Fantasy/Horror Novella Review: Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

 




Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

Comfort Me With Apples is the latest work of award-nominated/winning author Catherynne M. Valente, who is frequently known for her stories taking and spinning off fairy/folk tales (Six-Gun Snow White for example).  I've liked some of Valente's short fiction; on the other hand, her more comedic or satirical works like Space Opera haven't really worked for me.  So I was originally going to skip this one, but for all the hype I've seen for it.  

And Comfort Me With Apples is an unsettling short horror novella, which makes clear from the very beginning that something strange is going on in a way that will likely be very familiar to the reader (with some humorously horrifying excerpts from a homeowners' association rules) before a reveal that really twists expectations.  Saying anything more about the plot will spoil, so I won't do that, but I will say this is a really interesting horror novella that will be worth reading if you are looking for a short horror thriller read.  

Quick Plot Summary:  Sophia's life is perfect.  She has a husband she was made for.  A house that is perfect in a community - the Arcadia Gardens - that is warm, welcoming and lovely.  And if her husband is sometimes away long, well she is perfectly happy alone, maintaining the house, entertaining guests, buying gifts for parties, and more.  

Everything is perfect.  Until one day she notices a drawer out of place she doesn't recall seeing before......

Thoughts:  It's tricky to talk about this novella without spoiling (I'll have a few thoughts in ROT13 below), but safe to say, it's one that at first will make readers think they're reading some kind of a Stepford Wives/Bluebeard riff, with Sophia thinking of herself as being "made" for her unnamed husband, and happily thinking about cleaning and being the perfect wife, guest, and host.  This of course requires the story to hit a lot of very familiar and predictable beats for a while, but Valente's prose manages to still infuse such beats with an incredible amount of creepiness and dread of what might be revealed.  Every chapter is preceded by quotes from a list of Homeowners Association Rules for the Arcadia Gardens, which Valente manages to make kind of comedic in their ridiculousness ("Suffering of any kind is and shall be considered contraband") while also keeping them unsettling.  

And then there's the reveal, which is absolutely both what you think it is....and absolutely not what you think it is, which upon a reread makes you realize there were hints there all along, albeit ones you'd absolutely not expect.  The result is a subversion of a classic story that will leave you thinking for a while afterwards, especially as it relates to our own world.  
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Spoiler in ROT13 (DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS FIRST - This will ruin the impact of the reveal):  

Gur Erirny vf gung guvf vfa'g n Fgrcsbeq be Oyhrorneq fgbel ernyyl - vg'f n fhoirefvba bs Nqnz, Rir, Yvyvgu naq gur Tneqra bs Rqra.  Nyy gur bgure punenpgref unir navzny anzrf (jvgu nygrerq fcryyvatf) be bar gur anzr bs na natry, naq gurl ner va gur Tneqra bs Rqra, jurer Nqnz vf n cevivyrtrq nffubyr zna nyybjrq ol Tbq gb xrrc perngvat arj jbzra gb freir uvz, rkprcg sbe gur bar jub rfpncrq - Yvyvgu - bs juvpu Fbcuvn vf bayl gur yngrfg jvsr perngrq sebz Nqnz'f obql (uvf rlrf).  Va guvf fgbel, abg bayl vf Yvyvgu gur hafrra ureb, ohg Nqnz naq Tbq ner gur znyr zbafgref, jub znl abg trg gurve pbzrhccnapr hagvy Rir vf svanyyl perngrq.  

Znxvat Nqnz vagb n cevivyrtrq obl jubfr sngure jvyy arire fgbc tvivat zber punaprf qrfcvgr ehvavat zber naq zber jbzra nf Inyragr qbrf vf oevyyvnagyl hafrggyvat, naq jvyy unir lbh guvaxvat sbe n juvyr.