Synopsis:
“Explosive and propulsive, The Devil Thinks I’m Pretty proves Charlene Elsby to be a formidable talent. This book will haunt you.”
– Juliet Escoria, author of Juliet the Maniac
“Depraved, stark, and dripping in blood, The Devil Thinks I’m Pretty by Charlene Elsby is an experience that demands to be felt. Unique prose, dark musings, and an experimental structure blend beautifully with the layers of grief and bodily autonomy. In the main character’s labyrinthine mind, readers will find themselves seduced into what I can only describe as a really messed up coming-of-age story (in all the best, gory ways).”
– Sara Tantlinger, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Devil’s Dreamland
“The Devil Thinks I’m Pretty is an astonishing mirage, a novel full of dish soap and restaurant clothes, of summer months and arcane sex, of trailer parks and dishcloths, or cocks and thighs and food processors, fryer grease and the coal-black bodies of Erinyes, of maintenance fees and telephone bills. Elsby taunts and teeters on the rock face of reality and delirium, chaos carnivals where words transmute into data dumps of unreliable memory, into unapologetic rebellion against the literary mundane. A supernatural work of cigarette attitude and wit that shatters the cosmic rollercoaster, a seismic flare-up that left me exhilarated and questioning my own framework of despondency. A welcome addition to the Charlene Elsby manifest. Take a cool walk among the home décor of the Devil, it’s lustful, you’ll quite like it.”
– Shane Jesse Christmass, author of Belfie Hell
“Unlike Plato’s realm of eternal forms, which he associates with the sun, Charlene Elsby’s Devil lurks in the solar eclipse, in the eternal shadows that undergird existence. A bildungsroman unlike any other, The Devil Thinks I’m Pretty had me laughing out loud & deeply disturbed. Through surgically precise prose, Elsby conjures a lean & mighty novel set in a trailer park full of memorable characters, devilish disruptions, & a plot that thickens towards an unforgettable finale. I read it in one sitting.”
– Logan Berry, author of Run-Off Sugar Crystal Lake
“As the unnamed narrator of Charlene Elsby’s The Devil Thinks I’m Pretty so wisely observes, “We do define people according to what’s been done to them, not what they’ve done.” There are those who fuck, and there are those who are fucked. There are performers and there are objects. And at the center of it all, like the brilliant, blinding core of a burning star, there is the image of Marilyn Monroe, whose beauty belonged only to those around her. With intense and direct language, Elsby reminds us that corrupting forces are always at work, howling mockery at our very desire to be loved.”
– David Peak, author of Corpsepaint
My Edition:
Review copy provided by the author
My Thoughts:
I know you know by now that I heart Charlene Elsby. So, it will probably come as no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed The Devil Thinks I’m Pretty.
The Devil Thinks I’m Pretty revolves around a young woman working at a dead-end diner. Her mom is dead, her life isn’t great, her trailer is not at all fancy.
She also might be in league with the devil. In true Elsby fashion, there’s no real way of knowing. See, this narrator is highly unreliable. She’s Super Sus.
She might be in league with the devil. She might be possessed. She might just be a completely-off-her- fucking-rocker-level psychotic. Who knows? But she sure is fun. She fights, fucks, and kills her way through a delightfully blood-soaked horror show of a (probable) reality.
This one feels a bit more approachable than Elsby’s typical fare – in that it feels less overt in it’s philosophical concepts (although they are FOR SURE still there). I think this makes it a great place to start reading her work if you haven’t yet. And you should. In terms of payoff, she writes some of the most rewarding works of philosophical horror I’ve ever encountered. I seriously cannot recommend any of her work enough.
Rating:
The Devil Thinks I'm Pretty
By Charlene Elsby
Apocalypse Party Press
Publication Date: October 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781954899667
Paperback
208 Pages
