Sivapriya Subramaniam’s Reviews > Tongues, Vol. 1 > Status Update

On an evening, visit some dwelling, sit in a room with a human mother as she puts her child to sleep, and listen to the song she makes to quiet her child.

Their interior states are written across their faces, in their gesture and posture. Fear and anger, delight and despair. The jolt of surprise or unexpected pain. The flush of humiliation. The new, outer layers of their brains struggle to conceal these expressions. Or to fake them convincingly.

Oh, here’s something. Humans can be fantastically cruel. To one another, and to other creatures. Once they gain any power over their fellows, they cling to it ruthlessly.

What do you suppose is hidden inside that soft frame of flesh, those twigs of white bone?

I don’t know. It drew me in. In some ways it was like looking in a mirror.