Name: MILK BLOOD HEAT.
Rating: 4.189655172413793 (29 reviews)
ISBN: 9781838950583

DANTIEL W. MONIZ

MILK BLOOD HEAT.

Alli

Trying to name it was like pulling up words from her belly, bucketful after bucketful, all that effort but they never meant what she wanted them to.

I have never read such an accurate description of what it’s like to be a 13 y/o girl

She is newly thirteen, hollowed out and filled back up with venom and dust-cloud dreams.

I considered that this was all being human amounted to, layer upon layer of looking.

it was her understanding that people tried to imagine as little as possible about other people's lives unless it suited them.

But Billie wasn't fooled; she knew that, worldwide, money was the cult over all things, no goodness or sin excluded. She was witnessing, in her news feeds and with her own eyes, how much a life was worth.

I hoped I would be like that someday: my hair over my shoulder, posture immaculate, fixing sandwiches in my own home in a man's Hawaiian shirt.

"You learn to be who you are, or you die as someone else. It's simple."

Dantiel W. Moniz

Milk Blood Heat

Jule

I do not enjoy the format of short stories but the themes of this collection was really really good

A livewire debut from Dantiel W. Moniz, one of the most exciting discoveries in today's literary landscape, Milk Blood Heat depicts the sultry lives of Floridians in intergenerational tales that contemplate human connection, race, womanhood, inheritance, and the elemental darkness in us all. Set among the cities and suburbs of Florida, each story delves into the ordinary worlds of young girls, women, and men who find themselves confronted by extraordinary moments of violent personal reckoning. These intimate portraits of people and relationships scour and soothe and blast a light on the nature of family, faith, forgiveness, consumption, and what we may, or may not, owe one another. A thirteen-year-old meditates on her sadness and the difference between herself and her white best friend when an unexpected tragedy occurs; a woman recovering from a miscarriage finds herself unable to let go of her daughter--whose body parts she sees throughout her daily life; a teenager resists her family's church and is accused of courting the devil; servers at a supper club cater to the insatiable cravings of their wealthy clientele; and two estranged siblings take a road-trip with their father's ashes and are forced to face the troubling reality of how he continues to shape them. Wise and subversive, spiritual and seductive, Milk Blood Heat forms an ouroboros of stories that bewitch with their truth, announcing the arrival of a bright new literary star.

This book was disgustingly and beautifully human. The writing was stunning; filled with dark twists and turns. 

There were a few passages that were truly disturbing (in Tongues & The Hearts of Our Enemies) - otherwise this would be a five star for me. Please read the trigger warnings before you pick this one up!!

This book was disgustingly and beautifully human. The writing was stunning; filled with dark twists and turns. 

There were a few passages that were truly disturbing (in Tongues & The Hearts of Our Enemies) - otherwise this would be a five star for me. Please read the trigger warnings before you pick this one up!!

Helen Borham

This collection of short stories was uncomfortable and compelling. These stories gave glimpses of a diverse range of characters and situations, most with a thread of darkness. 

This book comes with a lot of trigger warnings so please look into these if needed. These include miscarriage, suicide and drug use

Kathleen Mullins

I really liked Moniz's writing style, I thought she was really successful at packing a lot of emotional meaning into such short stories. She did a great job of injecting each story with a similar atmosphere, like feelings of introspection or languishing, despite being about different aspects of life.

Cindy

Don't let the book's relatively short length fool you; these stories pack quite a punch. The stories in Milk Blood Heat reckon with common themes, such as girlhood, coming-of-age, and family dynamics, but they often take dark and violent turns. Moniz's prose can sometimes feel a bit mazy and overly treacly, and some stories are more forgettable than others, but this is overall a strong collection of stories that are both bold and poignant.

'A seething excavation of want and human error' Raven Leilani, author of Luster 'Glorious, ecstatic, devastating... A gorgeous debut from a wickedly talented new author' Lauren Groff, author of Florida 'Sultry, dark, thick with the heat of bodies and minds in sin and transgression. Incredible' Jamel Brinkley, author of A Lucky Man A thirteen-year-old girl watches her white best friend totter along the edge of a building roof; a woman who lost her child in its first trimester finds empathy and horror in the waters of a city aquarium; a mother protects her teen daughter from a predatory love interest by taking revenge over a very French supper; and two estranged siblings take a road-trip with their dead father's ashes - rediscovering one another and reckoning with all the ways that trust can be betrayed and love can be redeemed. Set in the suburbs and the cities of the modern world but about the ancient essences of who and what we are, Milk Blood Heat is a collection of love and sex, birth and death. Through the stories of ordinary characters confronted by extraordinary moments of violent yet often beautiful reckoning, Dantiel W. Moniz contemplates human connection, race, womanhood, inheritance, and the elemental darkness in us all. Wise and subversive, spiritual and seductive, Milk Blood Heat showcases that the world in which we live can be a place of obstacles and heartbreak... but also one of grace and splendour. A Roxane Gay Bookclub Pick

Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[suicidal ideation, suicide, death of a friend, death of a child, drowning, death from a fall, hanging (mentioned), cheating, adult-minor relationship (teacher/student), graphic near drowning, physical assault, robbery, asphyxiation, cannibalism (implied), pedophilia and parental molestation (implied), death of a father, parental abandonment, abortion (mentioned), pregnancy, terminal illness (specifically cancer) (hide spoiler)]

This was such an incredibly poignant collection of stories that will stick with me for a while.

Milk Blood Heat is a slice-of-life, literary style collection of stories. Each and every story was unique and engaging, raw and authentic. The cast of largely-POC characters were incredibly crafted - Moniz ensured each was multi-dimensional, with history, personality and backgrounds in a very short amount of time. 

The story-telling felt natural, never overwhelming or jolted. In particular, I personally loved the element of implied circumstance Moniz utilized in many stories. Without explicitly spelling out major character or plot points, Moniz makes moments tangible and thought-provoking. 

My one critique is based on my experience with the audiobook. While each story is named, the editing style of the audio left me quite often missing that one story had ended and another had begun. This lead to more than a few moments in which I was confused about a stories apparent change in direction and characters. 

An exceptional author who I look forward to picking up more publications from in the future. 


  Note: Review copy (audio) received via Libro.FM. This does not impact opinions within this review.


blog •  trigger warning database • more links

Happy reading! ❤

Daryl Houston

This is a really strong collection of stories, with not a dud in the book. Moniz writes vividly and at times shockingly. I can't wait to read more by her.

MILK BLOOD HEAT.

Reviews

Highlights