I have been WAITING for my library (libraries) to buy this book, but in a casual sort of way. I freely admit to having a bit of Goodreads snobbery—my time is valuable and finite, and I’m always wary of starting or trying a book that doesn’t hit that vaunted 4.0. This story is a great example of why I should check that attitude at the door every so often and try things that seem compelling. Don’t judge a book by its Goodreads rating!
Full disclosure, this book does require some familiarity with Jane Eyre, and a passing familiarity with the myth of Dracula (but no need to have read the book, as I have not). The conceit is this: Lucy (Dracula’s first/one of his first? victims) and Bertha (she of attic fame) are immortal and currently living in the free love 1970s hills of California. All is not as it seems, though, as they are immortal by virtue of “cannot die” ism, and they are also perpetually trying to stay one step ahead of the similarly immortal Dracula (currently in ashes interned in urns made of Transylvanian earth, which nonetheless have the ability to move and unbury themselves in a never ending quest to escape and reunite with their fellow cinders) and Rochester (who has the ability to mysticize other nubile women, along with Jane, a sort of proto-tech bro with a harem). They live hand to mouth, pawning old world jewels and squatting in various houses that they are perpetually cleaning since nature rebels against their very presence—in a lovely, gothic detail, they wake up every day to signs of rot and decay in their house, car etc that has to be painstakingly cleared away so as to prevent everything from crumbling onto them.
Fans of Mexican Gothic and those who found the book interesting but a Bit Much will really enjoy this one—it’s so perfectly in the Venn diagram of literary in jokes, atmosphere, hopeless odds, lesbians and overcoming sexism. So, essentially, yet another book designed to appeal to me?
Kiste does a great job of setting out the parameters of the “magic” so to speak, which are all pretty great (if not particularly subtle) metaphors for the larger societal issues that the book is speaking to. Lucy basically starves rather than drink the blood of fellow humans and sequesters herself from romantic relationships from the trauma of her experience with Dracula. When she meets someone she does like, she’s horrified to find that he’s imprinted on her so to speak—a pretty blatant view on how she needs to learn to rely on people and have them rely on her, etc, in order to have a healthy relationship. Rochester’s ability to hypnotize young women into ignoring their own needs in favor of his is a meditation on society’s “there can only be one” attitude.
All in all, highly recommend this gem of a novel. Let it wash over you and get sucked into the vibes
