Joke’s on me, because I picked up this ARC for the last story, a retelling of Billy Budd from Captain Vere’s point of view. I figured I’d sample the rest; instead I went down the buffet line and inhaled them all. Rarely do I like every story in a short story collection, but that’s what Goodman’s done to me. The cover and title are not helping the book find its audience, as indicated by the low ratings and confused reviews on Goodreads. I expected stoic litfic a la Garth Greenwell; instead there’s surrealism, hilarity, dream states, spec fic and fantasy, myth retellings, and my favorite: the disillusioned Anglican vicar Alan, writing letters from Tarsus and Antioch, heretically following the footsteps of St. Thekla and St. Paul. The writing buzzes with life, surreal, queer in every sense of the word, delightful.
Paul would not have stood for women priests, but it’s not a theological issue. It’s personal. It’s fear. There’s something so primal, so terrifyingly juicy and alive about women, they must be the death of the church as we know it. It’s why babies are banned from the Houses of Parliament. One burbling baby chuckle and all of the intricate ramblings of all those clever politicians will burst and seem as nothing. Forget the arguments. There’s nothing worth hearing but the baby. Women in the church are the same. The power of birth pours through them. They’re like seedlings in a forest of dry old sticks. Nature says they have to win. Men preach God. Women live it.
ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.