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Shut Me Up in Prose: Stories
“Perhaps there’ll be a time when we can speak without them cutting our tongues.”
An ode to the indomitable feminine spirit, this collection of stories artfully exhibits the unspoken struggles of women. A lampmaker faces dim truths as she ages. An ex-mermaid weaves her forgotten tale into the fabric of an underwater circus. A wife is pushed over the edge when she’s sent to a rehabilitation center at the bottom of a dirt pit.
By blending the fantastical with the familiar, Vu celebrates the extraordinary in the ordinary. To her, invisibility is a canvas for creativity, a playground for whimsy, and a stage for the surreal.
With twelve peculiar pieces, Shut Me Up in Prose illuminates how, in the shadows of society, women stand ever resilient in the face of those who wish to silence them.
An ode to the indomitable feminine spirit, this collection of stories artfully exhibits the unspoken struggles of women. A lampmaker faces dim truths as she ages. An ex-mermaid weaves her forgotten tale into the fabric of an underwater circus. A wife is pushed over the edge when she’s sent to a rehabilitation center at the bottom of a dirt pit.
By blending the fantastical with the familiar, Vu celebrates the extraordinary in the ordinary. To her, invisibility is a canvas for creativity, a playground for whimsy, and a stage for the surreal.
With twelve peculiar pieces, Shut Me Up in Prose illuminates how, in the shadows of society, women stand ever resilient in the face of those who wish to silence them.
313 pages, Paperback
Published July 20, 2025
1 person is currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Maithy Vu
5 books13 followersWeaving elements of whimsy into dark subjects, Maithy Vu’s work teeters on the edge of surrealism. Though full of childlike wonder, her prose contains a cacophony of emotions undoubtedly aimed at adult readers.
Vu started out writing poetry and plays while earning her B.A. in Theater Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her play, Wounded Wisteria, was selected to be a production of the UCSC Chautauqua Festival. After graduating, she published it as a novella, combining fiction in verse with her own watercolor illustrations.
Vu went on to earn her M.L.A. in Creative Writing & Literature at Harvard University. During that time, she completed her novel Squid Season—a finalist in the Independent Author Awards for Literary Fiction. She also co-edited the children’s volume Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Inspiring Young Changemakers, which was selected as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things.
Her latest works include Poems for Princesses with Peas Under Their Mattresses and Shut Me Up in Prose: Stories.
She lives on a ridge with her husband and two dogs, Watson and Willoughby.
Vu started out writing poetry and plays while earning her B.A. in Theater Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her play, Wounded Wisteria, was selected to be a production of the UCSC Chautauqua Festival. After graduating, she published it as a novella, combining fiction in verse with her own watercolor illustrations.
Vu went on to earn her M.L.A. in Creative Writing & Literature at Harvard University. During that time, she completed her novel Squid Season—a finalist in the Independent Author Awards for Literary Fiction. She also co-edited the children’s volume Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Inspiring Young Changemakers, which was selected as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things.
Her latest works include Poems for Princesses with Peas Under Their Mattresses and Shut Me Up in Prose: Stories.
She lives on a ridge with her husband and two dogs, Watson and Willoughby.
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