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Drenched: Stories of Love and Other Deliriums
Passion engulfs all in these wildly imaginative stories filled with “a textured beauty” (Aimee Bender).
Two lovers accidentally create a love potion while making a batch of Jell-O. An apartment is filled with water as an act of gravity-defying devotion to an acrobat. At turns blissful, absurd, sexy, and devastating, Marisa Matarazzo’s stories don’t just push the boundaries of love—they show how very boundless it is.
These interconnected shorts take love to a new level—another world, where a sex fever can sweep a town and where sex acts are performed tied to the raised mast of a sailboat. Falling into love, swimming, and drowning in it, the characters often exist in places where land and water collide and morph. A girl without hands is rescued from the sea by an oil-rig worker. A boy transplants a fish into the body of a menacing neighbor. A woman on the rebound has an unexpected encounter with an otherworldly water engineer. Fusing magical realism and fantasy with the heart of the here and now, Matarazzo has established a singular style. As she shifts effortlessly among startling plotlines and peculiar characters, she celebrates the fluid sorcery of love—in its ardor, its ugliness, all of its uncanny and magnificent manifestations, proclaiming love the most wondrous magic of all.
Two lovers accidentally create a love potion while making a batch of Jell-O. An apartment is filled with water as an act of gravity-defying devotion to an acrobat. At turns blissful, absurd, sexy, and devastating, Marisa Matarazzo’s stories don’t just push the boundaries of love—they show how very boundless it is.
These interconnected shorts take love to a new level—another world, where a sex fever can sweep a town and where sex acts are performed tied to the raised mast of a sailboat. Falling into love, swimming, and drowning in it, the characters often exist in places where land and water collide and morph. A girl without hands is rescued from the sea by an oil-rig worker. A boy transplants a fish into the body of a menacing neighbor. A woman on the rebound has an unexpected encounter with an otherworldly water engineer. Fusing magical realism and fantasy with the heart of the here and now, Matarazzo has established a singular style. As she shifts effortlessly among startling plotlines and peculiar characters, she celebrates the fluid sorcery of love—in its ardor, its ugliness, all of its uncanny and magnificent manifestations, proclaiming love the most wondrous magic of all.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 14, 2015
I found the second story, "Hotmouths", absolutely stunning. New, original, light-hearted but profound at the same time, and with a sense of something more important and real happening behind the surface - in particular, the delicate balance of pleasure and pain (psychological pain, especially) experienced by a girl while exploring and developing her sexuality. Unfortunately, I struggled with the other stories: while I appreciated the elegant style and the writing in general, I was not drawn into them, I did not feel they resonated with me - I did not find the ideas and inventions interesting, and I did not have any feeling for the characters. I think it's a problem I have in general with fiction that is purely escapist and feels to me like it's totally disconnected from reality. But, more to the point, this is the main problem with a type of fiction that thinks so much about style: it very often lacks emotional power, or any type of human warmth. A lot of speculative fiction has not much human warmth, but that is compensated by the great power of the ideas. That is not the case with "Drenched".
As a reader, what I long for is big, powerful ideas and/or intense emotions. I think you can really enjoy this book only if you are not looking for either.
Five stars to "Hotmouths" and three stars to the overall book.
As a reader, what I long for is big, powerful ideas and/or intense emotions. I think you can really enjoy this book only if you are not looking for either.
Five stars to "Hotmouths" and three stars to the overall book.
May 2, 2010
just stunning. this book invokes the rawness of a first broken heart and the urgency of a first love. if you like milan kundera, surrealism, magical realism, and bizarre sensuality, you will love this.
August 31, 2017
“In my dream I know that he remembers me, but forever we do not talk.”
*
Marisa Matarazzo’s short stories are dreamy and surreal — linked tales about young love tinged with fantastical elements: a boy with hot teeth of quarts, a girl with ashtrays for breasts. Drenched recalled for me Aimee Bender’s work quite a bit.
*
Marisa Matarazzo’s short stories are dreamy and surreal — linked tales about young love tinged with fantastical elements: a boy with hot teeth of quarts, a girl with ashtrays for breasts. Drenched recalled for me Aimee Bender’s work quite a bit.
August 3, 2020
Interesting, sexy, interwoven stories make for light & enjoyable reading.
May 19, 2011
hot teeth. no words for how much i love this book. pregnant babysitters. women with no hands. the surreal works and works damn well. jello love potion. underwater rooms.
just yes yes yes. always and forever yes. bought two copies because i kept giving it to people to read and i can't stand to be away from it.
just yes yes yes. always and forever yes. bought two copies because i kept giving it to people to read and i can't stand to be away from it.
May 23, 2010
I want everyone I know to read this book! A truly fresh and original voice in contemporary fiction ...
October 1, 2012
I keep writing sentences, then deleting them because I can't come up with an adequate way to say how good this book was.
November 16, 2018
A phenomenal debut.
May 11, 2017
I try to recommend this book to as many serious readers as I can. It floors me every time I read it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews