Strange Horizons, April 13, 2015

“Among the Sighs of the Violoncellos” by Daniel Ausema

Reviewed by Bob Blough

Daniel Ausema‘s story in this week’s Strange Horizons, “Among the Sighs of the Violoncellos,” is not really a story but more of a poetic meditation. 

What it succeeds in showing us is a very unusual fairy garden. In each section we see a different part of the garden, and its owner, the Marquesa. Most importantly we get an idea of the gardeners themselves who narrate each section. Being a prose poem it is very short, and I cannot comment on each section without destroying its beauty as a whole work. It is more of a diaphanous tapestry than a story. If you desire plot and action you will not like it. However, if you like luminous writing filled with imaginative verbal pictures then this is for you.