Despite the title, Alisa Alering’s Smothermoss is not part of the wave of fungus- and plant-focused SFF of the last few years. One of the protagonists does feel a bit smothered by her family’s circumstances, and there’s certainly some moss along with other mountainous flora and fauna, but readers should set aside any expectations raised by the title. However, that should not deter anyone from reading this book! Smothermoss is entrancingly immersive, with entirely evocative language, fascinating fantastic elements, exciting action, and two very vividly drawn protagonists, sisters who have little in common and feel a lot of friction but eventually come together, with a bit of supernatural succor, to face a fearsome foe.
The book opens with a tight focus on two sisters who live with their mother and great-aunt in Appalachian Pennsylvania in the 1980s. Sheila, 17, does a lot of chores while her mother works long hours; she feels a heavy rope around her neck and down her back that appears merely metaphorical at first, and the biggest dream she can imagine is taking a trip to Baltimore with her secret crush, a girl at school who doesn’t appear to notice her. Angie, 12, runs around the mountainside fantasizing about fighting Russian invaders, frustrating Sheila by slacking on her share of housework, and constantly drawing arcane cards (the Tangle of Rabbits, the Twins with Too Many Teeth, etc.) that seem to hold special powers, including telling her where they “belong” once she’s been pushed to create them.
Then the reader encounters a killer, or rather, two Appalachian Trail hikers do. He beats them both to death, but the scene is distanced via its interpretation by the witnessing mountain:
These creatures smell like humans, but they must be rabbits because they are stalked by a fox. Unlike real, watchful rabbits, they don’t know how to protect themselves. Don’t know to circle among the briars, white tails flashing, and scoot safely into an underground warren. They are too far from home.
I really enjoyed the use of language in this book. Parts of it were dreamy, and parts of it were sharp-edged and close-up on the girls’ experiences and interior lives. I read the first quarter of the book slowly, savoring it, and kept pausing to exclaim at passages that really struck me. (The school bus bullying raised some strong feelings, for sure.) Then I raced through the rest of it in one very satisfying day.
I also really loved how sympathetic each character was, although in very different ways. Sheila is trying so hard to fulfill her familial duties,wanting to be liked by her peers but very aware of how handicapped she is by the social rules (including Don’t Be Poor), and beginning to explore her forbidden feelings about her sexuality. Angie is less admirable for letting her sister shoulder most of the burdens at home, but to be fair, she’s only 12, and I have to admire her independence, her refusal to care about what others think, her trust in her own feelings and intuitions (although this puts her in danger sometimes), and her having a Plan (escape by joining the Army as soon as she’s big enough to lie convincingly that she’s old enough). Of course there’s friction; they’re in very close quarters (sharing a bedroom), their goals are wildly askew, and their personalities are too. At one point, Sheila rips up one of the horrifying tarot-like cards that Angie has given to her, and at another, she attacks Angie over reasonable suspicions that Angie has stolen Sheila’s hard-earned savings. But eventually they learn to see each other’s problems and start helping each other.
The mother is too worn down by life to be very interesting, but the great-aunt has some strange stories that end up having helpful relevance to the girls’ lives. There’s also a mysterious boy who pops up in Sheila’s life later in the story; I like how his nature is explored but never entirely explained.There are stereotypical cops and a helpful neighbor, but the other character of note is the mountain.
The mountain is aware of the life dwelling upon it, and the taint that invades it. It provides guidance for the girls to try to rid itself of this corruption; Angie adds up some clues and goes after the killer, hoping to win glory; then Sheila gets drawn into the action. Disparate threads of supernatural succor and grittily realistic plot elements are eventually woven together to bring about a highly satisfying conclusion and aftermath.
Some questions remain unresolved, about a mysterious section of the asylum where the mother works (and Sheila gets a summer job there), and particularly about a certain room there and what it contains. I wonder if that will be addressed in a sequel. But I’m fine if it isn’t, because this is a minor niggle. It’s good to have some mysteries in life, and in a book’s plot.
Smothermoss is great. (And I love the cover art!) I’m going to hunt up Alisa Alering’s short fiction, and I hope to see more novels from them.
Content warnings: Brutal murder, bullying by schoolmates, sister vs. sister fights (arguments and occasional physical violence), animals being raised for sale and slaughter, poverty.
Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher to review. Smothermoss is slated for publication on July 16, 2024.
https://tinhouse.com/book/smothermoss/
