Friday Friyay: 'Mrs Caliban' by Rachel Ingalls

First of all, how is it the first of October and will time just please, for a hot sec, calm down? Now let's get to the books!

I absolutely loved Guillermo del Torro's The Shape of Water when it came out. While I love del Torro's work in general, there was something about Sally Field's performance, the music, the design, it all just worked for me. So when I realized there was a novel out there that tells a similar story, with an equally elevated weirdness, I wanted to jump right in. But then it took a  few years until I stumbled across the re-issuing of Mrs. Caliban by Faber & Faber. And now I'm finally reading it!

With a new foreword by Irenosen Okojie

Dorothy is a grieving housewife in the Californian suburbs. Her infant son, unborn child and dog have all just died; her husband is unfaithful, and they are too unhappy to get a divorce.

One day, she is doing chores when she hears strange voices on the radio announcing that a green-skinned sea monster has escaped from the Institute for Oceanographic Research - but little does she expect him to arrive in her kitchen.

Muscular, vegetarian, sexually magnetic and excellent at housework, Larry the frogman is a revelation – and their passionate affair takes them on a journey beyond their wildest dreams . . .

Reissued with a new foreword by Irenosen Okojie, Rachel Ingalls’s Mrs Caliban is an amphibious cult classic – a bittersweet fable, a subversive fairy tale – as magical today as it was four decades ago.

Book Beginnings is at home on Rose City Reader, hosted by Gilion Dumas, and Friday 56 at Freda's Voice, hosted by Freda. I'll also be joining the Book Blog Hop, hosted by Billy over at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. 

BB:

'Fred forgot three things in a row before he reached the front door on his way to work.' p.1

You get one guess on how happy this marriage is! It's also just the bluntness of it, the fact that her disappointment is so tangible and yet also so muted. She is not outraged or mad or sad, she is just so tired of it and you can tell from the writing.

F56:

'She looked in on Larry, finished the vacuuming with him, and watched a television programme. He liked to have her with him to explain things.' 56%

While not the most exciting of quotes, what I do love is that it perfectly shows the ordinary tone Ingalls strikes in Mrs Caliban. There is no shock and horror, no 'Oh my God, what?!'. Instead it's an ordinary life with a single extraordinary element. I'm really enjoy this book so far!

BBH:

This week's question was suggested by Julie over at Stepping Stones Book Reviews:

What book series make you crave chocolate?

Ooh this is a difficult question because I don't actually have that much of a sweet tooth! I know, scandalous! So I guess I'm going to cheat here and replace 'chocolate' with 'crisps'. And in that case it's actually less of a series and more of a genre. When I'm reading thrillers of any size or shape, I love to snack. Perhaps because sometimes thrillers feel a little like a treat in and of themselves, something a little insane and out there, full of twists and turns, and that just goes great with a snack (or five). 

So that's me! What book(s) makes you want to snack?