BookDragon Blog

An 1892 “emancipated duel” between two women is about to take place as the overseeing (female) doctor drolly remarks, “we will never be emancipated from the stupidity of men.” That too-true theme lingers throughout Gwen E. Kirby’s remarkable 21-story debut, Shit Cassandra Saw, as women love, leave, disdain, and suffer through centuries all manner of men – abusive, manipulative, definitely unintelligent, some even dead.

Kirby’s (partially) titular opener, “Shit Cassandra Saw that She Didn’t Tell the Trojans Because at that Point Fuck Them Anyway,” brilliantly sets the collection’s comically scathing tone: knowing the future leaves Cassandra of the unbelievable oracles “done, full the fuck up, soul weary.” If she could, she’d tell her fellow women about tampons, washing machines, mace, epidurals, but “the best thing of all” is the mighty Trojan legacy reduced to that little square package “carried in every hopeful wallet.” That same uncomfortably dark-but-brilliant comedy carries into “A Few Normal Things that Happen a Lot,” in which entitled men – whose careless catcalls easily morph into fatal violence – get their comeuppance when would-be victims develop superpowers that decimate male control. In “Midwestern Girl Is Tired of Appearing in Your Short Stories,” the title girl, who is never the protagonist, finally gets the spotlight, though she’s a bit pixilated and scattered.

Kirby looks upon centuries past to find outlier women whose stories managed to survive history. In “Boudicca, Mighty Queen of the Britains, Contact Hitter and Utility Outfielder, AD 61,” the rebel British tribal queen who faced the conquering Romans muses over being a contemporary baseball player. In “First Woman Hanged for Witchcraft in Wales, 1594,” sent-to-the-gallows Gwen confesses adding discomfort-causing sheep urine to meant-to-be-healing poultices for men who beat their wives. Mary’s knowing mother insists “it is easier to be a man,” in “Mary Read Is a Crossdressing Pirate, the Raging Seas, 1720.” Before death, a Japanese woman warrior requests that her sister behead her corpse to prevent the enemy from ravaging her body in “Nakano Takeko Is Fatally Shot, Japan 1868.”

Kirby writes with stunningly acerbic wit, whether she’s empowering or exposing (or both) her diverse characters. From teens on the verge of adulthood, abandoned wives, cheating spouses, symbiotic sisters, Kirby creates familiar, identifiable girls and women, and places them in strikingly unexpected situations: conversing with an 18th-century ghost preacher, playing softball against a school where a shooting recently happened, obsessing over a stuffed (once-real) wallaby found in left luggage. Wielding humor and shock, Kirby audaciously unmasks gender disparity with delightful, disturbing aplomb.

Shelf Talker: Readers of Gwen E. Kirby’s exceptional debut collection are guaranteed to both gasp and guffaw through 21 darkly comical, scathing stories that expose gender disparity through centuries.

Review: Shelf Awareness Pro, November 16, 2021

Readers: Adult

Published: 2022