A short and sweet review for the short story, from the “Mexican Gothic” author Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Happy Wednesday, everyone! I was debating on whether to write a review for this; it’s a short story and it’s also more fitting for the Spooky Season, not the cozy winter season we’re heading (rather rapidly) into. But! Even with its spooky themes, it does take place over a harsh, brutal winter, so I’ll take that as a win for posting this in late November. Plus I really enjoyed it, so I wanted to share my thoughts with you fine specimens of society.
I’m giving this story a solid 4 out of 5 stars.
“The Lover” is a short story. Goodreads clocks it at 43 pages. To me that’s a “Gasp, how could it be so incredibly short??” But to others who are more avid readers of short stories, “The Lover” may actually be on the longer side. I tend to not read a lot of short stories; if I do they’re in a larger book of other short stories, like Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery and Other Stories.” However, thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories, (didn’t know this was a thing!) I got an ARC of this story and wanted to see more of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s work. I enjoyed “Mexican Gothic” but just couldn’t get into “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau,” so I figured I’d dip my toes back into Moreno-Garcia once again with “The Lover.”
This story follows a woman named Judith, who wishes for love one brutal winter. When a handsome hunter comes from the deep dark woods, she believes her wish has come true. Unfortunately, the hunter decides to be with (and eventually wed) Judith’s sister, Alice. Devastated, Judith soon comes to meet another man from the woods; a man who offers Judith much more than she expected.
Since I’m new to short stories, it’s going to be tough for me to talk about this one without saying some spoilers, so I’m going to put a blanket spoiler warning here, just in case.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia did a great job with this story. I felt like all the characters I met in this remote and bitterly cold village were wonderfully three-dimensional for a 40+ page story. The only exception is the sister Alice, but I find that to be by design; she’s the spoiled, bratty sister who complains about Judith all the time and spends money on frivolous things. That’s not to say that Judith doesn’t have her faults, I guess I just find them more enticing than Alice’s.
The other characters had a good amount of depth for the length of the story. I could feel the passion Judith had with Nathaniel, the hunter and Alice’s husband, yet also feel whatever the heck was simmering underneath the surface between Judith and The Stranger.
The Stranger is a man who comes from the woods and takes an… interesting liking to Judith. At first she believes he’s a vagrant, just passing through for some scraps of food and a place to shield himself from the cold. But when The Stranger starts to weave his tales and discloses a “curse” put upon him to Judith, she seems to be intrigued, yet doesn’t believe his stories. She laughs his tales off, but he keeps coming around and she keeps letting him in. There’s something about him; he’s dangerous, he’s cunning, he’s handsome in all the ways Nathaniel isn’t. There’s an interesting dynamic that not even Judith can understand. But The Stranger does.
I think my favorite is The Stranger. We have no idea if what he says is true throughout the whole story, and yet we obviously know something is true, which I found intriguing without rolling my eyes. And while I knew Judith and The Stranger would come together in the end, I wasn’t expecting the extra facet of Nathaniel being involved. The story could’ve ended a few different ways, one of which is what I thought would happen: Judith, wearing the red ribbon in her hair, being lured by the call of the wolf to a river and finding her doom there. However, this ending was a… well, “delight” sounds like a weird word to use, but I’m using it. Instead of the story ending with Judith’s doom, it ends with Nathaniel’s – the man who can’t make up his damn mind and is stringing both women along. The Stranger felt Judith’s betrayal and heartbreak when it came to Nathaniel, and he exploited it. All for her.
Hence the reason I couldn’t help cackling at the end of the story. Yes honey, let the wolf in, let him take care of what troubles you. Heh heh.
Thanks again to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read “The Lover” yet, or any of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s novels? Loved it? Hated it? Have recommendations for me for other short stories to read? Let me know in the comments below!
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