We Travel the Spaceways

I loved the narrating voice and the characters of Kim and Grimace, but I didn't care much for the writing style or the premise. I'm not particularly fond of what by all appearances is severe mental illness being portrayed as supernatural, especially when it leads to extremes such as the burning of Black churches (and mosques) because soda cans allegedly possessed by the old gods demanded it. I'm uncomfortable with that on so many levels, none of which I'm keen on trying to articulate right now. I just can't handle it; it makes me feel extremely unsettled and not in the pleasant way of, say, a thriller or horror story.

Having dialogue from secondary characters - including the cans and bottles - followed not by proper prose but rather by square bracketed comments was just the nail in the coffin for my reading experience. For example:

???You don???t have time for this.??? [Dr Pepper; spilling out of the bag so she could survey the room]

me-problem

real life religions

especially mosques

I've been hearing LaValle's name a lot lately and I figured this short story would be a good option to see if I like his style, I had zero Idea what I was getting into. I'm still not entirely sure what I read but I enjoyed the tone and style of it. It was quirky in a grim sort of way and it was also sweet in a beautiful and sad way. That being said I, like seemingly quite a few other reviewers, would have liked something more from this story.

We are all imperfectly perfect and can be used by God and our ancestors.