Strange Horizons, 12 December 2005

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"Bone Women" by Eliot Fintushel

"Bone Women" by Eliot Fintushel stands out as a truly good story, a successful meld of literary and genre.

Fintushel takes an angsty, disjointed approach to his narrative, but as a style he successfully carries this off resulting in a great stream-of-consciousness story that dips into slipstream. Tasty bites of word-imagery bob to the surface of this complicated piece. It’s almost as if Fintushel resurrected Henry Miller and slapped him around a bit before making him type a story on his behalf. Well, perhaps not quite, but there is definitely a mix of the semi-autobiographical and the surreal.

Jumping between Hemingway-esque punchy sentences and his own thunderously defiant ramble, there are some gritty moments in this tale, an almost disturbing look at sexuality and love, at confusion and thwarted desire.

Amongst the "letters" from the characters to the authors, there is a truly awful poem in the middle. This is perhaps forgivable if it is intentional; regardless, it was the only part of "Bone Women" that jarred in this eclectic mix of images and styles.

Do yourself a favour and read this right away!