'...And any child or half-child of mine would be called a monster, wouldn’t it?’
‘Born on American soil to an American mother – such a child could become President. It would be American. And I’m married so it would also be legitimate. After I sold the story to the dailies, it would be rich, too. It’s surprising how little people mind what they’re called, so long as they have enough money.’ [loc. 747]
In the introduction, Irenosen Okojie notes that this novel 'has quietly influenced and been championed by many cultural juggernauts: Guillermo del Toro’s film The Shape of Water, for one'... The basic premise is remarkably similar to that film's: a suburban woman has her life upturned when she encounters a humanoid amphibian, captured by scientists but desperate for freedom. There is love, and sex, and an escape. But Ingalls' novel focusses more on Dorothy than on Larry (the amphibian), and there is rather more going on in Dorothy's life than in the life of the mute Elisa in del Toro's film.
Dorothy is married to Fred ('we're too unhappy to get a divorce') and is well aware that he's cheating on her, again. The couple have no children, but Dorothy's good friend Estelle has a teenaged daughter who's becoming a bit of a handful. Estelle also has two lovers -- apparently they don't know about each other -- while Dorothy feels she is 'no longer a part of any world in which love was possible'. Dorothy had a dog: it died. She is more than ready for Larry to transform her life, and to reawaken her interest in the world: he's curious about humans, enamoured of avocados, tender and caring towards Dorothy. And he killed the scientists at the Institute, because they were torturing him.
This is a short novel, 124 pages in print, but Ingalls makes every sentence count. Dorothy's life of quiet desperation is vividly and poignantly described, and the glorious blossoming that Larry brings with him transforms her for ever. Not always a cheerful novel(la), but a beautiful, warm-hearted and quietly anarchic one.
For Shop Your Shelves Bingo, Summer 2023: purchased 03 FEB 2022, prompt 'monstrous'.
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