Book 99 - Push It Push It

Title: Natural Histories

Author: Guadalupe Nettel

Genre: surreal short story

This wee little book full of strange little tales didn't do much more than frustrate the shit out of me.

Of the five stories in this collection, only one stirred something resembling interest in me. The plots were medium and the tellings flat. None of the characters were overly interesting, and although the speaker changed (child, adult, male, female), the tone and voice did not, making all the stories blend together despite the unique circumstances and cast of characters.

The schtick of this collection is comparing human behaviour to something in the animal/insect world. I like the idea, and can understand what Nettel is going for - a cool (as in, temperature), unsettling vibe where human heat meets the chill of the natural world. But she just doesn't push it enough to get there. I got a faint twinge of creepy, but not enough to really make an impact. And maybe that's a translation issue, buuuut I'm not convinced because the plots and parallels were very basic.

Rating:🍓🍓 /5