Plain Bad Heroines - A Review
“It’s a terrible story and one way to tell it is: two girls in love and a fog of wasps cursed the place forever after.”
Emily M. Danforth
For queer representation and in the spirit of the spooky season, the Very Casual Book Club tackled a unique novel: Plain Bad Heroines (2020) written by Emily M. Danforth and featuring illustrations by Sara Lautman. Plain Bad Heroines marks the sixth work read by the VCBC, and it’s a delight, highly recommended by both members for its wicked sense of humor, focus on female friendship and queer romance, spine-tingling vibes and eerie atmosphere, and highly developed characters.
PLOT: Plain Bad Heroines is several stories in one with multiple timelines (early twentieth century and present time) and settings (a boarding school for girls and the wide landscape of Los Angeles to name a couple). When two young students die strangely at Brookhants School for Girls, the consequences span to the present time at a movie set for the film adaptation of the tragedy and harken back to a tragedy of the further past.
CHARACTERS: Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Danforth creates such realistic characters, it’s like you can feel them breathing on the back of your neck as you read. Some of them are charming and effervescent, like Harper Harper, the A-list actress. (And, no, that’s not a typo – her first and last name is Harper.) Some of them are infuriating and misunderstood, like Merritt whose greatness might have peaked at 16. Plenty of them are broken, but it makes for some excellent drama.
WRITING: Danforth is a genius at description. Several times I felt floored by a sentence or passage that perfectly evoked an image or emotion. Some examples include:
· “…his dumb face bitter as a cranberry and nearly as red.” from the chapter, One Macabre Afternoon to Begin
· “Now it was like seeing the world through the skin of a ghost.” from the chapter, Meet Your Plain, Bad Heroines Three
· “The night was drunk on the liquor of late spring, on wet grass and pale moon, on air still warm even after the sunset, air now scented by the rain-smacked lilac bushes planted at the back of the theater, their branches so heavy with blooms and moisture that several were bent against the ground.” from the chapter, Fin De Siècle Meet-Cute
DEVICES: Danforth utilizes cool techniques to add to the makeup of Plain Bad Heroines. Fairly extensive footnotes add background, perspective, and more than a little sarcasm. The viewpoint is third-person omniscient, and our narrator is pretty opinionated, constantly referring to us as “Readers.” Danforth also uses the historical figure of the scandalous Mary MacLane, whose memoir originally titled I Await the Devil’s Coming caused a real ruckus in the early 1900s (Google it, I encourage you). Sara Lautman’s black-and-white pen and ink illustrations lend creepy-crawly dimension to the story. This isn’t just a novel – it’s an experience.
I end this review with a warning: if you feared yellow jackets before, you’ll be positively terrified after reading this book.
