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A review by barefootmegz
Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts by Mahtab Narsimhan, Tyler Keevil, Lucas K. Law, A.C. Wise, Lorina Stephens, Bev Geddes, Edward Willett, Gemma Files, Susan Forest, Kelley Armstrong, Amanda Sun, James Alan Gardner, Suzanne Church, Hayden Trenholm, Erika Holt, Robert Runte, Sherry Peters, A.M. Dellamonica, Derwin Mak, Rich Larson, Ursula Pflug
3.0
Because mental health is so important to me, both personally and professionally, it is impossible to give an unbiased review of this collection of shorts.
Initially, I wrote mini-reviews for each story in my GoodReads updates. Around the tenth story I became irritated and deserted that endeavor. The first few stories were really enjoyable, while the latter half became increasingly absurd and/or technical.
I like sci-fi, but I’m not a rabid fan. I think digesting so many different sci-fi worlds one after the other may have become a bit overwhelming. Of course, I tend to like to digest anthologies slowly, over many months, which is not always possible when a book needs to be reviewed.
Some thoughts on my likes and dislikes:
* I preferred the stories where the mental illness being focused on wasn’t spelled out. Sometimes it was easy to figure out (schizophrenia or other delusional disorders), others, like autism and grief, more subtle.
* I feel like the point (one of the points) of this anthology was how pervasive mental health is. It doesn’t need a genre of its own; it needs to be PART OF all our genres.
* Some of the stories made the sci-fi element of their story a result of their character’s mental illness. I did not like this (see paragraph above). I preferred the stories taking place in a sci-fi universe, WITH characters that have mental illness. Example: The Intersection by Lorina Stephens, where a brother on a space station uses technology to be “physically” present while his sister is having a panic attack.
* My least favourite of all the stories are those that cast doubt on whether the delusional party is truly ill. I’m not talking about an unreliable narrator or a mind-bending story. I’m talking about those short stories where the author addresses the diagnoses as being incorrect, for example, in Troubles by Sherry Peters, where the protagonist does not take her treatment, and where the author treats the fay that her character sees as real, but only visible to her. This is a damaging narrative, and allows the romanticisation of mental illness, and ultimately disallows for effective treatment. How Objects Behave on the Edge of a Black Hole by A.C. Wise is at risk of this too; trying very hard to rationalise the sister's ghost, this time by means of science. (I'm not opposed to science explaining apparent paranormal appearances, but using it to attempt to deny a mental illness is risky.)
* Some of my favourite parts were actually in the foreword and the author’s notes. In all, I found this to be an important anthology, and at the very least its faults can contribute to important debate.
Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book via NetGalley and Laksa Media Groups in exchange for an honest review.
Initially, I wrote mini-reviews for each story in my GoodReads updates. Around the tenth story I became irritated and deserted that endeavor. The first few stories were really enjoyable, while the latter half became increasingly absurd and/or technical.
I like sci-fi, but I’m not a rabid fan. I think digesting so many different sci-fi worlds one after the other may have become a bit overwhelming. Of course, I tend to like to digest anthologies slowly, over many months, which is not always possible when a book needs to be reviewed.
Some thoughts on my likes and dislikes:
* I preferred the stories where the mental illness being focused on wasn’t spelled out. Sometimes it was easy to figure out (schizophrenia or other delusional disorders), others, like autism and grief, more subtle.
* I feel like the point (one of the points) of this anthology was how pervasive mental health is. It doesn’t need a genre of its own; it needs to be PART OF all our genres.
* Some of the stories made the sci-fi element of their story a result of their character’s mental illness. I did not like this (see paragraph above). I preferred the stories taking place in a sci-fi universe, WITH characters that have mental illness. Example: The Intersection by Lorina Stephens, where a brother on a space station uses technology to be “physically” present while his sister is having a panic attack.
* My least favourite of all the stories are those that cast doubt on whether the delusional party is truly ill. I’m not talking about an unreliable narrator or a mind-bending story. I’m talking about those short stories where the author addresses the diagnoses as being incorrect, for example, in Troubles by Sherry Peters, where the protagonist does not take her treatment, and where the author treats the fay that her character sees as real, but only visible to her. This is a damaging narrative, and allows the romanticisation of mental illness, and ultimately disallows for effective treatment. How Objects Behave on the Edge of a Black Hole by A.C. Wise is at risk of this too; trying very hard to rationalise the sister's ghost, this time by means of science. (I'm not opposed to science explaining apparent paranormal appearances, but using it to attempt to deny a mental illness is risky.)
* Some of my favourite parts were actually in the foreword and the author’s notes. In all, I found this to be an important anthology, and at the very least its faults can contribute to important debate.
“We know what to do about gashed skin or a child’s fever. We can see for ourselves when a wound is healed or a child is over a flu. The mind though. It’s secretive, complex, powerful. When it’s sick, we flinch, not knowing what to do, unable to see. There’s nothing familiar to guide us.”
Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book via NetGalley and Laksa Media Groups in exchange for an honest review.