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| Lungs Full of Noise
ISBN: 9781609382179
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / University of Iowa Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Language & Literature;
The 12 stories in Mellas's debut collection, which won the 2013 Iowa Short Fiction Award, employ fantasy to magnifying effect as she explores the ways women and girls view themselves and their shortcomings. Much like Karen Russell or Aimee Bender, Mellas uses bizarre and even grotesque elements to test the mettle of her characters-or to indicate their skewed worldviews. Many resort to extreme tactics to get what they want: figure skaters screw blades directly into their feet and shave their bodies to give themselves an added edge in "Mariposa Girls"; a woman alleviates empty-nest syndrome by raising caterpillars in "The White Wings of Moths"; and a menopausal caregiver has "an evergreen baby" in "Beanstalk." In "Dye Job," a gaggle of high school girls gorge on fruit to lure prom dates. "So Many Wings" depicts a divorcee making off with her ex-husband's severed arm from a morgue. "Bibi From Jupiter," which centers on a college student who, over the course of two semesters, has more-unusual-than-average roommate issues, is a departure. The other six stories have an impressionistic, abstract bent, lacking coherent narrative backbones; the best of these, "Quiet Camp," hyperbolizes the punishments that girls endure for being loquacious. This collection establishes Mellas as a writer of strong, strange, and questioning stories. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Tessa Mellas 's stories have appeared in Crazyhorse, Gulf Coast, Hayden's Ferry Review, Prism International, and StoryQuarterly and have been anthologized in 40 Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial and Apocalypse Now: Prose and Poetry from the End of Days. Born in northern New York, she has competed nationally in synchronized figure skating. She earned a BA from St. Lawrence University, an MFA from Bowling Green State University, and a PhD from the University of Cincinnati. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two cats and teaches writing at the Ohio State University.
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