Review of Henry Stanton, “Mother Imago”, Syntax and Salt #5, December 2017: Read Online. Reviewed by Tiffany Crystal
I didn’t understand this work at all. It has some beautiful lines in it, and I get the impression that the title is a play on words, “Mother, I’mma go (now)”, but other than that, I’m really not sure what the author was trying to play at.
What is the importance of those three guns? Did the shadow that appeared make the person walk further into the marsh? Or was it symbolic of them waking up to realizing that they didn’t mean anything to the world? They mention passing through “that circle of hell”, and shades, which gives the impression that they’re a ghost. Are they walking into the marsh because they’ve grown weary of their existence outside their mother’s shack? How did their mother summon them, anyway?
Don’t get me wrong, the writing is well done, I just wish for a bit more substance to the story.
[…] We’ve reviewed stories by award-winning authors, stories that have been selected for their year’s “Best Of” anthologies, stories by authors for whom this is their first publication. We’ve reviewed stories in pro venues, in semi-pro venues, and in emerging venues that hope to one day reach those levels. We’ve reviewed stories published by mainstream publishers as well as ones that have been self-published or published by small presses. Want to read our most-read review? It’s of George R. Galuschak and Chris Cornell’s anthology Abandoned Places. Want to read a review that was missed by most of our readers when it was first published>? Then read our review of Henry Stanton’s “Mother Imago”. […]
LikeLike