Queer Frankenstein-inspired books seem to be having a moment right now, as this is the third such book I’ve read in the past year.
As you might have guessed from the title, A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock is about Frankensteining up a monster out of plants and mushrooms, but there’s still an element of graverobbing because the botanist creating the creature decides that the only acceptable substrate for his experiment is a recently deceased human corpse.
Of course.
I hesitated to read this book because the marketing copy seemed to think that mushrooms are a type of plant, but don’t worry, early on it’s made clear that the author and the characters are clear that fungus are not plants. But the titular botanical daughter does have many plant parts, connected by the fungal mycelium. She’s a localized ecosystem unto herself.
When I compare this book and the other two queer Frankenstein pastiches I’ve read in the past year (Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai and Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill), what stands out to me is that only Unwieldy Creatures lets the monster be one of the narrators. I’ll leave it up to people more versed in queer theory and literary criticism to consider what it is about Frankenstein narratives that queer authors and readers want to explore, but I suppose since both the monster and the monster’s creator always have something monstrous about them, there’s something of an outsider narrative to latch onto even when the monster is made voiceless.
For the record, Our Hideous Progeny was my favorite of these three books, because it involves creating a plesiosaur as part of a feud between Victorian paleontologists, inspired by the narrator’s husband’s rage over the dino statues at the Crystal Palace. I am a child of the 80s and 90s, I’m contractually obligated to love a dinosaur story.
But I’m not here to review that book, I’m here to review this book, and Our Botanical Daughter has a really big problem: Gregor is a jerk? And kind of abusive?
I really wanted to root for this queer family of a gay botanist, a gay taxidermist, their fungus daughter, and her cross-dressing governess. But I couldn’t stand Gregor and how he treated the other characters. Simon isn’t without his flaws, but they’re easier to overlook than Gregor thinking about how Simon usually does what he wants when he yells at him. Gregor is also cruel to CHLOE, the fungus baby.
(I don’t know why her name is all in caps, it makes it feel very sci-fi)
I also noticed that the characters, especially Gregor and Simon, seemed to change their opinions about things kind of on a whim, as if the author felt like he had to keep switching up their views so they could be on opposite sides of the issue.
Ultimately, how much you enjoy this book is going to hinge on three things:
- Your tolerance for toxic, potentially abusive relationships that don’t feel fully addressed by the narrative.
- Your tolerance for characters who feel inconsistent at times.
- Your ability to buy the idea that these two guys could live in a greenhouse full-time, with a basement lab for Simon’s taxidermy.
I suspect this book is going to find its people. Mycelial horror is also having its moment right now, and this book does have pretty impeccable Gothic vibes. I know some folks specifically like Gothics where the characters and relationships are terrible and messy, and I think this book will really grab them. It might even have grabbed me at a different time, but it’s not what I was in the mood for right now.
CWs and TWs: Homophobia, murder, graverobbing, mentions of suicide, toxic/abusive relationship dynamics, child abuse but the child is a mushroom-plant lady, xenophobia, colonialism, and one really weird mushroom-plant lady sex scene.
Format and Source: I borrowed this as an ebook from Sno-Isle Libraries.
Book Bingo Prompt
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): Family Matters. Gregor and Simon both muse at different times that CHLOE might be the only way two men like them could ever have a child. Do I feel like they’re fit to be parents? Absolutely not. But honestly, most books about family matters are about dysfunctional families, because we like drama.
Book Bingo Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 12 out of 25 prompts complete. 1 bingo.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 7 out of 25 prompts complete. 0 bingos.