Siren Queen

A queer and haunting tale about Holliwood in the early 20th century

Bewertung am 04.05.2022
Bewertungsnummer: 1706653
Bewertet: Buch (Gebundene Ausgabe)

4.5-4.75* Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. CW: Body horror, racism, sexism, mentions of rape and torture, suggestion of murder and mental abuse, domestic abuse. I'd already read and loved both of Nghi Vo's novellas in the Singing Hills Cycle going into this, but Siren Queen is my first full-length novel of hers. Now I'm eager to give The Chosen and the Beautiful also a shot, because this was magnificent. I do quite enjoy reading fictonal biographies about strong female or non-binary personalites with a magical twist to them. While this one goes perfectly with the likes of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and She Who Became the Sun, it also stands on its own. I think, it's the tone that makes this book stand out so much, being both glamorous and haunting, blending historical fistion seemlessly with dark fantasy. It feels so real, even though it obviously isn't, as it seems often so logical that things should be the way Nghi Vo descriped them. This book sucked me in for two days and left me wanting to do nothing but read all day. Even when terrible things happened, I was unably to lookk away. Our protagonist isn't exactly what you would a call a likeable character but she's relatable, a young queer asian woman, who wouldn't settle for the invisibilty of an ordinary life in the laundry business of her parents. She yearns for the immortalitly of fame, the eternal life of a star and she would do anything to achieve her dream. I love characters like her who are deeply flawed and selfish, but stand to it and are unapoligetically themselves. And much as she's strong and fierce and "cold as the Atlantic", she's also vulnerable and lonely. We get an insight into the LGBTQIA scene at the time as well, as this book is fabulously queer. I loved in particular the inclusion of "Lavender Marriages", arranged marriages of queer Holliwood stars in the early 20th century to have them appear as straight to the public. The book features three romantic and sexual relationships between the protagonist (who, by the way, we never learn her birth name but only a given name that's somewhat spoilery), one of which is only lightly touched on as starting after the end of the actual time frame of the book. I adored all of it, the longing, the pining, the interactions, the sexual content. It's achingly beautiful and very well fleshed out. There's also an achillean couple that our protagonist becomes friends with and several scenes in a queer night club. Thematically, this book talks primarily about the price of fame and success but also of freedom, often using magical or horror elements as methaphors and making them all the more memorable. It's a story about a woman doing everything to not be forgotten and fighting constantly against belittlement, sexism, racism, her own fears and societal expectations. And if all this, in the end, makes her a monster, she's also one of the most humane characters I've seen in recent time. I highly suggest you give Siren Queen by Nghi Vo a try when it comes out on May 10th, I for sure want a physical copy now. PS: If you want to see more content about Holliwood, focusing on queer and marginalized characters and groups, I recommend to you the Netflix show "Holliwood" which, whille being a bit more light-hearted, also talks about the more serious side of Holliwood in the 1940s and gets very emotional.