Name: Elizabeth's review of House of Cotton by Monica Brashears
Item: House of Cotton
Rating: 4
Author: Elizabeth

Monica Brashears

A stunning, contemporary Black Southern Gothic debut novel by a breakout new Affrilachian writer "A new, dazzling, and essential American voice." —George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo, winner of The Booker Prize "Mystical, carnal, and written in fire, House of Cotton ushers Monica Brashears straight onto American lit’s mainstage, which she should grace for a long time.” —Jonathan Dee, author of The Privileges, winner of the Prix Fitzgerald Nineteen years old, broke, and effectively an orphan, Magnolia doesn’t have much to look forward to. She feels stuck and haunted: by her overdrawn bank account, by her predatory landlord, by the ghost of her late grandmother Mama Brown. One night while working at her dead-end gas station job, a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton walks in and offers to turn Magnolia’s luck around. He offers her a lucrative “modeling” job at his family’s funeral home. Magnolia accepts. But despite things looking up, Magnolia’s problems fatten along with her wallet. When Cotton’s requests become increasingly weird, Magnolia discovers there’s a lot more at stake than just her rent. Sharp as a belted knife, this sly social commentary cuts straight to the bone, revealing the aftermath of the American plantation and what it means to be poor, Black, and a woman in the God fearing south. Impossible to put down, Brashears’s House of Cotton will keep you mesmerized until the very last page.

A Novel

House of Cotton

Negatives: I think the thing I got stuck on is that House of Cotton feels like it’s really straddling the line between literary fic and gothic. when we get to the climax, there’s so much buildup that ends up faltering and disappating with the final chapter. 

 I really appreciated how we get to interact with the main character as readers - the novel doesn’t hold my hand or beat me over the head with brute force in telling its story. Things unspool in a haze. The writing style conveys the storytelling just as much as the literal words on the page - which is refreshing for me compared to some of the other fiction I’ve picked up lately.

Elizabeth

More thoughts pending.

Negatives: I think the thing I got stuck on is that House of Cotton feels like it’s really straddling the line between literary fic and gothic. when we get to the climax, there’s so much buildup that ends up faltering and disappating with the final chapter. 

Positives: 

The prose was  layered and vivid.

 I really appreciated how we get to interact with the main character as readers - the novel doesn’t hold my hand or beat me over the head with brute force in telling its story. Things unspool in a haze. The writing style conveys the storytelling just as much as the literal words on the page - which is refreshing for me compared to some of the other fiction I’ve picked up lately.

A strange, unique, and thoughtfully written gothic book. The prose was beautiful, and the gothic elements were very atmospheric. It felt squarely in the tradition of a book like Beloved by Toni Morrison (i.e., black southern gothic/horror). It was on track to be a five star, but the ending was way to  ambivalent. This book reads like a mystery and one that could be good with multiple interesting storylines we were following, and yet… it's like the book just ended. Maybe I missed something, but none of the threads seemed to matter ultimately, and that was super disappointing. this wasn't until the last 20 pages or so, but what a letdown. even still, because of the tradition of ambivalence in gothic horror, I couldn't be too mad. I think I started to forget this wasn’t a mystery book, just a weird tale. I liked the way the book tackled race, gender, class, and issues like love, grief, and reproductive rights. Glad to have it in my diverse horror collection.

Liyah 🤎

This was a weird, moody, twisted book that is good for people who like to feel uncomfortable and be told very unconventional stories. I sincerely disliked almost every, if not every man in this book, even more than usual. 

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House of Cotton by Monica Brashears

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