The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror

I thought a few of these stories were well done, but Lavery missed the mark with most of them for me. I like the concept, but felt that for some the weirdness/”meta” nature of the story overpowered the plot. Bummed to say this didn't work for me :(

i really wanted to love this... it was okay.

I loved parts of this and really didn't enjoy other parts, I love Ortberg's writing but this collection was a bit too inconsistent for me.

What a strange little book full of strange little stories, most of which I could not make any sense of.

This is one that I'm not sure how to rate–it's billed as “tales of everyday horror” and I think these absolutely are horror stories. But I...had hoped that they wouldn't be? I was hoping for something that skewed more funny and less horror-y. And I mean, it is funny, and has some Extremely Ortberg turns of phrase. But also I couldn't read this before bed (as is my custom) because it was really fucking me uppp

Which speaks to the power of the writing, but also I DON'T LIKE THAT.

I am an unapologetic (Daniel) Mallory Ortberg fangirl. I've followed his work since the Toast, was overcome with glee when he took over Dear Prudence and basically think he can do no wrong. I also love faerie tales and hate short stories, so that's pretty much the context for where I'm coming from.Ortberg is a master of language and it shines here. His wit is subtle, but biting, and each story quickly comes into focus with a clear tone and setting, in a way that many short stories authors struggle with. In a lot of ways, the book reminded me of Kelly Link's work – designed as an intellectual puzzle that left you feeling something, without necessarily understanding why or what was literally happening in the story. Which is a super cool effect. But sometimes, a girl just wants to get what's happening, so by the end of the book the impact of that had kind of worn off.My favorite stories was the first, a really atmospheric retelling of The Little Mermaid, perhaps because many of the conceits that Ortberg used throughout the book were new and shiny still then. I loved the way Ortberg played with my expectations of “mermaid” by introducing radial symmetry, and the administrative humor of the Rules of the Fae. The siren/selkie tale later on used a lot of the same tricks, but just felt less cool. The two Frog & Toad-based stories stood out. Both because I don't consider Frog & Toad a faerie tale, but also they both had the same tone of passive aggressive/gaslighting horror. (Which was kind of also present in the Merry Spinster – where Beauty basically just bullied everyone by “never thinking of herself”) And yes, that is my personal bogeyman, but at the same time, I kind of wanted to be like “who hurt you?”Daniel Mallory Orbterg came out as a transman and changed his name coincident to the publishing of this book.

I thought it was just me. I read these stories and thought, is this too clever for me? Am I not getting it? Perhaps. Or perhaps the things that left a bad taste in my mouth such as flip-flopping gender pronouns (which is NOT the same as having gender fluid characters), abusive dialogue as character development, and vague endings bothered other readers too. I am not alone.
I appreciated Ortberg's fresh takes on some tales, but I have read a great many retellings over the years and many have been more clever than this. I found the writing to be unnecessarily repetitive. My favorite story was The Rabbit, which was horrifically wonderful (if only because I have always disliked The Velveteen Rabbit). I would hold The Six-Boy Coffins up as a fun feminist read, but the rest....meh.
By far, my favorite thing about this collection was the cover. The cover is gorgeous.

So this JUST came out. I'd had my eye on it for a few months, and put a request in as soon as my library ordered it. The author recently came out as trans, so it's also part of my effort to read more inclusively. Ortberg definitely played with gender and sexuality in several of these tales; in one of them people decided whether to be the husband or the wife, independent of their gender, in their marriage. (One party to the marriage in the story stated “I've been trained for both roles.”) In another all of a man's daughters used male pronouns and that was never explored further. That was slightly odd.

These were dark, twisted versions of these stories. “Our Friend Mr. Toad,” for example, involved gaslighting and psychologically torturing poor Mr. Toad. I found that one particularly disturbing. I enjoyed the title story, Ortberg's version of Beauty and the Beast, which has a very different ending from expected. I also really liked “The Daughter Cells”, inspired by The Little Mermaid. I LOVED “Fear Not: An Incident Log.”

I think this was a great, albeit strange, little book. It's unique, for sure, and a quick read. If you're looking for a fairy tale collection that is VERY different, try this one.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

01/29/2018
3.5 stars, RTC

03/15/2018
(This review can also be found on my blog.)

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I know that retellings are getting old for some people, but Daniel really does a magnificent job with this collection. As with any short story compilation, some fell a little short for me, but overall I was highly impressed with what he had done. All of the stories here are inspired by “fairytales” of some kind, but they aren't necessarily what you'll be expecting. They're the perfect blend of creepy and thoughtful.

“Someday, I think,” she said, her voice muffled under the tub, “I would like to meet someone I have not caused any pain.”

My rating for each story:

The Daughter Cells ⭐⭐⭐
The Thankless Child ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fear Not: An Incident Log ⭐⭐⭐
The Six Boy-Coffins ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Rabbit ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Merry Spinster ⭐⭐⭐
The Wedding Party ⭐⭐⭐
Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Mr. Toad ⭐⭐
Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters ⭐⭐⭐
The Frog's Princess ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors ⭐⭐⭐⭐

She was beginning to learn the danger of silence, and that someone who wishes to hear a yes will not go out of his way to listen for a no.

In total, these scores averaged out to 3.36, which I've rounded up to a 3.5. I thought they were very well-written, and was particularly excited to see a lot of gender non-conformity in the stories. Gendered pronouns and titles were essentially meaningless in some of the stories, which was an interesting and much appreciated route to take. I'd definitely recommend this collection to anyone interested.

She was reluctant to offer any of her children, even Beauty, to something so monstrous and polite but she was even more reluctant to be shot, and mothers have given their children to monsters before.