A review by meixiaotian
The Silence of the Wilting Skin by Tlotlo Tsamaase

3.0

It’s a very surreal story that makes sense in a meta way rather than literally. It’s about the loss of culture, language, ethnic identity to (white) people who seek to expand and assimilate. I think the way this is represented is really interesting and creative. I was struck by a line where the protagonist is begging for help, but “my throat throws up my own language in italics forms into the air.” The way the (black) protagonist and her family and neighbors lose their homes and bodies is also a strong image and metaphor.

However, I wasn’t a fan of how the narrative feels like a meandering dream. Things happen, but it doesn’t feel like there’s a coherent plot. Characters exist, but they aren’t well defined and their dialogue is unnatural. Sometimes it works, often it doesn’t. The many strange elements of the world, like the dreamskins, or the love medicine, or the loss of names, are cool and interesting, but there are too many weird things, and they’re not developed as much as I would like. They’re also often explained by characters expositing to each other, which is just odd. I know this story has left realism far behind, but I still don’t like characters explaining familiar parts of their world to each other.

I thought I had a decent tolerance for surreal, Weird stories, but it’s not enough for this one.