Source: Preordered purchase. This is a review of my personal reading experience.
Comfort Me With Apples is a new horror novella by Catherynne M. Valente.
Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.
It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.
But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...
But everything is perfect. Isn't it?
I anticipate this review being a struggle to write. I loved this book but was also underwhelmed by this book. I highly recommend it - and - I don't.
I love Catherynne M. Valente. Her writing is so wonderful and her imagination is perfection. I love entering her worlds and reading her words. Comfort Me with Apples was no exception to this. The reading experience - consuming Valente's words - was a wonderful way to spend my afternoon.
However - this type of allegorical whimsy is hard for me to fully embrace in an adult book. Overall, I enjoyed the writing very much, but I just never connected to the story.
3/5 stars
⭐⭐⭐★★
