Welcome back to Back Shelf Saturdays, where I review backlist titles I didn’t get to read when they were first published. I do this every week to ensure I’m reading more than just newly released and forthcoming titles. For my purposes, a backlist title is at least one year past its release date.
This week’s title is Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente. Comfort Me with Apples was nominated for the 2021 Shirley Jackson Award for Novella and the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for Horror. I don’t want to oversell this one, but this just might be my favorite Back Shelf Review so far.
| Title: Brynmore | Author: Catherynne M. Valente |
| Genre: Horror / Fantasy | Publisher: Tordotcom |
| Release Date: November 9, 2021 | Page Count: 103 |
Synopsis
Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.
It’s just that he’s away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.
But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband’s face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can’t quite meet her gaze…
But everything is perfect. Isn’t it?
Review:
Comfort Me with Apples is nothing like I expected. It’s haunting, twisted, and claustrophobic. It’s a story of what it’s like to be made small in one’s own home and to be made to take up as little space as possible.
Sophia goes through her days pleasantly enough, tending to her large home and her large husband. She does chores in town, cleans, and cooks. But Sophia cannot answer whether she is happy, and she does not understand why everyone keeps asking her. As she starts finding things that don’t belong in her home – bones, vials of blood, hairbrushes, and pieces of hair that aren’t hers – she realizes she doesn’t know everything.
Comfort Me with Apples overflows with allegory and references. Simultaneously alluding to the Bible and HOA contracts, it’s a story unlike anything I’ve ever read. The closest comparative book I can think of is Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson, which matches the literary lyricism of Comfort Me with Apples.
Audiobook:
Coming in at only 2 hours and 19 minutes, Comfort Me with Apples can easily be read in one afternoon or one long car ride. Karis Campbell’s narration is eery and increasingly terrifying. As Sophia discovers more about her life and the world around her, Campbell’s voice becomes more and more unsettling.
Final Thoughts:
Comfort Me with Apples is my favorite SFF novella in a very long time. I think horror novellas might be my niche. While I loved this book, at its core, Comfort Me with Apples is a retelling of a biblical story. It may not be your cup of tea, and that’s okay! If you are good with a spin on a biblical tale, I absolutely recommend it.
Rating: 5+/5 Stars. Going on my Infinity Stars shelf. My favorite SFF novella in a long time.
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