Other titles I’ve reviewed by Charlene Elsby
Synopsis:
Bedlam is a collection of strange and sometimes disturbing short stories by author Charlene Elsby.
There isn’t actually a synopsis on the book itself, which is unfortunate because this little book is pretty hard to sum up.
Edition:
ARC sent to me by the author (thanks, Charlene! You’re the best!!)
Trigger Warnings:
Hover for Trigger WarningsMy Thoughts:
You might know I really love Charlene Elsby’s writing. And tbh, she’s also a really thoughtful, kind, and entertaining to follow on social media. She’s just great – and she writes the most delightfully fucked up stuff. You should all be reading her books.
Bedlam is no exception to her great/mind-melting literary voice.
If I had to pick a favorite from the collection, I couldn’t pick less than four. So, just to give you an idea of what you’ll be getting into, I will tell you what they are 😈:
- Counterexample (The Jogger)
- Split Dick David Does a Dick Pic on a Tuesday
- Disgusting
- Rape Lines
- So Many of Them
I love the way that Elsby’s stories tend to be told in such a way that it feels like you are existing inside the mind of the protagonist. It tends to give her stories a very distinctive flair. And since she tends toward characters in varying states of (at least) psychological distress, it can be a bit unsettling to say the least. In Bedlam we get to run the gamut from intrusive or distressing thoughts to systematically enacted vengeance.
One warning though: Bedlam goes hard. Some of these stories (for example, Rape Lines) deal with really heavy, potentially triggering stuff. So just take that warning if it is helpful for you. But if you are in a mental state that allows you to want to read something that may be a bit challenging, I cannot recommend this collection (or really anything Elsby has written) enough. She’ll pull you down into some wonderfully depraved places, but by the time you’ve clawed your way back out you might have learned something you hadn’t previously known about the human mind.
Rating:
This is a really solid collection of stories that I highly recommend. It looks like it is currently only available for purchase on Am*z*n.
Bedlam By Charlene Elsby Apocalypse Party Press Published: April 11, 2023 ISBN: 9781954899469 Paperback, E-book 132 Pages
