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reviewed Bonding by Maggie Siebert

Maggie Siebert: Bonding (2022) 5 stars

"Maggie understands that splatter for splatter's sake is boring. Psychopathy is boring. Coldness is boring. …

This book fucked me up in the best way

5 stars

Hell of a thing, this one. Maybe not every story in here is five stars, but most of them stuck with me in a really serious way. In particular, "Every Day For The Rest Of Your Life" made me feel so understood and targeted and beautiful and horrible and complicated. It gave me an awful gender euphoria. Maybe my new favorite piece of short fiction. "Ammon" and "Opportunities" were really cool experiments with perspective and slowburn reveals. "Best Friend" and "Witches" genuinely upset me, which might not be what you want from horror, idk. "The Alumni Association" and "The Prime Minister" made me laugh in a collection that could have been unrelentingly bleak without them. The phrase "Specifically his dead penis" will be rotating in my mind for some time to come. Anyway, read this thing.