. In spite of it, I recommend this one.



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