review: bonding
This review is long overdue; Maggie Siebert's Bonding was not only my favourite book release of 2022, but my favourite read of 2022 period. Its staying power has been proven in the frequency with which I think back to its most nightmarish images.
Good horror fiction tends to produce one of two responses in me: either I want to roll around in everything it does by attempting to emulate it in some way with my own writing, or I go, “Great, that was fun, I am never going to read this again.” I spent my time reading Bonding flipping between one and the other.
Debut short story collections are often lacklustre, but the pieces that make up Bonding display a remarkable variety in tone, style, and format while retaining a coherent and distinctive authorial sensibility. Siebert goes for the gross-out with gusto and to great effect. Despite unflinching fascination with bodily abjection and excess, my favourite stories, “Witches” and “Ammon,” were creepy as hell courtesy of a strong command of creeping dread.
There's empathy and sensitivity amidst the bleakness—the stories I found the most disturbing were also the saddest, like “Best Friend” and “Every Day For the Rest Of Your Life.” The works are also quite funny, with several, such as “The Alumni Association,” “The Prime Minister,” and “Smells” leaning into surreal humour.
If you like short-form horror, especially of the queer variety, which is unafraid to go to bleak and visceral places, I can't recommend Bonding enough.