The Seventh Mansion

by Maryse Meijer

From the author of the story collections Heartbreaker and Rag comes a powerful and propulsive debut novel that examines activism, love, and purpose.

When fifteen-year-old Xie moves from California to a rural Southern town to live with his father he makes just two friends, Jo and Leni, both budding environmental and animal activists. One night, the three friends decide to free captive mink from a local farm. But when Xie is the only one caught his small world gets smaller: kicked out of high school, he becomes increasingly connected with nature, spending his time in the birch woods behind his house, attending extremist activist meetings, and serving as a custodian for what others ignore, abuse, and discard.

Exploring the woods alone one night, Xie discovers the relic of a Catholic saint - the martyred Pancratius - in a nearby church. Regal and dressed in ornate armor, the skeleton captivates him. After weeks of visits, Xie steals the skeleton, hides it in his attic bedroom, and develops a complex and passionate relationship with the bones and spirit of the saint, whom he calls P. As Xie's relationship deepens with P., so too does his relationship with the woods - private property that will soon be overrun with loggers. As Xie enacts a plan to save his beloved woods, he must also find a way to balance his conflicting - and increasingly extreme - ideals of purity, sacrifice, and responsibility in order to live in this world.

Maryse Meijer's The Seventh Mansion is a deeply moving and profoundly original debut novel - both an urgent literary call to arms and an unforgettable coming-of-age story about finding love and selfhood in the face of mass extinction and environmental destruction.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary, Fantasy, LGBT, Coming Of Age

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2020

About the author

Maryse Meijer is the author of the story collections Heartbreaker, which was one of Electric Literature’s 25 Best Short Story Collections of 2016, and Rag, which was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Pick and a finalist for the Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, as well as the novella Northwood. She lives in Chicago.

Reviews

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This kid was doomed from the start, and I love him for it. xVEGANx

[kate vee · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is remarkable

[Tyler Barney · Rating 4 out of 5]

even vegans have skeletons in their closets

[Paris (parisperusing)]

CANT. BREATHE

[Maryse Meijer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really pretty good.

[Becky Spratford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review in the July 2020 issue of Booklist and on the blog: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2020/07...

Three Words That Describe This Book: disorienting, atmospheric, lyrical

[Amy Imogene Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy I read this (I will likely never read it again). I wonder if it will sink into my bones and linger like a fever dream—it’s one of those singular stories. Review to come

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maryse Meijer is one of my very favorite unsung authors. Her short story collections are full of raw and provocative writing and her novella Northwood: A Novella is one of my favorites from 2018. I've been looking forward to her first novel for a long time.

That's why I'm so disappointed that I was simply not able to get on board with this book. I found it strangely lifeless and difficult to slog through. Very bummed, but I'll still be looking for Meijer's next work, whatever it turns out to be.

[Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weirdly enough, I'm not giving this a mid rating for the skeleton sex or the unusual writing choices, which might seem like the obvious reasons upon learning about this book. It was actually just that I never felt drawn in or that invested.

Now, the writing. I listened to this with TTS, as I do with most books (unless I'm listening to the actual audiobook), so this didn't affect my experience much. But the book is written in a unique sort of way. There are no paragraphs, just walls of text, separated by scene. There are no quotation marks or new lines or indications of dialogue, oftentimes not even a dialogue tag. There's no italics for what I assume are Xie's direct thoughts. There are lots of sentence fragments. The POV switches between 3rd and 2nd person often, though both seem to be Xie's POV, but then again maybe not? Perhaps it was all meant to be a sort of stream of consciousness. Perhaps meant to portray the character more or evoke a certain vibe or feeling. I sort of think it's cool for authors to try different things. And like I said, it wasn't really a problem for me because TTS doesn't have quotes or different voices or visual indicators of anything, since it's all auditory, so I'm already used to parsing dialogue and whatnot. And the other sort of unusual things were easy enough for me to roll with. But I recognize that people reading it the normal way might feel differently.

Unfortunately, I just never really got into the book. I think I just didn't feel much of anything? Stakes, tension, excitement, intrigue. I don't need a bunch of action, I've come to enjoy slice-of-life or meandering kinda books when they're done well, but this just didn't capture my interest. Which is sorta strange because...

I do think Xie was a fairly interesting character. He seemed like the world had broken him. And, you know, I can relate. The world has so many bad things, so many things wrong, it's hard not to be broken by something. For Xie, it was how people treat animals and the environment. It hit him so hard one day that he became depressed and withdrawn. But he also wanted to do something about it. He could be very self-involved, not even considering the problems of others, but he could also be caring and go out of his way to help. And he had a certain unique, ah, quirk? He was attracted to bones. Skeletons. And yes, he does have sex with one (as much as you can call it sex, since it was an inanimate object). His love for and attraction to the skeleton, the way it was described, was strange but also sort of fascinating.

All the characters felt complex and flawed, actually. Like Xie's dad, who wasn't perfect, but you could tell he was trying his best to support his son. He didn't always know what to do, but he was trying to figure it out. He was the parent who stuck with Xie, left California when Xie had a sort of breakdown and needed to get away from there, drove him to the protest he wanted to go to, etc.

Anyway, how do environmental activism and skeleton sex relate? Do they relate? I don't know, but they were the two main things in this book. There was Xie and his friends trying to save the world, and there was Xie being in love with and having sex with the skeleton of a dead 14-year-old saint whose spirit manifested and visited him. Or maybe Xie imagined the spirit, I suppose that's up to interpretation.

So I would say this is one of those books that may or may not have fantasy elements. Also a coming-of-age story. A teen main character, but I would not categorize it as YA. Sort of LGBT+ too, though that's a little unclear, since Xie isn't attracted to anyone who is still alive with flesh on their body, but the skeleton/spirit is a boy.

I don't know. I guess I just didn't see in this book what all the 4 and 5-star reviews did. But it was cool to try something unusual and different.

*Rating: 3 Stars // Read Date: 2022 // Format: Ebook via TTS*

Recommended For:
Anyone who likes unusual and unique writing styles and choices, unusual stories, books that are somewhat meandering, environmental activism, and complex, flawed characters.

Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read Meijer's Northwood: A Novella not long ago, and after finishing this, realise that she has something a bit special about her writing, although I don't absolutely love it, I do find it completely fascinating. Northwood was written as a prose poem - this has a more traditional format, but that is where any comparison to the horror genre finishes; though it may fit into that genre of the bizarre and weird, where pretty much anything goes.
This is the story of 14 year old Xie, who changed his name from Alex at the age of 12, and who has moved from California to a rural Southern town to live with his father Erik. He doesn't fit in with his male peers, more so with the girls, and has a passionate interest in animal rights. When he gets suspended from school, he and his only friends, Jo and Leni, attempt to free the minks from a local farm, but things go wrong, and Xie is the only one caught.
Nothing strange so far.. nor in a disturbed youngster conjuring up an imaginary friend, but the subject matter soon includes masturbation and necrophilia, which to state the obvious, won't be to everyone's taste..
Rather than shying away from the darker sides of adolescence, as many writers do - abnormal behaviour, depression and sexual curiosity - Meijer confronts it head on, and the result is a unique and bold piece of fiction.
It bares her own style also, as Northwood did, presented as a poem. The sentences are short, and direct. Rather than using commas, ellipsis, colons, she uses the full stop, often.
It does fit into those neat headings of being 'coming of age' or 'climate fiction', but prospective readers should not be fooled into thinking that this is anything like normal..

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review though Edelweiss. Trigger warning for sexual assault, homophobia, violence against animals, and disturbing sexual content.)

-- 4.5 stars --

There is this person I love. And he’s not even a person.

After Xie's parents split and an environmental disaster sends his already precarious mental health spiraling, Xie and his father Erik relocate from California to an unnamed town in the rural south, in search of the proverbial fresh start.

At first, Xie is your garden-variety teenage outcast: melancholy. goth. vegan. an outsider. friendless. forgettable. Yet he's quickly "adopted" by the only other vegans in the school - girlfriends Jo and Leni, who together make up the entirety of FKK.

The group's animal rights activism slowly evolves from leafleting to direct action: the trio breaks into a local mink farm, freeing as many of its captives as they can. Xie is nabbed during the getaway, and suddenly he goes from "nobody" to "that freak who vandalized the Moore farm". Instead of silence and indifference, Xie is met by hostile sneers, gossip, and relentless bullying. He takes a leave of absence from high school, instead getting one-on-one tutoring at the local library. His parents are forced to pay restitution, and Xie's placed on probation.

Xie's only respite is nature: his burgeoning vegetable garden; the small but pristine forest behind his house; and, eventually, the mysterious light, nestled among the branches, that leads him to a tiny church - and his beloved. St. Pancratius, who was martyred in 304 A.D. and whose remains are on covert display in a one-room church in the middle of nowhere.

He traces the image with his finger. The story the same in every version: A boy on a road, refusing to lift his sword against the lamb, losing his head every time the story is told, again and again and again.

Still, all of this comes with a cost: loving nature, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, means saying goodbye to it one day. Relationships can be messy, even when they're with clean bones. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own shit that we're oblivious to what our loved ones are going through. Maybe your tutor shows up to work one day piss drunk and tells you about her abortion. Or your friends drag you to a backwoods meeting of environmental activists, where one of them sexually assaults you. Or you show up to a mass protest that is even more massive than you anticipated, and find you're unable to protect yourself, let alone the 55 billion+ land animals slaughtered for food every year in the US alone (animalclock.org).

The problem is too big, even when it's one of the smaller ones. The problem is impossible.

While disturbing, Xie's theft of a skeleton is not the worst crime he'll commit in his teen years. As FKK becomes involved with a local animal rights group, and Xie's sanctuary is threatened, he careens toward an inevitable (????) collision with the outside world, which neither understands him - nor cares to. (Fuck capitalism.)

THE SEVENTH MANSION is one weird-ass book; I mean, the main character has sex with a skeleton (!). This is certainly the wildest aspect of the story, but it's not alone. For example, take the narrative structure, which has a kind of stream-of-(Xie's)-consciousness vibe. Many of the sentences are fractured, even forced, as though we're pulling them from the depth's of Xie's tortured soul. His thoughts. Are broken. Up. Like this. Conversely, there are no chapters, and so many of the paragraphs are just huge, unbroken blocks of text - almost as though Meijer is framing Xie in opposition to the larger world around him.*

I suspect that THE SEVENTH MANSION is one of those love it or hate it dealios. Personally, I loved it, even as some parts proved excruciatingly unbearable to read.

I don't know whether Meijer is vegan, but she gets so much right; sometimes it felt like she was rooting around inside my head. I went vegetarian my freshman year of college (1996, not to date myself) and vegan about 9 years later. Reading Xie was like having a mirror held up to my own depressive, anxious, vegan psyche. One thing carnists probably don't realize about walking around this world as a vegan is: it takes a ton of mental work, of suppression and dissociation, just to get through the day.

Animal suffering is omnipresent, and largely accepted. From Carl's Jr. commercials to classroom trips to the zoo; leather car seats to team lunches at non-vegan restaurants, where you'll be forced to watch your coworkers and friends devour the corpse of a once-living creature - someone's mother, brother, or child - we are constantly forced to bear witness to the oppression of animals. Worse, to pretend as though it's of no consequence: just to get along, or because doing otherwise would quickly devour your time, your prospects, your relationships. To say that it's depressing is an understatement.

Whether Xie is living through the oil spill that finally made his world "snap," or gazing into the eyes of caged mink, I was right there with him, trying not to cry. Not to break. There's so much suffering in the world; if you try to take it all in, to truly understand its scope, it will swallow you whole.

Speaking of the oil spill, which was the impetus for Xie to go vegan - Meijer's description of this moment in Xie's life brought back so many memories. When I decided to stop eating meat, I was working at a local grocery store. Every now and again, they had an employee appreciation dinner (in lieu of a raise, natch), which basically consisted of all you can eat burgers and hot dogs in the break room. Everyone would stuff their faces, taking in as many free calories as possible. Not because they were hungry, but to get as much of a leg up on our cheap ass employer as possible. The sheer gluttony and waste of it all is what finally did it for me. No one needed to eat seven hamburgers in one night; we did because we could, because not doing so would be to lose out. The working class eating the chattel, and no one eating the rich.

Point being, that's a singular moment in my life that I'll never forget. It stands out in stark relief, right alongside the deaths of my husband and furkids (six dogs and one cat down and counting). If I close my eyes, I can almost transport myself back there, white starched shirt, demo table, 7PM Friday fatigue, and all.

The last time he ate meat he was twelve years old, after the spill: Xie was Alex then. Even miles from the beach, they could smell something off; at first they thought it was the sandwiches, ham pressed hot in the pockets of Erik’s windbreaker, but the closer they got to the beach the stronger the smell became, noxious, chemical. They parked at their usual spot, yellow tape blocking access to the beach beyond. A black ribbon flat against the horizon; that was the water. No trace of blue. On the rocks below the lot a half dozen pelicans huddled together. Coated from beak to foot in oil. Don’t touch them, his father said. Someone will come wash it off. But there was no one. The black sea lapping the sand. Those bewildered eyes. He watched as one of the birds collapsed, its head twisted sideways against its folded neck. His father pulled him away. The fire on the water burned for two weeks; the beach remained black for a year. Sea turtles, dolphins, whales, gulls, crabs, otters, fish, birds rolled up by the waves in the tens of thousands. Oil on meat on sand. No stopping it. Xie got headaches, bloody noses; he was always tired, couldn’t sleep. His mother standing in the doorway, Stop playing games, you’re fine. But his father was never angry. Scared of what he saw. Xie in the dark. Unable to make it from one room to another. The people who used to go to the beach just went somewhere else. Life as usual. Slumped in the backseat as his father fed gas into the truck he suddenly couldn’t stand it. Stopped standing it. He opened the back door, started walking. Alex, his father called, but he was not Alex anymore. He poured out all the milk in the house and fed the meat to the dogs next door and rode his bike everywhere.

So yeah, our circumstances may be different, but Xie's conversion sure hit me in the feels.

Meijer also does an excellent job capturing the heartbreak and urgency of Millennials and Gen Z. As tormented as I might have been in high school, at least I had the luxury of not thinking too much about climate change - at least until Al Gore came along. Xie and his peers, on the other hand, will bear the brunt of their predecessors' unchecked greed. Nowhere is this divide more eloquently laid bare than in Jo's post-march argument with Erik (who is likely around my age):

Didn’t you see how he just folded up out there? He can’t protect himself, he won’t. You don’t know what he was like, before we came here, okay, you didn’t watch him, lying in bed day after day, ready to cut his goddamn throat because of all this shit, this constant litany of doomsday statistics, he just takes it in and he can’t—he doesn’t know what to do with it, and you want to keep shoving it in his face, when it’s—it’s enough! Staring at Jo, who stares back. Look, whatever you’re afraid of, whatever he’s afraid of, it’s already happening, okay? And he knows it, he’s living it, and he wants to do something about it. If there was some other option, some fantasyland where everything is going to be fine as long as we bury our heads in the sand, then believe me, I’d take it. But there’s not. Not for me and not for Leni and not for Xie and if you think you can protect him by denying that then you’re just—wrong. I’m sorry. She holds Erik’s gaze; he nods, the first to look away.

My gods, that scene just cuts me to the bone. As bleak as things are now, I cannot imagine going through all this - climate change, COVID-19, a Trump presidency, Democratic ineptitude/complicity, *gesturing wildly* - as an adolescent. Their elders cut them down before they even started crawling.

On a lighter note, Xie's scenes with his clueless mom and her equally clueless new husband (Jerry!) brought a(n admittedly wry) smile to my face. If I had a penny for every times this scene has played out in my life, I'd have enough cash monies to start my own animal sanctuary.

Don’t you want some vegetables, Xie? Jerry asks. I don’t eat animal products, Xie murmurs, and Jerry, confused, staring at the green beans, How is this— Butter, Xie interrupts. Butter is from milk, which is from cows, which are animals. Jerry blinks. Gosh, I didn’t even think of that. Sorry. Xie shrugs.

There's so much to obsess about here: I love Jo and Leni together, and their opposing circumstances just make the relationship so much more complex - and potentially fraught. Erik and tutor Karen (I wonder if the name choice was intentional?) are interesting supporting characters, and their relationships with Xie are so beautiful and nuanced; they both support him the best they know how.

Xie's interactions with his phantom lover are a little more confusing and difficult for me to comprehend. Perhaps P. represents Xie's inability to connect with the human world around him, or at least not as well as the more abstract, ephemeral natural world. Possibly P. is Xie's ideal human: one who would rather die than raise a finger against an animal (or one who cannot disappoint you by voicing their own opinions). Or maybe it's simpler than that, and Xie's hallucinations are just that: hallucinations. In any case, it made an already odd book absolutely bizarre, but in a good way, so I can't complain.

* This could just be because I was reading an early copy in need of further editing - but, seeing as how some formatting was already present, I think it was intentional.

[Sian Lile-Pastore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slightly strange book that deals with animal rights and climate change and the overwhelming feelings when trying to fight against injustices. I really felt for Xie and was kind of frustrated by his choices too. Loved all the vegan food and the cooking and the dad.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come on SciFi and Scary

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah this will have a limited audience but that limited audience? Metal as hell.

“When you tap your forehead you are like 1mm from touching a skeleton” - a tweet I saw once

[Karen (idleutopia_reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

#gifted-Prelude to a review-You should know that I have loved Maryse Meijer’s books in the past. I have been plunged into deep, dark, visceral, esoteric experiences that I haven’t experienced before. Reading Meijer is an experience in and of itself that takes you on exhilarating twists and turns that leave you changed after reading her works. I have been amazed by her writing and I am telling you all of this because I didn’t love the Seventh Mansion. At its surface, the Seventh Mansion is the story of Xie (formerly named Alex), a 16 year old vegan activist, who is trying to live ethically in an extremely unethical world. We begin following Xie after he’s experiencing the disastrous consequences of trying to free minks from a farm and getting caught. On top of that, he’s dealing with the trauma of having witnessed an oil spill near his previous home, and how it completely changed how he saw the world around him. The scene with the oil spill is truly one of the most sense enhancing scenes I’ve ever read, you smell, feel, and breathe what Xie is experiencing in that moment and the moments after this event. The beginning of this book begins with staccato sentences that leaves you stalling at every turn.

Meijer takes the malleability of each sentence to form a bond between the reader and Xie so we can feel what Xie is feeling. It isn’t until Xie stumbles into a church deep in the forest and finds the skeleton remains of Pancratius (a boy made martyr for his refusal to slaughter a lamb) that the sentences begin to flow as Xie is finally able to find a connection and a love that he’s seen other experiencing. For your edification, there is no other word for having sex with a skeleton other than necrophilia. Yep, the story goes there and it’s eerily beautiful in its description. Xie steals Pancratius’ bones and begins a relationship with P. (an aura like figure that accompanies Xie and makes everything around him brighter).

To Meijer’s point, the title the Seventh Mansion comes from famed mystic Teresa of Avila’s book “Interior Castle”. Drawing a parallel between mysticism in religious texts comparing it to the mysticism that Xie experiences with P, itself a form of religion mixed with a good deal of paganism. Some of my favorite sections were the philosophical questions that Xie asks himself and those around them about the kind of world we are living in. Those sections did leave me questioning and to this book’s point I am still thinking about it days later. We follow an eco-group that’s more performance and talk than action, which Xie compares to Teresa of Avila’s book as well, a book that talks a lot about God and being good, but is less about actually doing good. The premise of this book is fantastic if a bit strange.

The problem for me was that while Xie has no problem pointing out the privileges and hypocrisies of others, he spends less time focusing on his own. There is a part in the book where this is brought up but it doesn’t go further than that. The other problem is that Xie chose to change his name (and I never find out why, it was only said to have happened after the oil spill) and to me the name that he chose was appropriation. It was hard for me to be inside of his 16 year old brain as he’s experiencing life that is constantly changing around him. This is truly a coming of age story and I can’t even imagine what it is like growing up in the world as we currently know it.

To be perfectly honest, I was utterly bored with the book which I wasn’t expecting since I have loved Meijer’s books in the past. There is a culmination in the end where Xie takes actions against a deforestation that’s happening near his home that calls into question whether extreme action/defense is needed when extreme destruction is taking place. So I’ll end my ramble by saying this one just wasn’t for me but it has great reviews elsewhere so make sure to check those out.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it difficult to rate The Seventh Mansion, mainly because it's impossible to compare to anything I've read before. Meijer writes the coming-of-age of Xie, a teenage boy whose veganism has led him to the edge of extreme environmental activism. Xie is caught breaking into a local farm to set free dozens of minks and his world spirals after that. He leaves school to work with a private tutor and spends more and more time alone in the woods behind his house, connecting with the trees, the dirt, the bones of small animals.

Xie is completely disgusted with humanity and its apparent disregard for nature and animal life, thus his interest in bones. While exploring the woods one night, he enters a small church and discovers the preserved skeleton of Saint Pancratius. After many evening visits with Pancratius (P. as Xie calls him), Xie steals the skeleton and brings it home to keep in his room. As he develops an obsessive and intimate relationship with the skeleton, Xie continues to struggle with human connection and pursues possibly dangerous environmental actions.

Meijer's borderline stream-of-consciousness writing style is compelling and morbidly fascinating. The reader finds themselves tossed in and out of Xie's thoughts with no rhyme or reason. Even his most bizarre inner thoughts almost make sense when Meijer shines her light on them. It's impossible not to care for Xie, but to also wonder if he is truly not for this world.

[Marko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well... I'm disappointed.

The large, unstructured blocks of text, and then the structure of the sentence itself, were such a turnoff.

The writing style is... unbearable and honestly - I couldn't wait to get to the end.

"Her arm hanging limp at her side. What if. Dead or. But no, some sound coming from her, mumbling. What? Karen, it's me, are you. And touching her arm, she lifts her head, what is that other smell. Realizing. Drunk. One kind of panic replaced by another. Here, can you sit up? Her head falling back, mouth open, she swallows. Squints. But can't. Talk. Did you drive like this? No bottle in the car, but. A thermos in the cupholder. Sniffs it. Pure alcohol. Shit, he breathes. Her heavy exhale, unintelligible murmur. The parking lot not. Safe because. She could get in trouble or. Fired, if Greg finds out, reports her." (...)

Choices.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is one of the most unparalleled pieces of fiction I’ve ever read. Meijer’s The Seventh Mansion is a tale of environmental activism and the darker sides of adolescent, formative years. It is highly original, almost concerningly so – I believe The Seventh Mansion has the makings of a cult classic.

Fifteen-year-old Xie relocates from California to a rural no-name town to live with his separated father. Xie is an activist, goth, vegan, apathetic and an outsider. Upon his move, he’s taken in by two animal rights activists, Jo and Leni, falling into an extremist activist community.

Xie is disgusted with humanity. The world disregards nature, every action we take hurts something around us. His only reprieve from his pained worldview is the solitude and peace nature can provide. His connection to the natural world leads him to a small church, and the skeleton of his beloved Catholic St. Pancratius.

His inability to connect with other people is tested by the involvement of the abstract, spiritual presence of St. Pancratius. 🗝️

Meijer’s writing style is interesting, albeit atypical. The reader is pulled in and out of Xie’s thoughts, with broken sentences and chunks of text. We’re half in Xie’s head, half witnessing his actions from a higher vantage point.

The Seventh Mansion is about the weight of environmental activism, the suppression and dedication. It is about sacrificing for the earth, our humanly responsibility and how we connect with/to others.

I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone. But, if you’re willing to suspend all need for genre, form, reasoning and cohesion, this is for you.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so fucking weird and interesting and dreamlike. Why are so few people talking about this novel???

4.5/5

[Kyleen]

I got halfway through and just couldn’t anymore.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly I wasn't sure I was going to keep reading this book but then somehow I was most of the way through. This is a very memorable novel about conviction and morality. Meijer's prose is both dreamlike, notional, figurative and also literal and sensual, in a "I feel like I am also having a nosebleed" type of way.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

extremely wild for me, since I'm normally too stuffy to even be able to get into a book that dares to italicize dialogue instead of using quotation marks, much less whatever beautiful form of narration this is

so good soosososoososoosso good

after reading other people reviews, I'm going to add that being a wokescold about a 15 year old character in a novel is nuts to me, and somehow taking into account whether or not his activism is like, "good enough," or if he was appropriating the name Xie is so missing the fucking point I'm sorry! This is a story about falling in love, and finding your values, and having an awkward car ride with your mom's boyfriend... a bildugsroman! my favorite! The fact that he is a vegan and environmental activist doesn't mean we get to start assigning stars to the book based on how pure we find this fictional character's politics. I'm sorry! I am the biggest sjw that has literally ever lived but it's a character. in a book. he's out here fucking a skeleton, and you're deducting a star because you think the teenage boy is not acknowledging his privilege enough? is anyone having fun anymore?

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an e-book ARC of The Seventh Mansion from NetGalley and the publisher, FSG Originals, in exchange for my honest review, which follows below. I thank both for this opportunity.

I rated this 5 stars.
This is not the usual read, where checking off what I personally require to meet a certain star rating can be easily done; my attempt to help any readers of my review make their own decision regarding the material in question. I still felt a 5 star rating was easily given, partly due to how unique a read this was. Some things should be experienced large scale ( in this case by the horror community ); even if the individual reactions will differ, possibly wildly.

Mine was dappled with nostalgia. It opened in me a memory of yearning, from when I was just starting to figure out who I was underneath all the layers used to hide myself; wondering if connecting to someone was beyond me. The author captures that trembling balance between absolute certainty and grasping at answers every person goes through. I thought this was a very complex novel, and that some may have trouble reading it; expecting everything to wrap up nicely will lead to disappointment. It struck me somewhat similar to Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones, which also has a narrator that you are unsure of; either he is unreliable or there are fantastical things happening in this story, shaping his choices irrevocably. And like with that novel, releasing on the same day I believe, each reading may give me a different outcome; my decisions not set in stone, more like drawn in sand with the tide coming in. But that is part of what excites me about this, because what if I missed the way a sentence may have been interpreted; unlocking a whole perspective I’ve never considered?

The writing can be disjointed, the punctuation and sentence structure off; it reads like a person’s thoughts. I’ll admit it took a bit before I could read it smoothly, but it kept you right where the author wanted you; focused in the moment.

Xie is returning to school after summer break; where he was once able to move about invisible, now he has a target on his back from a failed attempt at activism. Years before, aged twelve and still living in California, the damage of an oil spill to the sea life and creatures living on the beaches he loved caused him to dramatically change his world view. Now he is trying a new fit in another city, fanatically vegan, riding his bike everywhere, and until last summer staying under the radar of pretty much everyone. He has friends that feel the same way, just not as strict or disciplined as him. They were with him over the summer, when he tried to free all the minks from a farms property; but only he was caught, only his family has to pay back monetary loss to the mink farmers.

He walks through the wooded areas by his home constantly; the more comfortable he is with the land the more proprietary I think he feels towards it. He collects objects, mainly animal bone, from his walks, and keeps them in his bedroom. You’re given this overall sense that he is more comfortable the closer to nature he can be, even falling asleep on mossy ground is preferable to laying on a mattress. One night he walks in a direction he rarely travels and finds a church that houses the armored remains of the Saint Pancratius. There are some sexual feelings in Xie that are growing wrapped/warped in his obsession in a world of no waste. Or, he dislikes the idea of someone else touching him; the cleanliness of bone is sensual to him. He has a fascination with bone, the idea of holding someone made of bone. And then he sees this full skeleton locked in a glass case; he is called beloved.

This is where the reader will begin to wonder; do I trust what the narrator is telling me? Is the reader to believe that a Saint wanted a teenager to take its body and hide it away in the attic of his family home; under cover of darkness and his father’s nose? Are we, the readers, to be comfortable with the idea that a long dead boy, who would not slay the lamb, would now be having an impossible sexual relationship with Xie, in almost any location he chooses?

But if P, as Xie refers to him, is all in Xie’s mind, then wouldn’t their conversations always be exactly how Xie wants them to be? They wouldn’t have miscommunication if P were just a part of Xie’s mind filling an emptiness, right? There are also moments where the reader is not completely sure that the environment is not affected by P, and if he is able to change something physically then isn’t he by definition real?

Through this almost idyllic period for Xie, all I can see is how much the people around him are straining for a way to connect and get him to open up. How much freedom do you offer a child, hoping that they will bloom; how much privacy do you give them, on the off chance they will trust you with any small fact? Is it always like taming a wild beast, balancing between breaking them enough so you can guide them, but not enough that their spirit flags and they whither, die? Xie’s father, Erik, honestly comes across like he is trying his best. They are the two characters in this novel I felt for the most; but all the characters were human, there were flaws and quirks special to each one. There is so much that I am staying purposely vague about, you have to if you want to stay spoiler free. And this novel is one that almost can not end any other way, minus whether or not you have the religious experience happening to Xie; if you call it that, or maybe spiritual coupling?

The parts of the novel that we can agree happen in reality, there is no other way for the story to unravel. But you the reader will wish it with all your might; that you could change it. This is a horror that builds, it creeps, and it infiltrates the parts of you that you thought were well protected. Like I said at the beginning, this is not a usual read. I thought it was an achingly beautiful read, it’s almost like a bruise; I can’t stop poking at it, even though it hurts.

[Angela Hughes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my God this was such hot garbage. Essentially, a spoiled, militant vegan fuck up finds and fucks a skeleton and is absolutely insufferable throughout. I will admit, it was pretty funny, unintentionally I think, for the first part of this so I was tempted to rate it higher, but it just took a nosedive. One of the worst things I've ever read. I should have loved this. Necrophilia, weird Catholic stuff, but no. Terrible story and writing.

I will say, I listened to the audio and only saw a glimpse of the actual writing in the book, and ...that was a choice the author made, and that was a bad choice. Other reviews give an example of what it looks like on the page.

[Michelle Hogmire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to FSG for an advance Netgalley of this title in exchange for an honest review (pub date: Sept 8, 2020)--

The Seventh Mansion is likely to be the best book you'll ever read about a radical teenage environmental activist having sex with the skeleton of a dead Catholic saint. Yes, you read that right.

I've enjoyed Maryse Meijer's strange work previously (like her dark fairy tale novella Northwood), and this new experimental short novel of sentence fragments and long, unbroken paragraphs certainly doesn't disappoint. The book tells the story of Xie--a young vegan from CA who moves in with his dad and quickly gets in trouble for freeing minks from a local farm. Xie becomes increasingly isolated in his new conservative community, working with a tutor instead of going to school and spending most of his time alone in the local woods. When he discovers the body of Saint Pancratius in a decrepit church, Xie develops an attraction to the figure's care for animals and eventually steals the bones. As the novel progresses, Xie starts seeing "P" everywhere and begins reading odd religious texts instead of doing his schoolwork. After engaging in more direct actions with his climate activist friends, Xie finds out that the local forest he loves is in danger, and he'll have to decide what actions to take.

Meijer's book is so melancholy and timely, regarding the current environmental decimation of the world due to climate change, and Xie's concerns about how to live an ethical existence are heartbreaking and relatable. Xie is attracted to the saint's skeleton because it's not possible for him to hurt P. In a society based around material consumption, it's easy to start seeing everything as a transaction involving some level of harm, even relationships with other human beings. We're left wondering: can we do anything without hurting someone or something?

As Xie despairs about the state of things, he begins to slip into common eco-fascist rhetoric, saying that humans are the virus. In reality, native and indigenous people maintained positive relationships with nature for thousands of years before the rise of settler colonialism. I wished I could tell Xie that the real virus is capitalism.

After finishing The Seventh Mansion, I'm not sure if Xie will learn this political lesson (then again, he's young). But, if we want anything to really change, all of us will have to.

[Cindy Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, holy hell. What the f&%$. Save the planet and have sex with a saint's skeleton. Every kid's dream. This is what happens if you don't take your kid to a therapist quickly enough after they see an oil spill. Okay--not really, but kind of really.

I loved this book but it is NOT a book for the masses because it is the relentless rhythm of a mind that has been broken and if you want a clear path to a story, you will not get one. The language is fragmented--syntax, paragraphs, thoughts--postmodernism in all of its glory. There are no chapters. You do not know who is speaking unless you pay attention to every. single. word. Then sometimes you don't because it could be a dead saint who might be f&%$#g a teenage boy who wants to save the special birch tree by killing a logger. Of course you are also rooting for the boy, but also kind of not rooting for the boy....

The father is tender and loving and fierce. The tutor is real and I love her. The "girls" are suspect but lovable but suspect....I kind of hate the activists bc they seem fake and stupid and they wouldn't steal the bones of a saint and sleep inside it to show their dedication to the planet. The flaws in the novel exist, yes. There are some places where it skips too quickly or where you just have to go "wait, I cannot even suspend my disbelief and go there." I also never 100% bought the "seventh mansion" aspect of the novel (it involves a theological book the young man is reading.) I don't know what my brain will do with this book, but it will think about it for many years.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

“what's it like. never to belong to yourself. maybe we all know. that's why we kill ourselves. poison the world you can't have, that doesn't want you, that knows. what a virus you are.”

the seventh mansion is a stunning story that asks the question - how far will you go for your beliefs? and at what cost?

xie is a misunderstood adolescent learning his place amongst the world. completely disgusted with humanity and it’s lack of regard for the earth they inhabit. he is strong rooted in his beliefs that lead him from veganism to intense environmental activism. through xie’s environmental protestation he forms a complex and passionate relationship with the skeleton and spirit of saint pancratius, who was beheaded for refusing to perform an animal sacrifice.

the writing style is intense, fragmented and immersive. the reader is tossed through the narrator, xie’s thoughts, switching rapidly between points of view.

meijer writes unparalleled, a gripping story that carefully intertwines spirituality, religion and environmentalism. dark, grotesque and disturbing, this one will be haunting my thoughts for awhile.

“you made as much life as you could. you looked for it every-where, even in the body, even in bone, because this is how you see the world: as desperately, infinitely living. all you wanted was to help

[Mrs C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Xie/Alex gets into trouble with his activist friends. They got caught freeing some minks that ended up slaughtered anyway. This book was frustrating in so many levels. The punctuation is a nightmare to read, like I’m experiencing dyslexia or something - you don’t know who’s saying what - No quotation marks. Fine, it’s a style, I get it. So Xie gets every possible accommodation for a 15-year old- his dad lets him do whatever he wants (even goes with him to one of his protests). Xie is shown kindness. By his peers, even the farm owners he terrorized.

And then there are the bones of a Catholic saint that he discovers and brings home. It’s the patron saint of the youth. And they have a sexual relationship—Xie with the bones and the spirit or some presence of the desecrated saint.

The premise was so intriguing and very dark (I appreciate dark). But man oh man, Xie needed a little bit more direction (he is a kid after all). The ending was not surprising, but I kept thinking, okay now what? And nothing. I wanted to read between the lines, to decipher the words that meant to convey something, thus the 2-star rating.

Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read this book early.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Seventh Mansion is a remarkable book. The writing style, for me, is intense and grabs me. Meijer breaks all the rules in here approach to writing this novel. Xie, the lead character, is a teenager. He is a vegan and an environmental activist. He lives with his father, Erik. He has two friends, Jo and Leni. These young women share his environmental activism. Xie becomes captivated by the skeleton of martyred Pancratius, he discovers in a small church near the woods next to his home. He steals the skeleton and hides P in the attic. P. becomes a constant companion. Failing in school, he takes the option of a tutor, Karen. Xie and Karen meet in the library. They develop a friendship.

The book becomes increasingly tense as the story moves to the climatic end. I acknowledge this novel will not be for everyone. The writing style , the characters, the story itself are unconventional. I am astonished by the author's creative genius. I also feel there are no wasted words.

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

My partner gave this to me to read after I read and loved Rag, and yes, I finally fucking got to it. :p There’s an overall gothic feel to this, and while it’s wonderful, I didn’t like it as much as I liked Rag. But, as a first novel, it’s a deeply promising start. This is written in present tense, a combination of third and second person that tends to unsettle the reader in a good way, but doesn’t ever fully hit home for me. Xie’s been suspended from school and is on parole after attempting to release the minks at a fellow student’s farm, and is falling in deeper in the woods in Southern California and into his environmental activism, while also finding the bones of a Catholic saint in a church in the woods. Ms. Meijer probably didn’t intend for Xie to be described as bonesexual and I am deeply sorry that this is the first thing that comes to mind to describe his sexuality. There is an arc of sorts here, but it’s mostly about Xie’s obsession with purity by way of the woods, his activism, his veganism, and how it actually ends up playing out over the course of a few months of interactions. Xie is kind of one of those asshole vegans, even though this is not how Meijer or he intends himself to come off, and I like that I don’t like the protagonist that much. It’s a hell of a lyrical gothic read, and I’d recommend picking it up from the library.