It's funny, oh me, I'm jealous of this author and it's a bit hard for me to write about it. The term (or movement) magic realism has come up a lot with this collection of short stories, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised By Wolves", and the combination of the fantastical with the fantastically lonely, ostracized, obscured soul brings together in an unusual and powerful way these full-bodied tales. Imagine that the author was my age when she did it! Karen Russell, still not 30, pretty, published, hmmm. I hate her! And I can't wait for she does next.
The protagonists here, whether they are the pretty/slutty girl's best friend (Big Red in "City of Shells"), the wolf-raised girl struggling to adapt to a harsh new culture (Claudette in the title story), or the old man on his isolated boat post-retirement (Sawtooth in "Out to Sea"), they all have one thing in common: they would never be protagonists in real life. What I mean by that is, they are not the spectacular lead-roles, and even in their own 360 degree reality they are unimportant, but Karen Russell shifts the focus to them. Tells their story.
Then it is that these forgotten-abouts are either engulfed in the fantastical already, or about to be. Set in an island dwelling, Sawtooth is part of a retirement community of refurbished boats and lives out at sea, the isolation and loneliness of aging and being cast away a definite poignant point. The concept of "ZZ's Sleep -Away Camp for Disordered Dreamers" is immaculate in its conception, seemingly well-researched on the sleep disorders of the day, and terrifying as the dreamers investigate an unexpected sheep murderer (and how apt is that!). Then the title story, which is the most powerful statement on the tyranny of conformity, which shows the progressions made at this home for girls raised by wolves, where they turn these girls against even their sister, breaking down their bonds and beating their minds into their image of what it is to be human. As if Karen Russell, or anyone, had to create such establishments, but indeed the creativity in her use of magical elements keeps these from being simple, redundant, disposable commentary, and raise the tension in the process of explaining our combustible spirits.
Over the past few weeks I bought this book, read a bunch of it shortly after buying it, left it locked in school for a week, forgot to bring it home, read it and read it, stopped, forgot about some of the earlier stories, finished it, browsed back, certainly not how I like to do it. But through all that, the writing of Karen Russell and her "Girls Raised By Wolves" has been memorable, as her work is sensitive whilst avoiding gross sentimentality, and instructive on the heart of the outsider without showing them pity. Brilliant! (Guinness guys crack bottles, drink up).
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