Her Body Among Animals
Paola Ferrante
Book*hug Press, 2023
Review by Deborah Vail
“… Kitty was less afraid of the man attacking her than of the people attacking her for being what
she was, a woman who worked in a bar coming home late in Queens; maybe Kitty didn’t want
help, even though she was clearly screaming for it.”
Paola Ferrante’s collection of speculative fiction, Her Body Among Animals, is powered by brutally honest summaries of what it means to be a woman and a mother in a toxic masculine environment
where no one escapes its influence. Not even Mother Earth. Woven throughout her stories are
reminders of the devastation of climate change as she places her characters in situations where it
can no longer be denied. Kudos to Book*hug Press for championing her unique work.
My interest in Paola Ferrante’s work began with her bio which states, unapologetically, that she
is a writer living with depression. Depression was once described to me as the process of seeking
truth and coming to terms with it, and I was curious to see to what degree her writing reflected
this challenge. There’s a quote on the back cover of her collection by Angelique Lalonde that
says it all. “These stories are a testament to a mind that travels far and a voice that speaks an
urgent language.”
One of the most powerful stories within this collection is “Everyday Horror Show.” Told in
second person, a new mother struggles to achieve balance in her upturned life and to live up to
the expectations of others. Her mother-in-law tells her to stop worrying because “it’s not the end
of the world,” but this young mother knows the end of the world is fast approaching. And what
has she done, but bring another person into it? Dark, but laced with moments of hilarity, Ferrante
never bogs the story down with too many details, trusting her readers to interpret whether the
protagonist sees ghosts or is suffering from severe postpartum depression.
Relying heavily on metaphors, this collection of sci-fi, horror, and fairy tales weaves together the
uncomfortable and often terrifying truths about what it means to exist as a woman. Yet, what she
does so masterfully is show, through her protagonists’ streams of consciousness and actions, how
the women who populate these pages have their awakenings and move forward with more
awareness and agency.
In “The Silent Grave of Birds,” a young boy’s imagination gets the better of him as he struggles
to come to terms with his involvement in the persistent bullying of a classmate, and his silence
after witnessing a rape. Ferrante imbues this young male character with compassion and
demonstrates that toxic masculinity is detrimental to everyone.
Ferrante also delves into the pressure women place on each other. Lil, the mother in “So What if
it’s Supposed to Rain,” is intimidated by the MOTHER of all mothers that constantly corrects
and judges her parenting of a rebellious teenage daughter. Watching one woman place judgment
on another begs the question of why any of us participate in this ritual.
The story, “Finding Houdini,” demanded a second read. Initially, I didn’t think it belonged within
the collection because of the straightforward, chronological nature of the story: a woman is
spurned, chases the man, finds him, and executes her revenge. And here’s where Ferrante’s
storytelling is so masterful because, the second time around, I was able to mine a much deeper
meaning from the narrative. Her protagonist’s quest is not to keep the man, but to understand how
she had seen him as something he was not. Again, her characters evolve.
Ferrante’s main characters are given few physical descriptors—some are never named. This stroke of artistic brilliance enables the reader to sink into their unique, genre-bending worlds, witness their realities, and absorb their inner thoughts. Readers need to slow down and pay attention to subtle details.
This collection of mind-bending stories is not an easy read but one you will return to many times.
And don’t expect tidy endings. Approach Ferrante’s work with an open mind and the capacity to
push preconceived notions about gender relations and our treatment of planet Earth aside. Take
your time, and let each story sink in. You will not be disappointed.
Deborah Vail’s writing has been published widely across Canada in journals such as The New
Quarterly, Grain Magazine, and The Antigonish Review to name a few. She completed an MFA
in creative writing from UBC in 2020 and is currently working on her own collection of short
stories.