I just finished reading Sweet Violent Femmes, a short story
collection by Holly M. Kothe, an indie author. There are four stories in the
collection and they each share a common theme, which the title alludes to,
though the stories and characters themselves are quite different aside from
said shared theme. Overall, I enjoyed the read, but while each story was
well-written, I felt that the last two stories were the strongest, though the
first would have been very strong if one little thing had been added in my
view.
First up, there’s The Glass Room. It’s a story set in Paris
and without going into spoiler territory, it’s essentially one continuous scene
where girls are assembled in a glass room, while clients view them and then pay
the owners of the establishment to be ‘serviced’. As you can imagine, the story
touches on what it’s like to be in that line of business, with the emphasis on
what might be felt if they’re abused at the hands of the clients. I liked the
emphasis on how greed can affect people and how the rich can get away with
things because . . . well, they have money. It’s true to life, sadly.
For me, the reason it’s not as strong as it could be is
because there was only really a sentence or two that explained how the main
character ended up working in the place. You can draw your own conclusions easily enough. The ending
to the story is quite well deserved too.
The next story, Tethered, was not really for me
unfortunately. That’s not the story’s fault. Basically, it’s a surreal story
with a supernatural element where a woman tries to piece together what happened
to her. I can’t really give more details than that sadly, with it being the
type of story that’s quite easy to spoil. Again though, it did end on a good
note.
Seeing Black, the third story, was really quite good. The
only downside for me was that when a particular character was mentioned, it was
pretty obvious what would happen. It was just the ‘how’ that was in question.
The story itself is about an emotionally damaged woman who’s trying to cope
with a breakup that has scarred her. I won’t get into further details than
that.
The final story, Feminist Theory, didn’t have the same
problem. It kept me guessing right to the end as to who would be on the main
character’s hit list. Actually, that’s incorrect. Essentially, the story is
about the interaction between a doctor and his ‘patient’. Obviously, the
greater story is unravelled through the narrative. That’s just the basics. I
knew the doctor was the one on the main character’s hit list, but I didn’t know
why until the end, nor did I know who he actually was (in terms of the story
that the main character tells the doctor). I rather enjoyed this one at any
rate.
Overall, all of the stories were well-written as to be
expected from Holly, because I’d previously read one of her short stories
published online. They all share the common theme of females getting vengeance
on males who’ve wronged them and in closing, I would definitely recommend that
people give the stories a try. The only thing is that the stories are
definitely not suitable for children etc. and some adults might balk at the content
as well. Let’s just say that no punches are pulled, which is how it should be
when telling the sort of stories that these are, as you need represent the
situations accurately for them to have the necessary impact.
The story can be found here:
