By: Munira Ahmadad
*Warning: this review contains spoilers for the short story “We’re Alive” (located in the PRIZM section of the Plaid Line)
“We’re Alive” is a short horror story written by HPSH student Daniel Kendle, and this article is a review of it and a discussion of my thoughts about the story.
The short story begins with an unnamed narrator in a jungle, they’re inside a garden sanctum when they watch a monstrous creature made of the jungle’s organic life become animated. Initially the being is referred to as the jungle’s newest creation which led me to think it never existed before, but it’s soon described as ancient and something of a folk story. The narrator watches, petrified and intrigued as it moves towards them. Spores surrounded them as they stared at each other. After the narrator’s reluctant escape, a month later, they remain haunted by the interaction with the garden’s monster and become unable to function normally. After dreaming of being with the creature in a physical and emotional loving bind, we see the narrator lose their grip on reality and by the end they harm themself with a crazed desire to return to the garden.
The story truly succeeds at providing the descriptions necessary to paint a detailed visualization of the scenes in the story. I don’t read much horror, but the narrator losing their grip on reality is a relatively common trope. After reading through, I wondered if the inspiration for this work was “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe since both use obsession as its element and have narrators you know next to nothing about. The plot itself reminds me of “The Black Cat”, also by Edgar Allan Poe.
One of the very first things that made me feel iffy while reading through was the literary diction. Written in the narrator’s perspective, they describe how they felt, what they did and thought, and what was going on. Since it’s all in past tense, I assumed this was a retelling of what happened, which explained the dramatic storytelling style. But as the speaker describes their loss of sanity due to their growing obsession, it seems as though readers are going along with the scenes at the same time as the narrator. This makes the descriptive writing come off as pretty verbose. The flowery language is prioritized over the plot which makes the first time reading through unsatisfactory, especially since the goal of the story was to capture the essence of what an all-consuming obsession feels like.
Speaking of the goal of the story, the attempt at disorientating storytelling by the narrator did not invoke any feelings of repulsion, suspense, or horror in me. It’s very tell-not-show, like instead of showing us the fear the narrator was experiencing during their interaction with the monster via description (hands shaking, heart pounding, stomach churning), we’re just told directly by the speaker that they were afraid. The conflicting feelings the narrator had towards the garden creature was very clear, to the point it feels tedious. Scary stories aren’t supposed to hold the reader’s hand and walk them through the entire thing.
For all the time spent making sure the audience was absolutely certain the narrator had an obsession, they aren’t given much of a reason to care. When we have an unnamed narrator of unknown origin, you’d assume their narration would give you more information of who they are and their personality as you read along. However, in this short story the narrator’s identity didn’t seem to matter. We’re given vague ideas about the characteristics of this person, such as their acutely aware of their flaws, immediately scorning their humanity and views themselves as a “mangy ape” in the presence of the monster that becomes their obsession. They call themselves a hedonistic wretch, and we just kind of have to take their word for it.
Overall, though, I liked reading this. Because I have my own bias against horror, I wasn’t the target audience, and so I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as someone who likes horror. I think the author definitely is a skilled writer and has the descriptive skills to create vivid imagery for the reader to enjoy. I feel as though Kendle would be an excellent fantasy writer and I hope he continues to share more of his work. This review was for fun and from the perspective of a reader despite my criticism, which itself may be flawed.
Plaid Line + PRIZM + Scottie News 