Monika Ciem’s Reviews > Only a Little While Here > Status Update
Monika Ciem
is 40% done
"Detour in the Canopy" follows a tanager on his migration south - blending themes of ecocriticism with postcolonial and simply social, humane questions. I really enjoyed this one; it also created an interesting external focaliser onto the tanager, where we are left to wonder what he might think (projecting? Dehumanising? Paralleling the experience of language barriers?).
— Oct 27, 2026 01:25AM
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Monika’s Previous Updates
Monika Ciem
is 62% done
"Reason for Surrender" is certainly interesting for the fact that this time, we effectively do not follow the protagonist - the porcupine - very much. She is the focaliser at the beginning and end of the story, with small interludes, but the real protagonist here is the middle-aged lady from a mountain village that brings her to the Wild Animal rescue department after having raised her; love, displacement, care.
— 3 hours, 12 min ago
Monika Ciem
is 45% done
"To Walk These Lands" follows a june bug as it first transforms, leaves, becomes displaced, gives in to temptation of lamps. Thematically interesting, but this time the fact that we 'guess' the thoughts, feelings or the state of the protagonist animal felt a little too much - there was only asking, even as it did highlight that you never how many displaced there are around you, or what they might feel.
— 3 hours, 40 min ago
Monika Ciem
is 12% done
Beautiful story about the two dogs Kati and Mona - love, home, loyalty, abandonment, and a sneaking peak at politics in Bogota.
— Oct 26, 2026 11:42PM