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When Mystical Creatures Attack!
In When Mystical Creatures Attack!, Ms. Freedman’s high school English class writes essays in which mystical creatures resolve the greatest sociopolitical problems of our time. Students include Janice Gibbs, “a feral child with excessive eyeliner and an anti-authoritarian complex that would be interesting were it not so ill-informed,” and Cody Splunk, an aspiring writer working on a time machine. Following a nervous breakdown, Ms. Freedman corresponds with Janice and Cody from an insane asylum run on the capitalist model of cognitive-behavioral therapy, where inmates practice water aerobics to rebuild their Psychiatric Credit Scores.
The lives of Janice, Cody, and Ms. Freedman are revealed through in-class essays, letters, therapeutic journal exercises, an advice column, a reality show television transcript, a diary, and a Methodist women’s fundraising cookbook. (Recipes include “Dark Night of the Soul Food,” “Render Unto Caesar Salad,” and “Valley of the Shadow of Death by Chocolate Cake.”) In “Virtue of the Month,” the ghost of Ms. Freedman’s mother argues that suicide is not a choice. In “The Un-Game,” Janice’s chain-smoking nursing home charge composes a dirty limerick. In “The Hall of Old-Testament Miracles,” wax figures of Bible characters come to life, hungry for Cody’s flesh.
Set against a South Texas landscape where cicadas hum and the air smells of taco stands and jasmine flowers, these stories range from laugh-out-loud funny to achingly poignant. This surreal, exuberant collection mines the dark recesses of the soul while illuminating the human heart.
The lives of Janice, Cody, and Ms. Freedman are revealed through in-class essays, letters, therapeutic journal exercises, an advice column, a reality show television transcript, a diary, and a Methodist women’s fundraising cookbook. (Recipes include “Dark Night of the Soul Food,” “Render Unto Caesar Salad,” and “Valley of the Shadow of Death by Chocolate Cake.”) In “Virtue of the Month,” the ghost of Ms. Freedman’s mother argues that suicide is not a choice. In “The Un-Game,” Janice’s chain-smoking nursing home charge composes a dirty limerick. In “The Hall of Old-Testament Miracles,” wax figures of Bible characters come to life, hungry for Cody’s flesh.
Set against a South Texas landscape where cicadas hum and the air smells of taco stands and jasmine flowers, these stories range from laugh-out-loud funny to achingly poignant. This surreal, exuberant collection mines the dark recesses of the soul while illuminating the human heart.
167 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
8 people are currently reading
1052 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Founds
9 books46 followersI'm the author of the novel-in-stories WHEN MYSTICAL CREATURES ATTACK! and the graphic novel BIPOLAR BEAR & THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD HEALTH INSURANCE: A FABLE FOR GROWNUPS. Due to the themes of my work, if you are reading my bio, I figure there is a 20% chance that you are in a chasm of despair. If so, I made this website for you: https://www.depressionwhackamole.com/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
June 2, 2014
Sometimes you SHOULD judge a book by the cover. And just like the cover, this book is MAGICAL, DARING, and LIFE CHANGING. A mournful squid trying to pull a majestic unicorn down to the depths! I have never seen a more profound metaphor for the human struggle. (One difference between book and cover: the book has many dimensions unlike the uniquely flat illustrations on the cover.)
I received an advance copy of the book and was quite simply blown away. The book draws you in from page one with its quirky troubled characters and creative fast moving plot. It was the first novel to make me cry since I was a fourth grader reading Where the Red Fern Grows and it made me laugh harder than David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. The novel left me thinking long after I had finished reading it. The experimental structure of this novel is as daring as the innovations William Faulkner introduced. Except that reading Founds’ novel is actually enjoyable.
Admittedly, Kathleen Founds is my sister. But I DO NOT think that everything that she does is marvelous. For instance, she is pretty actively bad at cleaning a shared space (unless you count tricking a younger sister into doing all the cleaning by inventing stories of evil step mothers and adventurous gender-norm breaking princesses). While her cooking could be called “innovative”, it could also be said that she should save her innovations for literature. Cardamom- Cumin- Cilantro baked beans= Not Good. And athletic abilities? Lets just say it makes sense that she has excused herself from so many games of ultimate, banana tag and swingers ball to “finish her novel”.
I received an advance copy of the book and was quite simply blown away. The book draws you in from page one with its quirky troubled characters and creative fast moving plot. It was the first novel to make me cry since I was a fourth grader reading Where the Red Fern Grows and it made me laugh harder than David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. The novel left me thinking long after I had finished reading it. The experimental structure of this novel is as daring as the innovations William Faulkner introduced. Except that reading Founds’ novel is actually enjoyable.
Admittedly, Kathleen Founds is my sister. But I DO NOT think that everything that she does is marvelous. For instance, she is pretty actively bad at cleaning a shared space (unless you count tricking a younger sister into doing all the cleaning by inventing stories of evil step mothers and adventurous gender-norm breaking princesses). While her cooking could be called “innovative”, it could also be said that she should save her innovations for literature. Cardamom- Cumin- Cilantro baked beans= Not Good. And athletic abilities? Lets just say it makes sense that she has excused herself from so many games of ultimate, banana tag and swingers ball to “finish her novel”.
January 10, 2015
Although there's merit to be found in the accent-on-creative writing in this book, I found it to be one hot mess. It's holding a high rating average here on GR, however, maybe for its daring, genre-busting, subversive humor. But one man's daring genre-buster is another man's singular hot mess.
It's book-ended with classroom teacher scenes where the kids are more un- than ruly. Truly. And I sympathize with the teacher, one Laura Freedman. And I find some of her students funny. And maybe I should've slept on it and given it 3 stars.
But the book runs helter skelter from e-mail to play to narrative to fable to Bible Story to journals to letters to funny to stupid to profound to pointless.
It bounces around, character to character, and the voices all get jumbled in my head, and it tries to be at turns silly and at turns heart-breaking, and As This World Turned, I had trouble much caring about anything or anyone in it. No character traction, so to speak, so instead, I was just scratching my head and, more often than not, forcing myself onward. Until I reached the promised land. Being page 163 in the paper take-it-back. Amen.
Maybe I should have been warned by the imprint: University of Iowa Press, home of the ingrown MFAs. Or the blurbs: teachers praising their former student/protege. Or maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just too stodgy of an old New Englander to much appreciate avantes and gardes when they mystically attack me so nicely.
All I know is that Ms. Founds has a world of talent. I just don't think this book has corralled it so well.
Mystical Creatures Run Wild, Run Free, then! I hope you all find good homes!
It's book-ended with classroom teacher scenes where the kids are more un- than ruly. Truly. And I sympathize with the teacher, one Laura Freedman. And I find some of her students funny. And maybe I should've slept on it and given it 3 stars.
But the book runs helter skelter from e-mail to play to narrative to fable to Bible Story to journals to letters to funny to stupid to profound to pointless.
It bounces around, character to character, and the voices all get jumbled in my head, and it tries to be at turns silly and at turns heart-breaking, and As This World Turned, I had trouble much caring about anything or anyone in it. No character traction, so to speak, so instead, I was just scratching my head and, more often than not, forcing myself onward. Until I reached the promised land. Being page 163 in the paper take-it-back. Amen.
Maybe I should have been warned by the imprint: University of Iowa Press, home of the ingrown MFAs. Or the blurbs: teachers praising their former student/protege. Or maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just too stodgy of an old New Englander to much appreciate avantes and gardes when they mystically attack me so nicely.
All I know is that Ms. Founds has a world of talent. I just don't think this book has corralled it so well.
Mystical Creatures Run Wild, Run Free, then! I hope you all find good homes!
June 14, 2014
I received this early from Netgalley, and I couldn't be more delighted. So fresh and revealing. Emotion this raw is rarely found in new fiction. My heart ached with love for these characters. Best book I've read so far this year. A true gift.
June 18, 2014
Why the full star rating? Because it smacks of youth and all the clever, witty things the teens write echo what my own teenager children say and think. Very funny. Here is one excerpt that made me laugh childishly. "You wouldn't have had to bring in all your childhood books from your family's basement, and you wouldn't have been so upset when someone drew boobs and a penis on Black Beauty. I know you think it was me, because of those notes I wrote you, but it wasn't."
Ms. Freedman's class writes essays and we, the readers, develop an intimacy with the characters through their writings. The stories really are a lot of fun. I imagine a good time was had by the author writing this, because as I chuckled throughout I can see the author giving life to these characters, living with them, making them flesh. It is true that the reader will feel close to the characters and I honestly felt a bit 'teen-aged' myself again with the reading.
It is uniquely stylish, fun, moving, full of meaning and I am certainly handing it over to my teens to read too. Sometimes authors can't capture teens right, as if they've forgotten all the vulnerabilities and the instinctual gift they have for cutting right to the chase. Often in literature teens come off as cookie cutter characters without any intelligence, but not so here.
Read it, you won't be sorry. So much fun!
Ms. Freedman's class writes essays and we, the readers, develop an intimacy with the characters through their writings. The stories really are a lot of fun. I imagine a good time was had by the author writing this, because as I chuckled throughout I can see the author giving life to these characters, living with them, making them flesh. It is true that the reader will feel close to the characters and I honestly felt a bit 'teen-aged' myself again with the reading.
It is uniquely stylish, fun, moving, full of meaning and I am certainly handing it over to my teens to read too. Sometimes authors can't capture teens right, as if they've forgotten all the vulnerabilities and the instinctual gift they have for cutting right to the chase. Often in literature teens come off as cookie cutter characters without any intelligence, but not so here.
Read it, you won't be sorry. So much fun!
October 9, 2014
This book was not at all what I expected. If you judge from the title and cover, you'd expect a funny, perhaps even silly, fantasy book, possibly geared toward younger readers. Instead, it's a collection of interrelated short stories, most of which aren't in the form of stories per se, that tell about the lives of three characters, one a teacher who has a mental breakdown and the other two her former students. Some of the stories are screamingly funny (the title story, for instance, is comprised of the journal entries of the students responding to a prompt asking them to write about how their favorite mystical creature would solve one of the world's problems; the entries are all over the map and most of them are quite funny and written in an accurate high school voice, though a couple of them make sharp turns into poignance), some of hem are poignant and touching, and all of them fit together brilliantly to make these characters real and people you care about (especially the teacher). I'm not ordinarily a fan of short stories, but these are wonderful.
June 1, 2014
I was able to obtain an advance copy of this book, and it is amazing. This novel is broken up in over a dozen short stories, so it is a very fast read. The style from story to story is very dynamic, so you never know what to expect from the next one. The tone of the work shifts between hilarious to thoughtful to downright heartbreaking; several of the funnier chapters had surprise endings that would leave me a little choked up. Although the book is fiction and not science-fiction/fantasy, the world the author explores does have its fair share of ghosts and monsters... Though I guess you could say the real ghosts and demons people fight are inside themselves.
It is obvious that this novel was a labor of love; the author has truly poured her heart and her creative wit into every page. I look forward to reading more from this author, and I truly cannot recommend this book enough.
BONUS! - The first chapter (and title for the book) is actually a great idea for school teachers looking for a creative writing lesson.
It is obvious that this novel was a labor of love; the author has truly poured her heart and her creative wit into every page. I look forward to reading more from this author, and I truly cannot recommend this book enough.
BONUS! - The first chapter (and title for the book) is actually a great idea for school teachers looking for a creative writing lesson.
January 2, 2015
Winner of the 2014 University of Iowa Press John Simmons Short Fiction Prize, this "novel-in-stories" reads like a creative writing exercise that should have been completed, critiqued, and filed rather than being published. The characters, while not without interest, lack verisimilitude -- it would be difficult to discern who is speaking if one were to be given a sample of dialogue without a character's name attached. The plot seems cobbled together from stories that, while tangentially related, lack sufficient coherence to drive reader interest. There are egregious errors in setting that break the mood -- the last time I was in Plano, Texas, there were no grapefruits or pomegranates growing there, and unless global warming has tamed the winters north of Dallas, there will be none growing there today. Given the quality of the writing, I am surprised at the favorable critical attention this work has received. In this case, I'm afraid the University of Iowa Press has had better marketing skills than critical literary judgment. One may perhaps gain some insight into the book's problems from this interview with the author: http://electricliterature.com/intervi....
November 8, 2015
This book contains both hilarious entries for a Methodist women’s fundraising cookbook and "The Hall of Old-Testament Miracles” where wax figures of Bible characters come to life as zombies only to be beaten back by the ever vigilant wax figure Founding Fathers. Not to mention it has a lot of talk about jam and jam factories. Basically, it is the tale of me heart.
Incredible and joyous and heartbreaking and real while still ridiculous - the perfect sort of book. I will recommend it to everyone. Those who do not like it, I will know have no soul, and I will deduct all their wellness points. It took me forever to read this book because I enjoyed it so much I knew I wanted to draw it out as long as possible. Jokes on me, I had it so long I managed to spill something on the library copy, so now I own it and can read it forever.
My favorite line: "I want to be a nurse about as much as I want to be a brontosaurus." It's like Founds is quoting my 22 year old self while my mom was trying to talk me into pursing a steady, reliable profession.
Incredible and joyous and heartbreaking and real while still ridiculous - the perfect sort of book. I will recommend it to everyone. Those who do not like it, I will know have no soul, and I will deduct all their wellness points. It took me forever to read this book because I enjoyed it so much I knew I wanted to draw it out as long as possible. Jokes on me, I had it so long I managed to spill something on the library copy, so now I own it and can read it forever.
My favorite line: "I want to be a nurse about as much as I want to be a brontosaurus." It's like Founds is quoting my 22 year old self while my mom was trying to talk me into pursing a steady, reliable profession.
December 28, 2015
I received WHEN MYSTICAL CREATURES ATTACK! as an ARC through netgalley.com.
Another tidbit, in the spirit of full disclosure: This review is basically going to be made up of several chunks of the contents of an email I sent to Kathleen Founds after I finished the book. (Also: She's really super nice, and if she writes more books, I will buy every single one of them.)
Okay. So! When I requested When Mystical Creatures Attack! from netgalley.com it was a case of judging a book by its cover, which, not gonna lie, I do a lot. But, seriously, anybody who can look at a book cover with a cartoon giant squid with its tentacles wrapped around a cartoon unicorn and not desperately want to find out what it's about is no friend of mine. Anyway, my interest grew when I read the information about it and found it was a novel-in-stories, with epistolary leanings. I'm a really big fan of that sort of format, and it's something I've wanted to do myself for some time, so I love seeing examples of it, especially ones that I think work.
One of the things I like about novels-in-stories is how easy it is to find a place to stop. ...Well. NOT THIS ONE. I started WMCA! before bed and didn't stop until the end. And at the end, I kept holding my Kindle and looking at the glowing screen for a while. I wasn't sure how I felt, other than 'a little overwhelmed.' I had a million thoughts, and it was really hard to put them into a sensible order. Here's another 'not gonna lie' moment: I happened to have therapy the next afternoon, and it was still so much on my mind, that it's what I spent almost my whole hour talking about. (When Kathleen Founds wrote back to me, she said she wished she could put that last sentence on the back of the book as a blurb. I'd totally blurb for her.)
Clearly, I liked this book, and it wasn't only because of the format. I liked it because I felt like I knew the characters--I felt that I was (am, or have been) a lot of those people. I liked that there were parts that made me sad, and there were parts that made me angry, and there were parts where I felt less alone, and there were parts that made me laugh. Certain stories felt so real, while others felt absolutely surreal. It felt wild and unpredictable, like life, but also sometimes what happened was exactly what I expected, also like life. One of the main characters--probably the one that I would call THE main character, if I were forced to say--is bipolar, and the whole book seems to represent the highs and lows that come with that particular disorder. It sort of felt more like experiencing a book than reading one.
Mental illness in fiction is a thing that can feel really off to people who live with it, partially because even if an author researches or writes from experience, it may not match yours. This one worked for me, but if you choose to give this book a try (and you should) keep the possibility in mind that you might not feel the same. Also, trigger warning: it does deal closely with suicide. So. Read this book if you can, but take care of yourself. And remember, as Jenny Lawson reminds her Twitter and blog followers frequently, Depression Lies.
Another tidbit, in the spirit of full disclosure: This review is basically going to be made up of several chunks of the contents of an email I sent to Kathleen Founds after I finished the book. (Also: She's really super nice, and if she writes more books, I will buy every single one of them.)
Okay. So! When I requested When Mystical Creatures Attack! from netgalley.com it was a case of judging a book by its cover, which, not gonna lie, I do a lot. But, seriously, anybody who can look at a book cover with a cartoon giant squid with its tentacles wrapped around a cartoon unicorn and not desperately want to find out what it's about is no friend of mine. Anyway, my interest grew when I read the information about it and found it was a novel-in-stories, with epistolary leanings. I'm a really big fan of that sort of format, and it's something I've wanted to do myself for some time, so I love seeing examples of it, especially ones that I think work.
One of the things I like about novels-in-stories is how easy it is to find a place to stop. ...Well. NOT THIS ONE. I started WMCA! before bed and didn't stop until the end. And at the end, I kept holding my Kindle and looking at the glowing screen for a while. I wasn't sure how I felt, other than 'a little overwhelmed.' I had a million thoughts, and it was really hard to put them into a sensible order. Here's another 'not gonna lie' moment: I happened to have therapy the next afternoon, and it was still so much on my mind, that it's what I spent almost my whole hour talking about. (When Kathleen Founds wrote back to me, she said she wished she could put that last sentence on the back of the book as a blurb. I'd totally blurb for her.)
Clearly, I liked this book, and it wasn't only because of the format. I liked it because I felt like I knew the characters--I felt that I was (am, or have been) a lot of those people. I liked that there were parts that made me sad, and there were parts that made me angry, and there were parts where I felt less alone, and there were parts that made me laugh. Certain stories felt so real, while others felt absolutely surreal. It felt wild and unpredictable, like life, but also sometimes what happened was exactly what I expected, also like life. One of the main characters--probably the one that I would call THE main character, if I were forced to say--is bipolar, and the whole book seems to represent the highs and lows that come with that particular disorder. It sort of felt more like experiencing a book than reading one.
Mental illness in fiction is a thing that can feel really off to people who live with it, partially because even if an author researches or writes from experience, it may not match yours. This one worked for me, but if you choose to give this book a try (and you should) keep the possibility in mind that you might not feel the same. Also, trigger warning: it does deal closely with suicide. So. Read this book if you can, but take care of yourself. And remember, as Jenny Lawson reminds her Twitter and blog followers frequently, Depression Lies.
August 7, 2014
Full review at http://thebookshelfgargoyle.wordpress... (Sept 12)
I received a digital copy of this title from the publisher via Netgalley.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Within these pages is a micro-level social history, depicting three individuals trying to eke out a satisfying existence in an uncaring universe…as well as a treatise on how mystical creatures could be harnessed to solve the problems of our time.
This was both an utterly discomfiting and unutterably satisfying reading experience. I have never seen a narrative format quite like this one. The style and the format will definitely not be to everyone’s tastes, but if you are looking for a read that is out of the ordinary and as deeply thought-provoking as it is silly, then I thoroughly recommend giving this one a try.
The book opens with a selection of essays from Laura Freedman’s English class, in which she asked them to write a story in which their favourite mystical creature solves the greatest sociopolitical problem of our time. While reading essays titled, “How the Giant Squid Made Me Stop Being Pregnant” and “How the Cephalopod Balanced the National Budget”, I kind of got the feeling that this was going to be a funny book. As the second chapter segues into sections of the welcome manual for the Bridges Psychiatric Wellness Solutions residential facility, and the third leads on to email correspondence between Janice and Laura, with Janice trying to find out why her teacher suddenly left school, it becomes apparent that this story is not all it appears on the surface.
As a fan of books featuring themes about mental health and illness, I have to say that this was authentic in its portrayal of the far-reaching effects of mental illness and also beautifully captured the twinned senses of hope and despair that so often accompany those suffering from mental illness in various forms.
When Mystical Creatures Attack! is a beautiful piece of work that is daring in its stylistic audacity and ultimately both poignant and rewarding. Give it a go if you’re an open-minded reader who doesn’t mind leaping into the literary as-yet unencountered.
Highly recommended
I received a digital copy of this title from the publisher via Netgalley.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Within these pages is a micro-level social history, depicting three individuals trying to eke out a satisfying existence in an uncaring universe…as well as a treatise on how mystical creatures could be harnessed to solve the problems of our time.
This was both an utterly discomfiting and unutterably satisfying reading experience. I have never seen a narrative format quite like this one. The style and the format will definitely not be to everyone’s tastes, but if you are looking for a read that is out of the ordinary and as deeply thought-provoking as it is silly, then I thoroughly recommend giving this one a try.
The book opens with a selection of essays from Laura Freedman’s English class, in which she asked them to write a story in which their favourite mystical creature solves the greatest sociopolitical problem of our time. While reading essays titled, “How the Giant Squid Made Me Stop Being Pregnant” and “How the Cephalopod Balanced the National Budget”, I kind of got the feeling that this was going to be a funny book. As the second chapter segues into sections of the welcome manual for the Bridges Psychiatric Wellness Solutions residential facility, and the third leads on to email correspondence between Janice and Laura, with Janice trying to find out why her teacher suddenly left school, it becomes apparent that this story is not all it appears on the surface.
As a fan of books featuring themes about mental health and illness, I have to say that this was authentic in its portrayal of the far-reaching effects of mental illness and also beautifully captured the twinned senses of hope and despair that so often accompany those suffering from mental illness in various forms.
When Mystical Creatures Attack! is a beautiful piece of work that is daring in its stylistic audacity and ultimately both poignant and rewarding. Give it a go if you’re an open-minded reader who doesn’t mind leaping into the literary as-yet unencountered.
Highly recommended
October 15, 2014
www.readingbifrost.com
First off I have to say that this book wasn’t at all what I first expected. I expected a witty commentary about how a school teacher in the midst of a midlife crisis is handling school systems, parents, and disrespectful students. What I got instead was a book full of life lessons learned through experience and through the eyes of others.
The three main characters are Laurel Freedman- the teacher- and two of her students, Janice and Cody. Laurel’s mother had mental problems of her own, and her father wasn’t exactly “Father of the Year” material, but she was a young teacher determined she would change the world through her students. BUT, she suffers from a mental disorder (bipolar?) which eventually leads her to a mental breakdown- which is really where the novel begins (our story here isn’t linear).
Janice was abandoned by her mother as a child, and left to live with her aunt when her father remarries. Her character is a hurting teenage girl with a problem “acting out” for attention.
Cody is the dreamer/geek of the group. His short stories are my favorite featured in the novel and will most likely get the most laughs.
There are times when the point of view switches to second person, which really just confuses the story and made me want to skim over those parts. The rest of the story is first person from one character to another through letters, e-mails, cookbook recipes, and short stories- which really worked. I don’t know why there were sudden switches to second person that just blew off the flow of the story.
Overall, I would recommend When Mystical Creatures Attack to anyone who enjoys novels with mixed media (email, letters, etc…) and that’s hits serious topics but still a bit on the silly side.
“Plenty of teachers have thrown a terrarium out a window and shouted, ‘You’re driving me crazy!’ But you’re the first who actually followed through.”
First off I have to say that this book wasn’t at all what I first expected. I expected a witty commentary about how a school teacher in the midst of a midlife crisis is handling school systems, parents, and disrespectful students. What I got instead was a book full of life lessons learned through experience and through the eyes of others.
The three main characters are Laurel Freedman- the teacher- and two of her students, Janice and Cody. Laurel’s mother had mental problems of her own, and her father wasn’t exactly “Father of the Year” material, but she was a young teacher determined she would change the world through her students. BUT, she suffers from a mental disorder (bipolar?) which eventually leads her to a mental breakdown- which is really where the novel begins (our story here isn’t linear).
Janice was abandoned by her mother as a child, and left to live with her aunt when her father remarries. Her character is a hurting teenage girl with a problem “acting out” for attention.
Cody is the dreamer/geek of the group. His short stories are my favorite featured in the novel and will most likely get the most laughs.
There are times when the point of view switches to second person, which really just confuses the story and made me want to skim over those parts. The rest of the story is first person from one character to another through letters, e-mails, cookbook recipes, and short stories- which really worked. I don’t know why there were sudden switches to second person that just blew off the flow of the story.
Overall, I would recommend When Mystical Creatures Attack to anyone who enjoys novels with mixed media (email, letters, etc…) and that’s hits serious topics but still a bit on the silly side.
October 31, 2014
This review refers to the NetGalley edition.
This is the kind of book that I would hand to a friend and say, "You should read this." They would ask "What's it about?" and as I tried to think of a way to explain it, I would give up, shrug, and say "Just read it."
I read it over the course of just a couple hours, sucked in from page 1 at the sheer originality and bizareness of it. The first section is a collection of writing responses that a group of high school English students wrote as an assignment for the class taught by one of the three main protagonists, in which she asked them to write a story in which their "favorite mystical creature solves the greatest sociopolitical problem of our time." My favorite: "How The Succubus Got Me Laid."
I love this author's sense of humor and I've never read a book written quite in this way before. I'm putting her on my Top 10 List of People I Would Like To Have At A Dinner Party. If you enjoy Augusten Burroughs, I think you will adore this book, as Founds' creation of a mental institution that runs on capitalist principles for patients who declare themselves "mentally bankrupt" upon checking in is reminiscent of Running With Scissors and at the same time the underlying issues of parental abandonment, suicide, abortion, drug abuse, etc., are presented and dealt with in a very real, poignant, and emotional way - which reminded me of Dry. The author managed to create three separate, distinct, and authentic voices for Janice, Laura, and Cody while still maintaining a coherent narrative that presents itself to the reader in various forms.
But I digress. *shrug*
Just read it.
This is the kind of book that I would hand to a friend and say, "You should read this." They would ask "What's it about?" and as I tried to think of a way to explain it, I would give up, shrug, and say "Just read it."
I read it over the course of just a couple hours, sucked in from page 1 at the sheer originality and bizareness of it. The first section is a collection of writing responses that a group of high school English students wrote as an assignment for the class taught by one of the three main protagonists, in which she asked them to write a story in which their "favorite mystical creature solves the greatest sociopolitical problem of our time." My favorite: "How The Succubus Got Me Laid."
I love this author's sense of humor and I've never read a book written quite in this way before. I'm putting her on my Top 10 List of People I Would Like To Have At A Dinner Party. If you enjoy Augusten Burroughs, I think you will adore this book, as Founds' creation of a mental institution that runs on capitalist principles for patients who declare themselves "mentally bankrupt" upon checking in is reminiscent of Running With Scissors and at the same time the underlying issues of parental abandonment, suicide, abortion, drug abuse, etc., are presented and dealt with in a very real, poignant, and emotional way - which reminded me of Dry. The author managed to create three separate, distinct, and authentic voices for Janice, Laura, and Cody while still maintaining a coherent narrative that presents itself to the reader in various forms.
But I digress. *shrug*
Just read it.
October 20, 2014
I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley. When Mystical Creatures Attack is released today, October 1, 2014, and I strongly recommend going out and getting a copy.
The novel follows a high school teacher suffering a nervous breakdown and two of her most interesting students through essays, emails, therapeutic journaling attempts, and even recipes from a church cookbook.
I have found one of my new favorite authors and books. This is the kind of writing I hope to be able to accomplish one day, and it has left me in such a state of bittersweet shock and awe that my writing has gone on strike. Founds is my newfound inspiration. Founds injects wit and humor into even the darkest concepts, carrying you over poetic descriptions of bad parenting, teen pregnancy, and a highly ludicrous "New Age" asylum. I was laughing and crying by the first page and didn't stop the entire way through.
The characters and situations are all wrapped in an identifiable, all-too-real cloak but the writing is the "mystical" part. Founds takes the ordinary day-to-day life and suffering of ordinary people and makes it...well, extraordinary. Clearly, there are no words for how perfect this book is. Just go read it.
The novel follows a high school teacher suffering a nervous breakdown and two of her most interesting students through essays, emails, therapeutic journaling attempts, and even recipes from a church cookbook.
I have found one of my new favorite authors and books. This is the kind of writing I hope to be able to accomplish one day, and it has left me in such a state of bittersweet shock and awe that my writing has gone on strike. Founds is my newfound inspiration. Founds injects wit and humor into even the darkest concepts, carrying you over poetic descriptions of bad parenting, teen pregnancy, and a highly ludicrous "New Age" asylum. I was laughing and crying by the first page and didn't stop the entire way through.
The characters and situations are all wrapped in an identifiable, all-too-real cloak but the writing is the "mystical" part. Founds takes the ordinary day-to-day life and suffering of ordinary people and makes it...well, extraordinary. Clearly, there are no words for how perfect this book is. Just go read it.
February 21, 2015
"These hilarious, heartbreaking stories build a new architecture between the novel and the postmodern parable, revising our notions of what the short story is and might be. ~ Wells Tower"
I love the novel-in-stories format of this book? collection? perfect piece of art? Whatever you want to call it, it is brilliant in its execution. The perfect recipe of real and surreal, high and low, grace and cruelty used to show, not tell, what its like to experience a life with mental illness. Add vivid, memorable characters struggling against their destined fates. Top it off with some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful prose I have read in a long time and you have a taste of what it is like to read WMCA.
I laughed. I cried. I read it again. And then I ordered copies for my friends. It is that good, y'all.
* Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion
October 9, 2014
This is a really unique story. It's told through English class assignments (hence the title), snippets from Psych Ward handouts, emails, letters, journal entries--you get the idea. It took me two tries to get into this book. The first time I had no framework for who or what I was reading about. The second time, it was easier to pick out the teacher (Laura Freedman) and a few students who become major characters. The teacher is basically institutionalized and several of her students are floundering. This is really a sad story...a story I was emotionally unprepared for. Founds sketches out these people and then, it seemed to me, throws them into such sadness and despair. Of course, in the end, some things turn out pretty well, but some...turned out very sadly indeed. An excellent read, especially if you appreciate the unconventional.
October 8, 2014
Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
This book starts off with two questions and the responses to those questions set the tone of the book: Random. Unique. Magical. Mystical. Silly. Insightful. This story is told through emails, essays, journal entries, creative writing shorts and even recipes and while the method is random and eclectic, and at times a little confusing, it gives you a well rounded, in depth look into the lives of three people brought together because of a high school english class.
While there are laugh out loud, some what inappropriate, moments peppered throughout the book, there are also poignant ones that had me contemplating how one moment in time can affect a persons life in the long haul.
While the way this book is set up isn’t the norm, it is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.
This book starts off with two questions and the responses to those questions set the tone of the book: Random. Unique. Magical. Mystical. Silly. Insightful. This story is told through emails, essays, journal entries, creative writing shorts and even recipes and while the method is random and eclectic, and at times a little confusing, it gives you a well rounded, in depth look into the lives of three people brought together because of a high school english class.
While there are laugh out loud, some what inappropriate, moments peppered throughout the book, there are also poignant ones that had me contemplating how one moment in time can affect a persons life in the long haul.
While the way this book is set up isn’t the norm, it is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.
February 5, 2015
I was faked out by the cartoonist creature on the cover. I thought When Mystical Creatures Attack was a tween novel. What it is is a often funny, always deadly serious romp through mental illness, social injustice, throw-away lives, yearning for God and some of the deepest, oldest questions. Originally written as a series of short pieces, the whole book holds together well. The writing is very "writerly" and very talented. You will learn that a lot can be revealed through a high school English assignment or a church's collection of recipes. A young adult might be interested in this novel but I would only give it to someone with a very strong hold on life because the case for despair is very convincingly presented. The final page expresses hope but getting there is a uphill battle.
July 10, 2014
I don't give many full star ratings, but in this case I didn't hesitate. The book was adorable and a little bit magical.
Founds has an ability to tap into the full human experience - I laughed and I cried and I wanted more. She does this while the book operates via a non-conventional narrative structure.
The reader feels impossibly close to the characters - and Founds, for a brief time, made me feel like I was a high school student again (it was a nice trip to nostalgia, but I am glad it is over)
Founds has an ability to tap into the full human experience - I laughed and I cried and I wanted more. She does this while the book operates via a non-conventional narrative structure.
The reader feels impossibly close to the characters - and Founds, for a brief time, made me feel like I was a high school student again (it was a nice trip to nostalgia, but I am glad it is over)
October 27, 2014
areally clever use of the short story form, or short shorts even, to novelize the dissolution of public school teacher, who tries really really hard to be: a good teacher, friend, lover, family. but sometimes even if you try really really hard, and you are smart and talented and passionate, things don;t work out. especially when mystical creatures attack.
winner of the john simmons short fiction award
winner of the john simmons short fiction award
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2014
I was lucky to get a copy of this through NetGalley, and am kicking myself for leaving it unread for so long. This kind of reminded me of Where'd You Go, Bernadette? with a David Foster Wallace + Dostoevsky vibe. Truly amazing.
The Methodist Fundraising Cookbook chapter was hilarious, heartbreaking and just brilliant. Serve with cornbread.
Seriously, this is in the top 3 of books I've read this year; I'm glad to be ending 2014 with such a great one.
The Methodist Fundraising Cookbook chapter was hilarious, heartbreaking and just brilliant. Serve with cornbread.
Seriously, this is in the top 3 of books I've read this year; I'm glad to be ending 2014 with such a great one.
September 13, 2014
What a delightfully silly book. It wanders all over the place, but never strays far from the story of a madwoman who taught her students how to be crazy too. The tale is told via pages of essays & communications, snippets of recipes, and bits of paperwork from the insane asylum. It is a mishmash of delight that I finished in one sitting.
March 10, 2015
This book is simply brilliant. It carves out a new formal space that allows it to work simultaneously as a collection and something more than a novel-in-stories (you could make an argument that it's a straight up novel, and I'd nod thoughtfully as say: "I can see that"). Humane, inventive, fearless, hilarious. There isn't a page of this that I didn't adore.
September 13, 2014
This is an incredible achievement – students’ short imaginative essays, diaries, narration – all part of an imaginative whole full of laughter and tears, and ripe for book club and classroom discussion – a remarkable and rich accomplishment!
December 19, 2014
Startlingly well written. Fresh and poignant, yet old as Eve. Feels like poetry, in which every word is well chosen, every image required. Quite dark and despondent, yet never cheap or pitying. A small investment of time yields reams on our "...lives of quiet [and not so quiet] desperation".
September 6, 2022
I especially liked the chapter with the passive aggressive recipe collection.
July 8, 2015
Disappointing. While many people think that the layout of this book is clever: telling a story through several different forms (emails, journals, student essays, etc.), I found it to simply be a way to distract the reader from the fact that Founds barely had a story to tell and didn't have original characters. The different forms were a distraction. They ended up becoming more of a nuisance than a genuinely clever way to tell a story. And this book barely had a story. Teacher driven crazy by her tough urban teenage students and gets sent to the nut house. But wait, there are other things in her life that added to her insanity. But then she finds a husband, and everything seems great until she suffers from postpartum depression and kills herself (gasp!) just like her mother did when she was four (or did she? the end leaves it slightly ambiguous...ohhhh...thought-provoking). But what about her students? They have to be interesting, one of a kind characters, right? Wrong. Janice, the main student this book follows is a Hispanic teenager whose mother left when she was young to live with her father. Her father marries another woman that Janice, shockingly, does not get along with. Janice is intelligent and finds literature as an outlet though, so she'll be fine. But oh no! She gets ousted from the school literary magazine once Ms. Freedman goes to the looney bin. With no positive outlet, Janice lashes out at her father by informing him that she is dating Danny Ramirez, a notorious bad egg. She isn't actually dating him, until it seems like her father doesn't care. But she's different right? She's a more complex character, right? Nope. She gets knocked up by Danny and goes on to live a difficult life. Stock Hispanic teenage female character. That's the thing. If you don't have much of a story, then it should become a character piece. However, the characters were generic. Yes, through the different forms of writing and varying perspectives, the reader gets to see some of their complexities, but really what makes these character "complex" is what makes them even more cliche. Maybe without as much surface-level viewings of the characters via the emails, short stories, etc. we could truly delve into more complex characters that divert from the cliche, but Founds never really gives us that opportunity.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2014
"When Mystical Creatures Attack!" by Kathleen Founds is a quirky book that defies simple descriptions.
It's a book about a disgruntled young high school teacher in a tiny Texan town, who gets driven insane by her ungrateful students and ends up in a bizarre mental hospital. It's a book about a girl who takes the teacher's English class. It's a book about a dorky boy who has a crush on the girl.
It's a book pieced together from emails, diary entries, monologues and hilarious recipes from a Baptist cookbook.
It's a book about life and death, destiny and suicide, love and apathy, teenage pregnancies and abortions. (Trigger warning.)
It's a book where the ending can be easily guessed, and yet it's unexpected and poetic and beautiful.
It's a book that's frequently hilarious, occasionally touching, and amazingly well written throughout.
It's a book that deserves a 5-star rating and more.
(Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
It's a book about a disgruntled young high school teacher in a tiny Texan town, who gets driven insane by her ungrateful students and ends up in a bizarre mental hospital. It's a book about a girl who takes the teacher's English class. It's a book about a dorky boy who has a crush on the girl.
It's a book pieced together from emails, diary entries, monologues and hilarious recipes from a Baptist cookbook.
It's a book about life and death, destiny and suicide, love and apathy, teenage pregnancies and abortions. (Trigger warning.)
It's a book where the ending can be easily guessed, and yet it's unexpected and poetic and beautiful.
It's a book that's frequently hilarious, occasionally touching, and amazingly well written throughout.
It's a book that deserves a 5-star rating and more.
(Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
January 28, 2015
I'm not much of a book reviewer, but I saw this on the list of best books of 2014 from the New York Times and their synopsis had me hooked. This is a complete novel, though told from the perspective of various characters in different parts of their lives. A chapter of high school students' short stories, one on correspondence between the main characters, and one on recipes pushes the narrative forward.
Kathleen Founds has an interesting and unique way of delivering a story through the use of first, second, and third person perspectives. The story moves along somewhat cryptically, though if you pay attention, you can follow the course laid out through the book's pages.
This was a refreshing take on storytelling, and an interesting view into mental illness, teenage life affirmation, and a fight against fate. I gave it five stars on Good Reads, but really 4.5 would be more apt, I can't call this a perfect book deserving of an A+, but it is brilliant in its delivery, and clever in its use of literary devices.
Kathleen Founds has an interesting and unique way of delivering a story through the use of first, second, and third person perspectives. The story moves along somewhat cryptically, though if you pay attention, you can follow the course laid out through the book's pages.
This was a refreshing take on storytelling, and an interesting view into mental illness, teenage life affirmation, and a fight against fate. I gave it five stars on Good Reads, but really 4.5 would be more apt, I can't call this a perfect book deserving of an A+, but it is brilliant in its delivery, and clever in its use of literary devices.
December 20, 2014
Obviously, I had trouble categorizing this book.
It was possibly not a great choice to read during the holiday season when several people I know are struggling with their own psychiatric problems.
The cover caught my attention at the library, and well, the title cinched it. I had to read it.
There are mystical creatures in this book, but not a lot and they're not the primary focus.
The story revolves around a young woman, with a family history of mental illness, and her teaching, her students, her first child.
It goes from essay to essay, recounting different aspects of these things.
It's got great lines - such as you're not the first teacher to throw a terrarium out the window and yell that we're making you crazy, but you're the first to follow through. Quoting from memory here, so I may not have it quite right.
If you're willing to take psychosis with a bit of humor (because honestly, being mad is kind of funny at times - not most of the time, but yeah, there are those moments) then you'll probably um...like? enjoy? not be sorry you read the book?
It was possibly not a great choice to read during the holiday season when several people I know are struggling with their own psychiatric problems.
The cover caught my attention at the library, and well, the title cinched it. I had to read it.
There are mystical creatures in this book, but not a lot and they're not the primary focus.
The story revolves around a young woman, with a family history of mental illness, and her teaching, her students, her first child.
It goes from essay to essay, recounting different aspects of these things.
It's got great lines - such as you're not the first teacher to throw a terrarium out the window and yell that we're making you crazy, but you're the first to follow through. Quoting from memory here, so I may not have it quite right.
If you're willing to take psychosis with a bit of humor (because honestly, being mad is kind of funny at times - not most of the time, but yeah, there are those moments) then you'll probably um...like? enjoy? not be sorry you read the book?
November 5, 2015
The first time I read Kathleen Founds was when she submitted a story called "The Un-Game" to Booth, the magazine where I work. The visiting judge didn't pick her story, but it was a favorite among the readers and has since become a cult classic with the staff. For good reason, too: that story is funny and heartbreaking, and the voices of the teacher and the students in the story crackle with personality.
I waited a long time for this book. I'm happy—so happy—to say that the rest of this book is just as strong as "The Un-Game," and, taken all together, the whole is greater than the sum of its kickass parts. It might be marketed as a story collection, but it reads like a novel, following Laura and Janice on their trips through the outer darkness. Whatever you call the book, though, it's a triumph. The characters in this book are funny and dark and deeply human, haunted by babies and mothers, wanting to give up, holding out for grace. I love this book. Two thousand stars.
I waited a long time for this book. I'm happy—so happy—to say that the rest of this book is just as strong as "The Un-Game," and, taken all together, the whole is greater than the sum of its kickass parts. It might be marketed as a story collection, but it reads like a novel, following Laura and Janice on their trips through the outer darkness. Whatever you call the book, though, it's a triumph. The characters in this book are funny and dark and deeply human, haunted by babies and mothers, wanting to give up, holding out for grace. I love this book. Two thousand stars.
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