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Moon Snake
My mother always said, "Nothing as sad as a moth that thinks it's found the moon in a candle flame." And that is who I am, or who I am meant to have been. I whisper under my breath, "Moon in a candle flame, moon in a candle flame." And it's true. It's sad but also beautiful.
- GenresBizarro FictionFantasy
134 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 9, 2017
Comprised of two unrelated but thematically similar novellas, Moon Snake is a Richard Brautigan-esque stroll through lyrical dreamscapes. The worlds presented here aren’t firm, and could be almost inaccessible as a reader were it not driven by Kirsten Alene’s hypnotic and musical prose. I’d even go so far as to say these two novellas are more like epic poems than actual, plot-driven stories. The delivery is deft. The imagery is vivid, yet at the same time, soft and haunting. This is a book that exists in that twilight place between consciousness and sleep.
May 25, 2017
Moon Snake consists of two novellas that are part literary landscape and part magical fairytale, Kirsten Alene has an unique style that transmits a strange surreal innocence. Her worlds are her own with talking mastiffs, pear blossoms, avocado houses, dream ships, and many other strange things and entities . It's hard to compare her to anyone else but I kept envisioning the mystical worlds of Tanith Lee combined with the deceptive simplicity of Banana Yoshimoto. What brings Alene to the forefront is the fairy tale abstractness and characters that strive and develop in the forever changing imagery of a world foreign to anything we may know..
The title story starts with a red bridge being built to completion to a place that is feared. The place is Moon Snake and what the entry into Moon Snake will mean to the denizens of the author's fantastical world appears to be the question. The narrator and her friends, including Pecan Black, Lion James, and the shaman make up the bulk of the characters but the real joy of reading it is in the poetic but stark style of the author. I am not sure if there is a theme here and I find that to be a distraction. But it is easy to get caught up with the author's turns of phrases and the relentless imagination that went into the telling of this story.
As much as "Moon Snake" both entertained and confused me, the second story fared better in my mind. "Cathedral Bone" seems to have a more direct connection with our own emotions. Again, we have an unnamed female narrator. She works as a volunteer for a cathedral and has talking mastiffs, lots of them, as companions who follow her around. There are also two men who are connected to her but she feels a bit wary about them. The mastiffs are dwindling and become scarcer. One mastiff bites one of the men and the dog is caged and starts to shrink. Again we have a story that seems elusive in meaning yet rich in imagery. But I sense a more emotional connection here. It appears to be a story of family and loss of family, the need and fear of intimacy and also what occurs when trust is lost. So many paths, so many possible connections.
Of course I may be wrong and this is both the strength and weakness of such a surreal style. The imagery is beautiful on its own. This book can be read for that alone. But Alene's writing goes beyond that , she is getting at something past the innocence of style and she makes you work for it. It so happens to be the type of labor I can love. Others may find it to be too challenging to seek meaning. To those readers, I simply say let yourself wander like the dream ship in the book and simply let the language wash over you. If you pick something up, great, Nurture it. If you don't, you will still sense the beauty of an imaginary world if nothing else.
The title story starts with a red bridge being built to completion to a place that is feared. The place is Moon Snake and what the entry into Moon Snake will mean to the denizens of the author's fantastical world appears to be the question. The narrator and her friends, including Pecan Black, Lion James, and the shaman make up the bulk of the characters but the real joy of reading it is in the poetic but stark style of the author. I am not sure if there is a theme here and I find that to be a distraction. But it is easy to get caught up with the author's turns of phrases and the relentless imagination that went into the telling of this story.
As much as "Moon Snake" both entertained and confused me, the second story fared better in my mind. "Cathedral Bone" seems to have a more direct connection with our own emotions. Again, we have an unnamed female narrator. She works as a volunteer for a cathedral and has talking mastiffs, lots of them, as companions who follow her around. There are also two men who are connected to her but she feels a bit wary about them. The mastiffs are dwindling and become scarcer. One mastiff bites one of the men and the dog is caged and starts to shrink. Again we have a story that seems elusive in meaning yet rich in imagery. But I sense a more emotional connection here. It appears to be a story of family and loss of family, the need and fear of intimacy and also what occurs when trust is lost. So many paths, so many possible connections.
Of course I may be wrong and this is both the strength and weakness of such a surreal style. The imagery is beautiful on its own. This book can be read for that alone. But Alene's writing goes beyond that , she is getting at something past the innocence of style and she makes you work for it. It so happens to be the type of labor I can love. Others may find it to be too challenging to seek meaning. To those readers, I simply say let yourself wander like the dream ship in the book and simply let the language wash over you. If you pick something up, great, Nurture it. If you don't, you will still sense the beauty of an imaginary world if nothing else.
June 23, 2018
Fables Built Out of the Bones of Dreams...
Alene's writing here is so stark and stripped of pretense that it could almost be mistaken for something easy to write. I think, to the contrary, writing like this is extremely hard to pull off. What we have here is sort of Calvino shaved of his excesses and rerouted through Brautigan. A delight to read. And a departure from her earlier novels.
Alene's writing here is so stark and stripped of pretense that it could almost be mistaken for something easy to write. I think, to the contrary, writing like this is extremely hard to pull off. What we have here is sort of Calvino shaved of his excesses and rerouted through Brautigan. A delight to read. And a departure from her earlier novels.
May 14, 2017
A Double Feature Fairytale Fantastique with a Secret Human Center
Moon Snake is the kind of story that spirits you away to an island of lost dreams, with fantastical collisions between the real and the incredible. While the characters come across as innocent, single dimensional fairytale constructs on introduction, they slowly reveal their true depth as the story progresses through avocado tree houses and dream ships, and the ultimate menace of the foreboding Red Bridge. The story is very well written with a minimalist style and near-poetic prose. Themes of loss, hope, growth, and prejudice underlie some of the most creative, if not bizarre scenes. The lion James and Brutal Fruit the thief truly pull at the heartstrings, despite their disagreeable natures and transgressions.
The second story, Cathedral Bone, reads equally as strange and beautiful as the first. Cathedral Bone, similar to Moon Snake, is told in first person, putting the reader into the story immediately. It is a comfortable transition, and though the material feels more focused on the internal human condition versus the social, it is likewise delivered with a beautiful simplicity that makes an incredibly easy and fun read. Yet it also speaks to a side we all harbor deep down: growing up. As the numbers of Mastiffs dwindle and the giant catfish disappear, you can feel the world grow smaller as the fantasy shrinks to reality and self. From a sea of Mastiffs to a pocket-sized one, the solemnity balanced with the crazy delivers a fun, if not dark, adventure with Cathedral Bone.
Kirsten Alene’s writing possesses a certain quality that makes her stories stand out. Voice. There is a sense of brutal innocence to the writing style of Moon Snake that opens you up to the hidden gems of life Ms. Alene has buried in her two worlds. Once you start reading, you feel transported into a place where anything can happen. And here in Moon Snake? It does!
I highly recommend reading this book with a good coffee porter and a small bowl of halved pecans. An outstanding five stars for “sho.”
Moon Snake is the kind of story that spirits you away to an island of lost dreams, with fantastical collisions between the real and the incredible. While the characters come across as innocent, single dimensional fairytale constructs on introduction, they slowly reveal their true depth as the story progresses through avocado tree houses and dream ships, and the ultimate menace of the foreboding Red Bridge. The story is very well written with a minimalist style and near-poetic prose. Themes of loss, hope, growth, and prejudice underlie some of the most creative, if not bizarre scenes. The lion James and Brutal Fruit the thief truly pull at the heartstrings, despite their disagreeable natures and transgressions.
The second story, Cathedral Bone, reads equally as strange and beautiful as the first. Cathedral Bone, similar to Moon Snake, is told in first person, putting the reader into the story immediately. It is a comfortable transition, and though the material feels more focused on the internal human condition versus the social, it is likewise delivered with a beautiful simplicity that makes an incredibly easy and fun read. Yet it also speaks to a side we all harbor deep down: growing up. As the numbers of Mastiffs dwindle and the giant catfish disappear, you can feel the world grow smaller as the fantasy shrinks to reality and self. From a sea of Mastiffs to a pocket-sized one, the solemnity balanced with the crazy delivers a fun, if not dark, adventure with Cathedral Bone.
Kirsten Alene’s writing possesses a certain quality that makes her stories stand out. Voice. There is a sense of brutal innocence to the writing style of Moon Snake that opens you up to the hidden gems of life Ms. Alene has buried in her two worlds. Once you start reading, you feel transported into a place where anything can happen. And here in Moon Snake? It does!
I highly recommend reading this book with a good coffee porter and a small bowl of halved pecans. An outstanding five stars for “sho.”
July 13, 2017
Another review coming to Hellnotes/Horror World/The Horror Tree. I'll copy an excerpt here after it goes live but don't wait for that. This bizarro/horror/fairy tale mashup novella collection defies categorization and requires your attention. Kirsten Alene is a brilliant author who pens some of the most gorgeous prose I've ever seen, poetic, haunting, and rife with emotion.
June 15, 2017
Full Review
Moon Snake's novelettes are sad and full of surreal yet beautiful imagery conveyed in poetic minimalist prose. Despite the dream-like narratives, both stories deal with the crumbling of relationships in ways that many would find they could easily empathize with.
Moon Snake's novelettes are sad and full of surreal yet beautiful imagery conveyed in poetic minimalist prose. Despite the dream-like narratives, both stories deal with the crumbling of relationships in ways that many would find they could easily empathize with.
November 2, 2017
I'm no avid horror/bizarro reader but loved this book. You easy can lose yourself in the beautiful writing though are then shocked by the twists and turns of the two novellas in this book. It seemed to me a mix of literary fiction/fairy tale/magic realism but really it's just good storytelling. I already need to reread this! Recommended for anyone who wants a deep, but not long, read to start thinking about the world in a different way and lose themselves in great writing. Loved reading this outdoors under a leafy tree (you could also do well to eat pecans while reading this).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews