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The debut novella from the Elgin Award nominated author of Elegies of Rotting Stars. After the death of her estranged father, artist Rita struggles with grief and regret. There was so much she wanted to ask him-about his childhood, their family, and the Mi'kmaq language and culture from which Rita feels disconnected. But when Rita's girlfriend Molly forges an artist's residency application on her behalf, winning Rita a week to paint at an isolated cabin, Rita is both furious and intrigued. The residency is located where her father grew up. On the first night at the cabin, Rita wakes to strange sounds. Was that a body being dragged through the woods? When she questions the locals about the cabin's history, they are suspicious and unhelpful. Ignoring her unease, Rita gives in to dark visions that emanate from the forest's lake and the surrounding swamp. She feels its pull, channelling that energy into art like she's never painted before. But the uncanny visions become more insistent, more intrusive, and Rita discovers that in the swamp's decay the end of one life is sometimes the beginning of another.
Publication Year: 2023
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0 03.5/5 (rounded up to 4)
CW: suicidal thoughts, grief, death of a parent, animal death, mental illness, psychosis, body horror, blood, child abuse (recounted), racism, vomit, emotional abuse
This was an interesting book in concept, but it took awhile to get there for me.
Through a series of vignettes of a struggling artist's retreat and disappearance in an remote cabin, Green Fuse Burning touches on the impact of grief and trauma as well as existentialism due to the ongoing climate crisis. Since our main character, Rita, suffered from hallucinations since a child, it was hard to understand what exactly was going on in the book (i.e. what's real and what's a figment of Rita's hallucinations). However, I do think that the themes are so important and I feel that Morris clears up any confusion garnered at the end of the book.
Additionally, I listened to the audiobook version of the book and I'm not sure if I would entirely recommend going into this book solely by listening to the audiobook. The book is very fast-paced and I did get lost at times from what exactly was happening in the book, especially as connecting the paintings featured at the beginning of each chapter to what was happening in the plot. Plus, Morris herself narrates the audiobook, and while her narration was fine, you didn't necessarily get much emotion when it came to character dialogue.
That being said, while Green Fuse Burning is a fast-paced novella, effort must be taken to fully understand the intent behind Morris' debut. As a whole, I thought it was a good story, but I feel as though I might need to choose a different format if I were to read this book again.
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