{"id":14486,"date":"2021-11-21T15:12:22","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T15:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/?p=14486"},"modified":"2023-01-03T13:25:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T13:25:06","slug":"human-beings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/archive\/human-beings\/","title":{"rendered":"[Review] Human Beings"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Human Beings<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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By Rachael Llewellyn<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ann Laabs reviews Human Beings,<\/em> a quietly dread-inducing collection of short stories by Rachael Llewellyn that will \u2018break your heart while creeping your flesh\u2019.<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u2018Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way\u2019<\/div>
\u2013 Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina<\/em><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>

While Tolstoy\u2019s famous introductory sentence in Anna Karenina<\/em> has been proven true, rarely has it been illustrated as chillingly, horrifically, and in as quietly dread-inducing a fashion as Rachael Llewellyn\u2019s short story collection Human Beings<\/em>.<\/p>

\"\"Unlike a non-genre \u2018the way we live now\u2019 family story, Llewellyn presents her stories through a Dutch angle of disquiet and unease, with thirteen stories recounted by unreliable narrators of the first, second, and third-person perspective. A film uses oblique Dutch angles to inspire fear, panic, a sense of the unseen, a sense of mental imbalance, and the feeling of threat; the reader of Human Beings<\/em> finds themselves reading these studies of love, hate, sibling rivalry, and marital dissolution from a skewed, off-kilter perspective. While the stories remain, for the most part, restrained in their approach to the graphic details, this restraint makes the occasional detours into body horror and splatterpunk even more effective and shocking.<\/p>

To use another film analogy, reading Human Beings<\/em> plunges the reader into a literary house of funhouse mirrors; but it\u2019s a particularly British funhouse, perhaps located next to Temptations Ltd (From Beyond the Grave,<\/em> UK, Kevin Connor, 1974). Like visitors to that peculiar antique shop, I found myself drawn into these stories, every single one reflecting the worst, most hidden, parts of every character, a typeset picture of Dorian Gray.<\/p>

If Llewellyn is a \u2018new to you\u2019 author, these stories carry the traces of illustrious practitioners of the macabre, seen through the lens of Llewellyn\u2019s unique voice. Throughout this collection, I detected notes of Shirley Jackson\u2019s cool, dry prose lulling me towards a quietly devastating finale, along with the subtle upending of reader\u2019s expectations in the stories and novels of Margaret Yorke.<\/p>

Individual stories, especially \u2018An Interested Party\u2019<\/em>, mix the literary disorientation of Patrick McGrath, Robert Aikman, and Ian McEwan (particularly his \u2018Ian Macabre\u2019\/Cement Garden<\/em> phase) with the artful splatterpunk of Clive Barker, producing a queasy funhouse-ride sensation, veering from high to low art in the space of a few pages, or even a few lines. Other stories, like \u2018Date Night\u2019<\/em>, recall the literary serial killers of Joyce Carol Oates (Monster<\/em>) or Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho<\/em>). The disorienting effects of \u2018Sleeplessly Sleep Walking\u2019<\/em> even suggested the hallucinatory reputation of a book I\u2019ve tried, failed, and will try again to read \u2013 House of Leaves<\/em> by Mark Z. Danielewski.<\/p>

The bodies of some of characters in Human Beings,<\/em> particularly those at the receiving end of a sociopath\u2019s attentions, recall the powerless victims in Tusk<\/em> (US, Kevin Smith, 2014), Boxing Helena<\/em> (US, Jennifer Lynch, 1993), and The Skin I Live In<\/em> (Spain, Pedro Almod\u00f3var, 2011); subject to the existential horror of loss of control over their bodies, minds, and very identity. The fates of characters in \u2018Who Is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do?\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Monochrome Dancers\u2019<\/em> still haunt me. At their most perceptive, these stories reminded me of damaged human monsters like Francisca in Eyes of my Mother<\/em> (US, Nicolas Pesce, 2016), the endlessly unsatisfied Jerry Blake in The Stepfather<\/em> (US, Joseph Ruben, 1987), and the very peculiar children in The Cement Garden<\/em> (UK, Andrew Birkin, 1993).<\/p>

Halfway through Human Beings,<\/em> I felt compelled to tally up the points of view used in this collection. For what it matters (if anything), five stories are told in the third person, four in the second person, and another four from the most suspect perspective of all, the first-person narrator. It\u2019s a complement to Llewellyn\u2019s writing that no matter which point of view was used, I didn\u2019t trust any of them.<\/p>

However, it\u2019s the family ties in Human Beings<\/em> that cut the deepest. Out of thirteen stories, eight revolve around the twisted ties between siblings (blood or step variety) or spouses (or siblings, their respective spouses and in-laws). Depending on your definition of the word, sociopaths wind their merry way in five stories.<\/p>

Whatever the family relationship or personality type, the themes developed here are so dark, no light can escape them, or allow a glimpse of hope to pierce the darkness. From abduction to abuse (physical and mental), and loss of bodily autonomy through unwilling body transformation, Human Beings<\/em> explores the gamut of atrocities one human can inflict on another. Yet through the atrocities, Llewellyn creates sympathy for even the most repulsive character. In \u2018There\u2019s Something Wrong With Rosa\u2019<\/em> and the previously mentioned \u2018Who Is Your Daddy\u2026\u2019,<\/em> the best stories leave characters trapped and tortured in an unending domestic hell they cannot escape, and the reader cannot forget.<\/p>

My two main criticisms of Human Beings<\/em> don\u2019t involve the substance of the stories, but the proofreading and cover art. Being a repeat grammar offender myself, I\u2019m loath to mention verb tenses and such, except reading a minor error takes me out of the story.<\/p>

The second item may seem like a minor quibble, but as the clich\u00e9 goes, every book is judged by its cover. After reading and reflecting on every story, and the overarching mood of the whole, the cover of Human Beings<\/em> did not reflect the themes and tone of the stories within. The title font reminded me of Candyman,<\/em> and the art doesn\u2019t capture the book\u2019s spare, unsettling tone. I picture a cover like that of Robert Aickman\u2019s 1975 collection Cold Hand In Mine,<\/em> the American paperback of The Bridesmaid<\/em> (Barbara Vine, 1989) or a variation on the iconic Ionicus covers that created a sense of unease with their landscapes of twisted trees, clouds or shadows in empty rooms (The House of Dracula, Stories of Haunted Inns<\/em>).<\/p>

At their best, the stories in Human Beings<\/em> are that rare kind of written horror; stories that break your heart while creeping your flesh. Readers diving deeper into the collection\u2019s themes will see a macabre progress, a connecting thread, from the first story to the last.<\/p>

Purchase a copy of Human Beings <\/em>by clicking the image below…<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnn Laabs\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Born and raised along the shores of Lake Michigan, Ann lives with one husband and two black cats. Her horror habit started with 1970s UHF Saturday matinee movies, before discovering Edgar Allan Poe and eventually settling into the ghost story wing of the Horror Mansion. Her employment in an office setting may not be glamorous, but does provide a great benefit \u2013 steady income for books, Blu-rays and a subscription to Shudder! After writing movie, book and TV reviews, and deep dives for TV shows The Exorcist, Bates Motel, and the first two seasons of Channel Zero at http:\/\/www.SciFi4Me.com, Ann currently publishes when she can at her blog www.FangandSaucer.com.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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More To Explore<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTales From The Crypt (1972)\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Tales From The Crypt 1972 \/ Freddie Francis Where does one start with examining arguably Amicus\u2019 greatest portmanteau film? Well, for me, wiping away the<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tThe People That Time Forgot (1977)\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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The People That Time Forgot 1977 \/ Kevin Connor The success of Amicus\u2019 first two Edgar Rice Burroughs-based fantasy adventures in 1975 and 1976 led<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tAt The Earth’s Core (1976)\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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AT THE EARTH’S CORE 1976 \/ Kevin Connor Amicus\u2019 first foray into the science fiction adventure, The Land That Time Forgot (UK, Kevin Connor, 1974)<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ann Laabs reviews Human Beings, a quietly dread-inducing collection of short stories by Rachael Llewellyn that will \u2018break your heart while creeping your flesh\u2019.\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2030],"tags":[510,1902],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/human-beings-feat.jpeg?fit=437%2C700&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14486"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17033,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14486\/revisions\/17033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}