Electric Literature

The Bone Hermit It’s very inconvenient that the hermit crab has taken up residence in your bones. At first it was disconcerting, to see him skittering along the beach, parading your salt-bleached toes outside our cottage. Sometimes he stops, right at the edge of the garden, and folds himself up into the crook of your […] The post My Dead Husband Still Wants the Last Word appeared first on Electric Literature.

Emily St John Mandel is a powerhouse of a writer. Like many, I’ve been a fan for the long haul, devouring each of her books as soon as they release. Her writing is unlike any other: utterly original, boundary-pushing, and full of sharp observations. The creativity in her novels is boundless, and I’m always delighted […] The post Emily St John Mandel Can’t Distinguish Between the Real and Surreal Anymore appeared first on Electric Literature.

Somewhere in France, two girls launch a boat into the sea. So begins Naima Coster’s latest novel, Take What You Can. We follow the girls—Milly and Val—as they navigate the waves and, as the novel unfolds further, become successful women, continuously pulled against the uneven terrain of their marriages, babies, careers, and the unfettered love […] The post TAKE WHAT YOU CAN Tests the Limits of Chosen Family appeared first on Electric Literature.

“Going Up” by Chris Vanjonack It’s the middle of the night when the Speaker first calls, and the timing is awful. It’s nearly 2:00 a.m., for one thing, and Kate teaches first thing in the morning, but what’s worse is that Tom’s neighbor—her neighbor, now, she keeps reminding herself—didn’t wear himself out from all the […] The post This Anonymous Caller Is Not a Metaphor for Her Despair appeared first on Electric Literature.

The following coming-of-age novels by African women authors are shaped by an understanding of the deep and complex relationships between women. In these works, the individual path of the traditional bildungsroman narrator is transformed into a dual path involving two (or more) young women at the cusp of self-realization. Kinship and sisterhood mean something bigger […] The post In These Novels by African Women, Coming of Age Is Collective appeared first on Electric Literature.