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Bound by Blue
Bound by Blue is a new collection of stories by Meg Tuite, the author of Domestic Apparition, Disparate Pathos and Reverberations.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 25, 2015
Tuite’s prose is fearless and fanged, exquisite in detail – mirroring the barbed edges of her characters whose nightmares stalk them long into dawn. Full review in PANK http://pankmagazine.com/2014/11/25/re...
November 5, 2014
That is the best way to describe, Meg Tuite's stories found within Bound by Blue. Her characters have been damaged, abused, kicked--yet they always seem to have resolve with their actions in the present. It's the kind of work you want to share or talk about, yet there is the fear that the listener may respond, "Why would I want to be traumatized?"
Here's the reason. The writing is excellent. The stories are deep, relentless, within this anthology, which makes it a unique read. As the reader, of this, I often felt empathy, felt like I wanted to invite these characters to my house and converse with them, you know, the sort of conversations which would occur at 3 AM.
The book made me feel--often uncomfortable--and that's how I knew it was a work that, for me, resonated deeply. I recommend this one, especially as the dark, cold winters on the East Coast are striding towards us.
Here's the reason. The writing is excellent. The stories are deep, relentless, within this anthology, which makes it a unique read. As the reader, of this, I often felt empathy, felt like I wanted to invite these characters to my house and converse with them, you know, the sort of conversations which would occur at 3 AM.
The book made me feel--often uncomfortable--and that's how I knew it was a work that, for me, resonated deeply. I recommend this one, especially as the dark, cold winters on the East Coast are striding towards us.
January 3, 2014
Meg Tuite's stories are intense, blinking rooms with mirrored windows and revolving doors. We wear her characters scars, and we are haunted by their thoughts. It would all seem terrible if we weren t so intoxicated by Tuite's voice, its inviting, fragrant nectar; she writes requiems for fever dreams.
October 29, 2014
The bleak and searing tableau that is Meg Tuite’s short story collection, Bound by Blue, skillfully navigates the emotionally fraught structure of human relationships. In story after story, the broken, the dysfunctional, and the scarred survivors prove to be at their most eloquent. They breathe in and out their anguish, putting on display what’s left of their embattled lives.
The book’s main ethos is articulated in the opening sentences of “Break the Code,” a powerful story about a woman coming to terms with the death of her mother.
There is something about an unbroken line that makes me want to rip it apart. All horizontal and level and yet one hit of acid and I detect only ripples, bending, rigorous expansion that doesn’t speak the language of the linear.
The same drive to rip apart “an unbroken line” is what fuels most of the stories in this collection, where even the most mundane of human relationships are shown to be rife with inherent disarray. The same can be said for Tuite’s novel-in-stories Domestic Apparition (San Francisco Bay Press, 2011). Bound by Blue is also peopled by classic Tuite characters—characters that were stunted, occasionally made lean and resilient, by their darkness.
“The F Word,” a deftly told tale of how past traumas don’t ever disappear, is the story of the couple Bob and Audrey, who are both beset by their own respective demons. In what can be misconstrued as an attempt to impose order in an otherwise disorderly life, Bob obsessively measures the ingredients he puts in while cooking dishes for the bulimic Audrey. The titular story, “Bound by Blue,” revolves around the exploits of the irreparably broken Edward, who was sexually abused by his mother, while “The Healer” takes on a tormented character’s search for a Brazilian healer, who was featured in a magazine she happened upon at the dentist’s office. The latter story, a hope-filled redemption quest, finished off the collection—a most telling gesture at the end of a succession of stories that unflinchingly tackled alienation, bitterness, and despair.
The book’s main ethos is articulated in the opening sentences of “Break the Code,” a powerful story about a woman coming to terms with the death of her mother.
There is something about an unbroken line that makes me want to rip it apart. All horizontal and level and yet one hit of acid and I detect only ripples, bending, rigorous expansion that doesn’t speak the language of the linear.
The same drive to rip apart “an unbroken line” is what fuels most of the stories in this collection, where even the most mundane of human relationships are shown to be rife with inherent disarray. The same can be said for Tuite’s novel-in-stories Domestic Apparition (San Francisco Bay Press, 2011). Bound by Blue is also peopled by classic Tuite characters—characters that were stunted, occasionally made lean and resilient, by their darkness.
“The F Word,” a deftly told tale of how past traumas don’t ever disappear, is the story of the couple Bob and Audrey, who are both beset by their own respective demons. In what can be misconstrued as an attempt to impose order in an otherwise disorderly life, Bob obsessively measures the ingredients he puts in while cooking dishes for the bulimic Audrey. The titular story, “Bound by Blue,” revolves around the exploits of the irreparably broken Edward, who was sexually abused by his mother, while “The Healer” takes on a tormented character’s search for a Brazilian healer, who was featured in a magazine she happened upon at the dentist’s office. The latter story, a hope-filled redemption quest, finished off the collection—a most telling gesture at the end of a succession of stories that unflinchingly tackled alienation, bitterness, and despair.
January 9, 2014
Bound by Blue by Meg Tuite sparkles darkly with dense, poetic prose also resembling a hidden knife or gag in the deepest shade of indigo. At the heart of Tuite’s work is memory—specifically, often, the memory of sexual trauma. From externally successful medical student Audrey in ‘The F Word,’ whose revisited sexual past spurs a destructive eating disorder that nearly debilitates her current romantic relationship, to the sweet seven year old Marliss in ‘The Tooth Fairy,’ writing with a child’s literacy to the Tooth Fairy in the nearly impossible hope of being saved from her brother’s molesting friend, Tuite deftly runs the gamut of characters emerging from the camp of life’s walking wounded. Often, I found, while reading this collection, that I had to pause and absorb, spend a moment away after reading one particular story or another. Tuite’s work is that dark, trenchant, and powerful. The binding garotte here is that of forced silences, of invisible shames, of acts of violence done by one individual to another, the cumulative maimed butterfly effect of these agents—and be forewarned, with the aid of Tuite’s deft skill, the monsters are out of the closets, lingering with lambs, in this explosive collection where even the darkest of her characters is acerbically revealed as human, multi-faceted, and just flawed enough to be somewhat sympathetic in a horrifying and double-edged way that only increases the reader’s understanding of their abuse’s terrifying resonance for their victims.
July 20, 2016
Bound by Blue is a collection of brave, unflinching tales about dynamic characters whose realities have been twisted and injured by others whose realities have, no doubt, been twisted and injured by those before them. The philosophy that drives the book offers a thorough examination of neurosis. The characters in this book, all bound by something, must push to find the everyday freedoms that many take for granted. Despite the seemingly impossible obstacles these characters face, each story is also intensely beautiful because it sheds light, not only on the fragile human psyche, but on the spirit of survival necessary for many to continue on each day.
Nothing about these stories is predictable, nor do they tread lightly. Instead, the sharp prose shines a bright light on the hidden corners of life, and this will consume you. These stories stick to your ribs and fill your mind with the possibilities that exist, despite the pasts that seemingly shape us. With true reflection and a reminder that all we do to others matters, we can move forward. This is the freedom possible for those who are bound by blue.
Nothing about these stories is predictable, nor do they tread lightly. Instead, the sharp prose shines a bright light on the hidden corners of life, and this will consume you. These stories stick to your ribs and fill your mind with the possibilities that exist, despite the pasts that seemingly shape us. With true reflection and a reminder that all we do to others matters, we can move forward. This is the freedom possible for those who are bound by blue.
January 4, 2014
Life is in Technicolor - not black and white, or sepia-tone - and that’s what electrifies Meg Tuite’s BOUND BY BLUE. She focuses her palette on dark deeds and yet, with adroit poetic prose - vivid, strong and bold, she engenders solicitude for the sufferer. Tuite is not afraid to showcase life’s gritty, abusive scenarios. Deceit. Suspense. Regrettable choices. They grab your attention, often to the point of gasping. Her metaphors are so unique that you would deprive yourself of one of life’s greatest pleasures by not reading this visceral collection of short stories.
January 2, 2014
Be warned. The thirteen stories in Meg Tuite's "Bound by Blue" will leave you stunned. These are tales of the haunted and the bloodied survivors. People you meet every day without really knowing what goes on in their lives. It will be their voices that will draw you in. A powerful symphony of intelligent, lost, desperate, sometimes funny voices as clear as if Tuite had held a microphone to their lips. "Bound by Blue" is a strong collection you won't want to miss.
January 2, 2014
Meg Tuite writes these stories like secret storms. You won't notice until after how wrecked the lawn of your brain has become, as these stories sneak up and roll over you in the best way. Tuite's characters are the bravest frightened animals, caught out in a bright light--their beautiful, terrible choices exposed and devastating.
February 20, 2014
These stories made me relive old memories and in a good way, made my heart hurt. I won this book from the Goodreads giveaway and I am so happy I did- will def be re-reading in the future. And although the stories were in no way happy I found a bit of hope in some... or maybe that's just me.
January 2, 2014
In these stories of devastation and broken souls, Meg Tuite's artistry arises out of her poetic fierceness; her explosive visionary powers; her ability to photograph and reveal humanity's darkness, our most shameful secrets with hallucinatory clarity. An astonishing collection. A compelling read.
August 9, 2016
A startling, brave, and intense group of stories that pulse so frequently and effectively back to the same theme: self-destruction.
March 7, 2014
Bound by Blue
I know it’s been said before, but it took courage to write this book and it takes courage to read it. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s rough, tough and in your face, unflinching yet poignant and compassionate, but certainly not without humor and redemption. Meg Tuite’s stories are inhabited by wanderers, wonderers and seekers, lost and broken souls, parents and children estranged and searching for connection, people looking for meaning and characters dancing on the fringes of society and the edges of reality.
Each story, from the opening “The F Word” through the keystone in the arch, “Bound By Blue”, that leaves you stunned and reeling, to the final (and my favorite) piece “The Healer” bristles with fulminating energy that simmers just beneath the surface before exploding in your face. These stories are written in prose that is rendered with the sensibilities of a visual artist and the soul of a poet.
The 13 stories in this brilliant collection are dark, tough, beautifully written and skillfully wrought by an author who can look right through you and immediately tell if you are bullshitting or not.
Meg Tuite’s writing is raw boned and edgy and her voice is all her own and totally original and unique. Bound By Blue is unlike anything you’ve ever read. It’s a beautifully designed book, published by Sententia Books, and the cover art alone, a reproduction of a painting by Goro Endow, would be reason enough for me to buy it. You should buy Bound By Blue, read it, talk about it and try, just try, to write something as unique and powerful as this. Go ahead. I dare ya!
I know it’s been said before, but it took courage to write this book and it takes courage to read it. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s rough, tough and in your face, unflinching yet poignant and compassionate, but certainly not without humor and redemption. Meg Tuite’s stories are inhabited by wanderers, wonderers and seekers, lost and broken souls, parents and children estranged and searching for connection, people looking for meaning and characters dancing on the fringes of society and the edges of reality.
Each story, from the opening “The F Word” through the keystone in the arch, “Bound By Blue”, that leaves you stunned and reeling, to the final (and my favorite) piece “The Healer” bristles with fulminating energy that simmers just beneath the surface before exploding in your face. These stories are written in prose that is rendered with the sensibilities of a visual artist and the soul of a poet.
The 13 stories in this brilliant collection are dark, tough, beautifully written and skillfully wrought by an author who can look right through you and immediately tell if you are bullshitting or not.
Meg Tuite’s writing is raw boned and edgy and her voice is all her own and totally original and unique. Bound By Blue is unlike anything you’ve ever read. It’s a beautifully designed book, published by Sententia Books, and the cover art alone, a reproduction of a painting by Goro Endow, would be reason enough for me to buy it. You should buy Bound By Blue, read it, talk about it and try, just try, to write something as unique and powerful as this. Go ahead. I dare ya!
February 16, 2016
Most of the characters in Tuite's stories seem to be caught in the midst of a storm. The source of the storm - abuse, rape, incest, self-hatred, or just plain old bad relationships - reveal themselves in the stories like a dirty blanket being unfolded to reveal something dead & innocent on the inside. Of course, not all these characters are innocent. A few of them are pieces of shit. But, eliciting the sympathy we feel for the universal nature of human pain will keep you glued to the page.
November 2, 2014
I received this book as a goodreads giveaway. The characters in this book are all bound by extreme trauma, despair, or tragedy. The book is exceedingly dark, but Tuite finds surprising humanity within the seedy underbelly of shame and despair. Every story hooked me and moved me. All the characters felt real, even relatable. An excellent work.
November 9, 2015
Intense and vivid, these stories feel like finding a hole in your wall leading into the neighbors and you happen to peek right at the most critical moment of their lives, rather than catching them watching TV like would more likely be the case if you really found such a hole. Some seriously nice writing with a dramatically noticeable pull, I devoured this book eagerly. Very good stuff.
February 10, 2014
The unthinkable, the unspeakable (in the very best sense). Hidden layers of the familiar. Hungry, sharp yet tender, poetic language. A brilliant book, highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews