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Anabasis
http://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/anabasi...
Original Fiction, Short Story
On International Women’s Day, several of the best writers in SF/F today reveal new stories inspired by the phrase “Nevertheless, she persisted”, raising their voice in response to a phrase originally meant to silence.
The stories publish on Tor.com all throughout the day of March 8th.
Original Fiction, Short Story
On International Women’s Day, several of the best writers in SF/F today reveal new stories inspired by the phrase “Nevertheless, she persisted”, raising their voice in response to a phrase originally meant to silence.
The stories publish on Tor.com all throughout the day of March 8th.
5 pages, ebook
First published March 8, 2017
287 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
January 25, 2018
My mouth is a coin, and I spend it.
more excellent work by tor! this is a linked-theme story project where eleven authors took the now-immortalized sentences regarding elizabeth warren’s senate-floor bouncing: She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted and each structured a story around them. the stories themselves are really short, so i’m not going to write a proper review around them, but you should definitely check them out, and i’ve even left a load of links at the bottom to make it really easy for you. BOOM!
read more about the project here:
http://www.tor.com/2017/03/06/neverth...
links:
Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full of Light! by Kameron Hurley
God Product by Alyssa Wong
Alchemy by Carrie Vaughn
Persephone by Seanan McGuire
Margot and Rosalind by Charlie Jane Anders
Astronaut by Maria Dahvana Headley
More than Nothing by Nisi Shawl
The Last of the Minotaur Wives by Brooke Bolander
The Jump Rope Rhyme by Jo Walton
Anabasis by Amal El-Mohtar
The Ordinary Woman and the Unquiet Emperor by Catherynne M. Valente
March 25, 2017
My real mouth is full of sharp teeth and a sharper tongue, three languages coiled like snakes in my throat, scaly and silent. My real mouth is an armoury of words forged in the furnace of my chest, hot as a spitted sun. My real mouth is a storm, and my voice is thunder.
To pass among you I wear a different mouth: full lips unparted, always smiling. I paint it pretty colours. It speaks only when spoken to, softly. To pass among you, it tells you stories:
I am sweetness. I am sunshine. I am here to hold your hand through the horror of my name.
My mouth is a coin, and I spend it.
More a feeling than a story, but wonderfully written and expressed.
To pass among you I wear a different mouth: full lips unparted, always smiling. I paint it pretty colours. It speaks only when spoken to, softly. To pass among you, it tells you stories:
I am sweetness. I am sunshine. I am here to hold your hand through the horror of my name.
My mouth is a coin, and I spend it.
More a feeling than a story, but wonderfully written and expressed.
September 30, 2020
5★
“The border’s eye looks at me and we wrestle, as his eye tries to change me into Arab or Muslim, and I struggle to remain Canadian.”
Anabasis: a military advance into the interior of a country [from ancient Greek].
Freezing weather, miserable conditions, but this mother keeps encouraging her young child to continue putting one foot in front of the other, trudging through the snow to the Canadian border.
“Her child said, ‘Mama, I want to die in the snow.’”
She tells us she’s a shape-shifter and that most of us are. We adapt. We modify our behaviour as necessary. She is smart, quick-witted and angry, but she understands what is necessary to cross the border. To appear and sound as Canadian as her passport in spite of her name.
“My mouth does most of the work. My mouth is soft and yielding; my mouth is what books call generous. My mouth does not get angry. My mouth spills its English out as tribute. . .”
She refers to an ancient story of crossing into the underworld, an old Sumerian tale about Inanna, with which I was unfamiliar. But I did know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, where he descends to Hades to bring her back. And now I see there are many such tales, of course.
This border crossing feels just as threatening to her.
Stunning, poetic.
My thanks to Sheila from the Goodreads Constant Reader Group for the links to these stories. Her review is here: Sheila’s review
NOTES:
This very short piece was written as one of the 2017 International Women’s Day stories inspired by “Nevertheless, she persisted”
https://www.tor.com/series/neverthele...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverth...
The news article about which this story is imagined concerns refugees who have been sent to Minnesota (northern US), but who have been told by their local community they will have a better chance at fair treatment in Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...
Sumerian tale of Inanna and the underworld:
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths...
Eurydice and other similar tales are mentioned in the last paragraph of the main article here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurydice
“The border’s eye looks at me and we wrestle, as his eye tries to change me into Arab or Muslim, and I struggle to remain Canadian.”
Anabasis: a military advance into the interior of a country [from ancient Greek].
Freezing weather, miserable conditions, but this mother keeps encouraging her young child to continue putting one foot in front of the other, trudging through the snow to the Canadian border.
“Her child said, ‘Mama, I want to die in the snow.’”
She tells us she’s a shape-shifter and that most of us are. We adapt. We modify our behaviour as necessary. She is smart, quick-witted and angry, but she understands what is necessary to cross the border. To appear and sound as Canadian as her passport in spite of her name.
“My mouth does most of the work. My mouth is soft and yielding; my mouth is what books call generous. My mouth does not get angry. My mouth spills its English out as tribute. . .”
She refers to an ancient story of crossing into the underworld, an old Sumerian tale about Inanna, with which I was unfamiliar. But I did know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, where he descends to Hades to bring her back. And now I see there are many such tales, of course.
This border crossing feels just as threatening to her.
Stunning, poetic.
My thanks to Sheila from the Goodreads Constant Reader Group for the links to these stories. Her review is here: Sheila’s review
NOTES:
This very short piece was written as one of the 2017 International Women’s Day stories inspired by “Nevertheless, she persisted”
https://www.tor.com/series/neverthele...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverth...
The news article about which this story is imagined concerns refugees who have been sent to Minnesota (northern US), but who have been told by their local community they will have a better chance at fair treatment in Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...
Sumerian tale of Inanna and the underworld:
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths...
Eurydice and other similar tales are mentioned in the last paragraph of the main article here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurydice
April 16, 2017
This was a beautifully written character sketch of what it means to be two people: one, your true self that you keep hidden inside for fear that others will see it. And the other, the self you keep on the outside for others to see. It is a beautiful commentary on the strength of human nature, and the growing problems that my country and others are having with immigration, differences, and intolerance. The judgment, the willingness to persecute based on skin color or a name, or facial features, dress, culture--it is all described here in beautiful prose. It isn't really a story. It doesn't have a fluid plot, but it is very heavy on emotions and human conditions and experiences.
The problem I had with the story was that though the prose started out lovely, it quickly turned to purple for me. It was lyrical, but it's almost as if the words were too pretty, too overflowing, and too poetic that they took away from the story. And because this one kind of suffered from a lack of plot, I saw this overwhelming purple prose for exactly what it was: beautiful words covering up the lack of story. And so three stars it is.
This is the eleventh and final story I've read in the "Nevertheless, she persisted" series for International Women's Day on tor.com.
The problem I had with the story was that though the prose started out lovely, it quickly turned to purple for me. It was lyrical, but it's almost as if the words were too pretty, too overflowing, and too poetic that they took away from the story. And because this one kind of suffered from a lack of plot, I saw this overwhelming purple prose for exactly what it was: beautiful words covering up the lack of story. And so three stars it is.
This is the eleventh and final story I've read in the "Nevertheless, she persisted" series for International Women's Day on tor.com.
August 31, 2020
Short, sharp, and like a pointy stick, it desires to find enemies.
That being said, I LOVE the shape-changer motif and love how it tells us how absurd it is to pigeonhole ANYONE.
This might be a short story for a women's collection, but I will take it for myself.
Read here or
https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/anabas...
That being said, I LOVE the shape-changer motif and love how it tells us how absurd it is to pigeonhole ANYONE.
This might be a short story for a women's collection, but I will take it for myself.
Read here or
https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/anabas...
August 31, 2020
Back in 2017, for International Women's Day, a series of short stories were published on tor.com under the theme Nevertheless, She Persisted. I read a number of them and liked most of them quite a bit (it was also a good way for me to encounter unknown authors) but somehow, this one escaped me. Since I've read and loved another short story and novel by this author in the meantime, I thought I'd read this too.
It's about a shapeshifter. Well, of a sort. It is hard to say what this story is about without giving too much away. So let's compromise and say it's about a mother and her child and the author looking at them. It's about the shapes we, people, take and the shape the things we have created can take too.
As usual with this author, the writing style is remarkable and beautiful. The words are flowing and it's almost like a siren song, lulling you in before breaking your heart. Simply gorgeous.
You can read the story for free here: https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/anabas...
P.S.: Very nice nod to Xenophon in the title!
It's about a shapeshifter. Well, of a sort. It is hard to say what this story is about without giving too much away. So let's compromise and say it's about a mother and her child and the author looking at them. It's about the shapes we, people, take and the shape the things we have created can take too.
As usual with this author, the writing style is remarkable and beautiful. The words are flowing and it's almost like a siren song, lulling you in before breaking your heart. Simply gorgeous.
You can read the story for free here: https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/anabas...
P.S.: Very nice nod to Xenophon in the title!
April 1, 2021
I have composed 1200 reviews in a decade but find that I must approach “Anabasis” differently. I will record what I had gotten out of this story, then enumerate what it took to understand its contexts in order to write anything at all; along with rereading it anew today. This is one reason my grade is 3 stars. Grasping a small piece of writing should not take on-the-spot education in Greek terminology, reading a news item local to me, nor consulting other people’s reviews to sift out an American political quote but I did take all of these steps.
I am smart, well-read, and although neither a news-watcher nor newspaper-reader; I deem a basic awareness of world events and culture important. We draw from general references all of the time but when it comes to stories, I seek no analogies. I invest in story contents taken by themselves. Amal Al-Mohtar’s protagonist is clearly a born Canadian like she is, or a passport-owning resident. I could not tell where she is going, or why her child was upset. I understood the lines about deconstructing people based on our appearance, our shape-shifting tendency to preserve our truths cautiously, and the dual meaning of words. Along with the vague diatribe, even though I appreciated that it was about female strength: the eloquence entailed harsh rather than beautiful words; my other reason for giving 3 stars.
I learned that the new feminist mantra, “Nevertheless, She Persisted” derives from American senator Elizabeth Warren. “Anabasis” to Greeks, meant migrating to the interior of a country. I certainly know that we Manitobans helped an influx of Syrian refugees who had been declined in the United States. I was unfamiliar with the quote from a cold toddler who felt like the trek was killing him and I live two hours from the border! It cannot be assumed that everyone hovers over every piece of news. Third world countries have better internet than rural Manitoba. I do little more than e-mail using “dial-up” speed.
Knowing that Amal was moved by the Syrian toddler, a reread was clearer but vague nonetheless. Even had she identified our Manitoba-Minnesota border, it would give little more for most people to grasp; 4 years from this pilgrimage of February 2017. I love that this is a tribute, blended with her biracial experience. Amal speaks as herself, wishing she could have made the weather and politics easier for the travellers on that day.
https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/anabas...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...
I am smart, well-read, and although neither a news-watcher nor newspaper-reader; I deem a basic awareness of world events and culture important. We draw from general references all of the time but when it comes to stories, I seek no analogies. I invest in story contents taken by themselves. Amal Al-Mohtar’s protagonist is clearly a born Canadian like she is, or a passport-owning resident. I could not tell where she is going, or why her child was upset. I understood the lines about deconstructing people based on our appearance, our shape-shifting tendency to preserve our truths cautiously, and the dual meaning of words. Along with the vague diatribe, even though I appreciated that it was about female strength: the eloquence entailed harsh rather than beautiful words; my other reason for giving 3 stars.
I learned that the new feminist mantra, “Nevertheless, She Persisted” derives from American senator Elizabeth Warren. “Anabasis” to Greeks, meant migrating to the interior of a country. I certainly know that we Manitobans helped an influx of Syrian refugees who had been declined in the United States. I was unfamiliar with the quote from a cold toddler who felt like the trek was killing him and I live two hours from the border! It cannot be assumed that everyone hovers over every piece of news. Third world countries have better internet than rural Manitoba. I do little more than e-mail using “dial-up” speed.
Knowing that Amal was moved by the Syrian toddler, a reread was clearer but vague nonetheless. Even had she identified our Manitoba-Minnesota border, it would give little more for most people to grasp; 4 years from this pilgrimage of February 2017. I love that this is a tribute, blended with her biracial experience. Amal speaks as herself, wishing she could have made the weather and politics easier for the travellers on that day.
https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/anabas...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...
March 25, 2017
Short short short.. and yet so poignant. Poetic. Evocative.
I have given this short piece 5 Stars and 4 Stars, flipping back and forth between the choices, unable to decide. It might take time for this choice to settle. But I really like this piece.
I am a shape-shifter. Most people are. We change our shapes day on day, replace cells, grow muscles and fat, shed hair, grow it back lighter, darker. Some of us do it faster, is all—some of us have specialties.
How true.
I don't know where this narrative is going, but I'm there with it. Looking for more. Wanting more. Now I need to track down more of El-Mohtar's work.
I have given this short piece 5 Stars and 4 Stars, flipping back and forth between the choices, unable to decide. It might take time for this choice to settle. But I really like this piece.
I am a shape-shifter. Most people are. We change our shapes day on day, replace cells, grow muscles and fat, shed hair, grow it back lighter, darker. Some of us do it faster, is all—some of us have specialties.
How true.
I don't know where this narrative is going, but I'm there with it. Looking for more. Wanting more. Now I need to track down more of El-Mohtar's work.
October 18, 2020
I was saving this one for the last because I loved Time War. As it so happens I read it while struggling with death and deportation myself, and this struck home.
A little context.
A little context.
September 17, 2020
Wow. Powerful. Worth a read.
June 17, 2019
Anyone who knows anything about Western history should easily understand the reference to the title "Anabasis." It is a classic retreat story, of 10,000 Greek mercenary soldiers who need to march from Babylon back to the Mediterranean Sea, during the time of the Persian wars. It is a classic military text, it is an adventure story, it is the ultimate stranger in a stranger land. It served as an inspiration for Alexander the Great. It is, in short, awesome stuff.
So I was really hoping for awesome stuff when I picked a story with this title next, from the "Nevertheless She Persisted" writing prompt from Tor.com several years ago. And, early on in the story, I was presented with this prose:
My real mouth is full of sharp teeth and a sharper tongue, three languages coiled like snakes in my throat, scaly and silent. My real mouth is an armoury of words forged in the furnace of my chest, hot as a spitted sun. My real mouth is a storm, and my voice is thunder.
To pass among you I wear a different mouth: full lips unparted, always smiling. I paint it pretty colours. It speaks only when spoken to, softly. To pass among you, it tells you stories:
I am sweetness. I am sunshine. I am here to hold your hand through the horror of my name.
My mouth is a coin, and I spend it.
Gobsmacked. Stranger in a strange land indeed, a Muslim in security line to cross an international border. Beautifully told story.
So I was really hoping for awesome stuff when I picked a story with this title next, from the "Nevertheless She Persisted" writing prompt from Tor.com several years ago. And, early on in the story, I was presented with this prose:
My real mouth is full of sharp teeth and a sharper tongue, three languages coiled like snakes in my throat, scaly and silent. My real mouth is an armoury of words forged in the furnace of my chest, hot as a spitted sun. My real mouth is a storm, and my voice is thunder.
To pass among you I wear a different mouth: full lips unparted, always smiling. I paint it pretty colours. It speaks only when spoken to, softly. To pass among you, it tells you stories:
I am sweetness. I am sunshine. I am here to hold your hand through the horror of my name.
My mouth is a coin, and I spend it.
Gobsmacked. Stranger in a strange land indeed, a Muslim in security line to cross an international border. Beautifully told story.
September 23, 2020
I read this as part of the collection Nevertheless, She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project .
This story can be found online.
First, I thought I had better check what "anabasis" meant - "Anabasis (from Greek ana = "upward", bainein = "to step or march") is an expedition from a coastline up into the interior of a country" according to Wikipedia.
Upon starting to read this I was completely entranced by an early section which I found rivetingly poetic -
"My real mouth is full of sharp teeth and a sharper tongue, three languages coiled like snakes in my throat, scaly and silent. My real mouth is an armoury of words forged in the furnace of my chest, hot as a spitted sun. My real mouth is a storm, and my voice is thunder.
To pass among you I wear a different mouth: full lips unparted, always smiling. I paint it pretty colours. It speaks only when spoken to, softly. To pass among you, it tells you stories: I am sweetness. I am sunshine. I am here to hold your hand through the horror of my name. My mouth is a coin, and I spend it. "
According to the publishers Tor.com, the story was inspired by a 2017 news story about the trecherous border crossing in the snow into Manitoba for refugees seeking Canada which reports that "A two-year-old member of a large group of refugees who walked into Manitoba from Minnesota ..told his mom he wanted to die instead of finish the walk". Heartbreaking.
El-Moktar's writing is stunning, she uses the Sumarian poem, Inanna's Descent into the Underworld to contrast with the mother's walk across the snow "Borders are shape-shifters,too: they change what goes through them. Time was, the only border worth crossing was into the underworld, to fetch back a lover's life" That writer is Canadian is extremely relevant to this piece - her passport, her struggle to remain Canadian in light of the border guard eyeing her as Arab, as Muslim. Her empathy with the predicament of those crossing
"If I could take each of my words and lay them in the snow at her feet. If I could.. eat this distance between us. If I could devour this border, if I could tell it to smile while I broke its teeth, if I could unsheathe the sword of my mouth and strike it down, if I could thread the needle of my mouth and stitch good shoes for her baby, if I could cut a path into this country with the sharpness of my tongue..." Unbelievably poignant.
I am very impressed by this piece, my mouth, my words fails to convey how much. 5 stars are not enough.
This story can be found online.
First, I thought I had better check what "anabasis" meant - "Anabasis (from Greek ana = "upward", bainein = "to step or march") is an expedition from a coastline up into the interior of a country" according to Wikipedia.
Upon starting to read this I was completely entranced by an early section which I found rivetingly poetic -
"My real mouth is full of sharp teeth and a sharper tongue, three languages coiled like snakes in my throat, scaly and silent. My real mouth is an armoury of words forged in the furnace of my chest, hot as a spitted sun. My real mouth is a storm, and my voice is thunder.
To pass among you I wear a different mouth: full lips unparted, always smiling. I paint it pretty colours. It speaks only when spoken to, softly. To pass among you, it tells you stories: I am sweetness. I am sunshine. I am here to hold your hand through the horror of my name. My mouth is a coin, and I spend it. "
According to the publishers Tor.com, the story was inspired by a 2017 news story about the trecherous border crossing in the snow into Manitoba for refugees seeking Canada which reports that "A two-year-old member of a large group of refugees who walked into Manitoba from Minnesota ..told his mom he wanted to die instead of finish the walk". Heartbreaking.
El-Moktar's writing is stunning, she uses the Sumarian poem, Inanna's Descent into the Underworld to contrast with the mother's walk across the snow "Borders are shape-shifters,too: they change what goes through them. Time was, the only border worth crossing was into the underworld, to fetch back a lover's life" That writer is Canadian is extremely relevant to this piece - her passport, her struggle to remain Canadian in light of the border guard eyeing her as Arab, as Muslim. Her empathy with the predicament of those crossing
"If I could take each of my words and lay them in the snow at her feet. If I could.. eat this distance between us. If I could devour this border, if I could tell it to smile while I broke its teeth, if I could unsheathe the sword of my mouth and strike it down, if I could thread the needle of my mouth and stitch good shoes for her baby, if I could cut a path into this country with the sharpness of my tongue..." Unbelievably poignant.
I am very impressed by this piece, my mouth, my words fails to convey how much. 5 stars are not enough.
February 14, 2022
loved it, and good to know that "Nevertheless, she persisted" cause i don't think even that mouth is much help and i don't even have that mouth to help her or me or thousands i see on the news every day. may a time come when we don't need the "Nevertheless" or anyone, he or she "persist"ing, and mouths can smile or devour, show pearls or sharp teeth and still pass borders and walk!
February 10, 2022
It is almost silly to note this the same as a book, it is VERY VERY short, not even 1K words. 3 pages, maybe..
Basically it feels like poetry, just in prose, about belonging and motherhood. No real plot, impressions of feelings and I thought was beautiful and very rereadable. (But I did read it as if were poetry, it feels like a poem).
Basically it feels like poetry, just in prose, about belonging and motherhood. No real plot, impressions of feelings and I thought was beautiful and very rereadable. (But I did read it as if were poetry, it feels like a poem).
February 22, 2018
An odd bit of nothing story.
March 21, 2017
I'm blazing through the Tor "Nevertheless She Persisted" short story event and this is my favorite so far. So powerful.
"My real mouth is full of sharp teeth and a sharper tongue, three languages coiled like snakes in my throat, scaly and silent. My real mouth is an armoury of words forged in the furnace of my chest, hot as a spitted sun. My real mouth is a storm, and my voice is thunder.
To pass among you I wear a different mouth: full lips unparted, always smiling. I paint it pretty colours. It speaks only when spoken to, softly. To pass among you, it tells you stories:
I am sweetness. I am sunshine. I am here to hold your hand through the horror of my name.
My mouth is a coin, and I spend it."
"My real mouth is full of sharp teeth and a sharper tongue, three languages coiled like snakes in my throat, scaly and silent. My real mouth is an armoury of words forged in the furnace of my chest, hot as a spitted sun. My real mouth is a storm, and my voice is thunder.
To pass among you I wear a different mouth: full lips unparted, always smiling. I paint it pretty colours. It speaks only when spoken to, softly. To pass among you, it tells you stories:
I am sweetness. I am sunshine. I am here to hold your hand through the horror of my name.
My mouth is a coin, and I spend it."
March 25, 2017
I read the title: Anabasis! I settle in, full of hope and excitement, for another take on Xenophon and his march. Then I realize: it's a free short story published online by Tor, and my history with these is ... not good. Furthermore, the story is in a "famous quotation about Elizabeth Warren"-themed group, and so, presumably, was quickly written under direction. I was warned. I had an explanation for why I ought to click something else. Nevertheless, I persisted.
I ought to have clicked something else. Some metaphor about shapeshifting mouths is, I guess, supposed to be the hook on which we call it science fiction. The story is not long enough to care about the situation our narrator finds herself in, but is long enough that I felt annoyed to have wasted a couple of minutes on it.
I ought to have clicked something else. Some metaphor about shapeshifting mouths is, I guess, supposed to be the hook on which we call it science fiction. The story is not long enough to care about the situation our narrator finds herself in, but is long enough that I felt annoyed to have wasted a couple of minutes on it.
April 1, 2018
https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/anabas...
This is a beautiful short piece that blends fiction and nonfiction. A segment in the life of, crossing the border between countries, and the thoughts that dwell within the narrator.
It reminds me of a long-lost piece I wrote about my own experience entering Japan as a college student. Amal El-Mohtar tells her tale better than I did, and with more teeth.
This is a beautiful short piece that blends fiction and nonfiction. A segment in the life of, crossing the border between countries, and the thoughts that dwell within the narrator.
It reminds me of a long-lost piece I wrote about my own experience entering Japan as a college student. Amal El-Mohtar tells her tale better than I did, and with more teeth.
March 29, 2017
I really liked this one and will try to read something else from its author.
April 2, 2020
Brilliant!
Tor.com commissioned a series of short stories inspired by the phrase "Nevertheless, she persisted."
This is the best one in the collection.
Tor.com commissioned a series of short stories inspired by the phrase "Nevertheless, she persisted."
This is the best one in the collection.
May 30, 2018
"If I could change the world as easily as my mouth…
With the whole of my furnace-heart, I would. But I can’t.
Nevertheless, she persisted."
Heart-wrenching! I love the array of metaphors disguised in mouths.
April 14, 2019
This narrative was poignant and lyrical. It did not have a plot but the images the narrative evoked were powerful. I loved this section, "I am a shape-shifter. Most people are. We change our shapes day on day, replace cells, grow muscles and fat, shed hair, grow it back lighter, darker. Some of us do it faster, is all—some of us have specialties."
January 3, 2018
The cold has a mouth. It eats fingers and toes, nibbles ears like a paperback lover.
oh, this was excellent. such a gorgeous writing style - this is the first piece i've read by this author and i'll definitely be looking out for more
oh, this was excellent. such a gorgeous writing style - this is the first piece i've read by this author and i'll definitely be looking out for more
January 20, 2018
This is quite a weird but very beautifully written story. I can't claim to have understood all the allusions but what I did get was very poetic
March 21, 2018
Truly striking for such a short bit of flash fiction. Takes my mind to parts of Handmaid's Tale.
April 15, 2019
Poetisch, vielschichtig und dennoch auf den Punkt.
January 3, 2020
Beautiful and sorrowful and full of words that need to be said.
September 2, 2020
A tiny little short story, beautifully written and available online for free, about a woman's struggle being Arab, Muslim, and Canadian.
December 22, 2020
Wow wow wow wow
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews