Book Review: Maeve Fly by CJ Leede

 

Maeve Fly by CJ Leede

288 pages, Hardcover
Published June, 2023 by Tor Nightfire

Some books and movies become victims of marketing. First off you have a blurb from Tori Amos that goes on the freaking cover. No offense to Grady Hendrix or anyone else. I don’t think CJ Leede the author of this novel minds all the American Psycho comparions but EVERY single review compares these books because to the point that I had that book in my head constantly while reading it. I mean the dust jacket in the description straight up says “inspired by the pages of American Psycho, sales-wise it is a great strategy but for fucks sake Feminist Slasher should be enough to sell the book. So from here on on out we are not going to mention that other book.  We are here to talk about Maeve Fly.

So yes this novel is a feminist slasher whose antagonist whose name is the title of the book works as a Disney princess at Disney World. Her dying grandmother was a Hollywood star and Maeve is a perfect copy of her. It is an encounter with her best friend’s brother that awakens something in Maeve.

"Men have always been permitted in fiction and in life to simply be what they are, no matter how dark or terrifying that might be. But with a woman, we expect an answer, a reason."

If there is a mission statement in the book, and you know I look for those it is that last quote. Maeve Fly is a dark, surreal, bloody exploration of feminist motivations in the form of a slasher lens. There are plenty of ways to approach the stories of slashers – Dahmer is an example of a realistic look at the disconnected realistic disconnection that motivates real killers. Books like these use highly stylized and humorous misanthropy to create killers who express the types of rage we feel and never act on.

“I have tried the way of the misanthrope, the way of the deviant, the philosopher, the observer, the pretender. But there is one road I have not seriously considered walking down, and have not permitted myself to. Perhaps it is time.”

As such Maeve Fly will appeal to readers for the ways it commented on feminist rage, the daily frustrations of being a woman in this culture, and California life. I live in California so that last one provided many of my favorite moments of the book. Your mileage may vary depending on how much life in California is something you understand.

“There are many definitions of insanity in this world. One could argue that spooning a man’s eyeball out of the socket and performing carnal acts of religious desecration with it is insanity -we will revisit that later- perhaps you’d be right, but I argue that true insanity is driving in Los Angeles.”

These moments were my favorites of this novel, and I love it when authors comment on places where their novels take place. A couple of generations of readers know about Maine.  The other favorite moments came from the relationship between Maeve and Hilda the caretaker of her grandmother. That went somewhere I didn’t expect and challenged our ideas of our narrator.

Here is the thing. Maeve Fly is an interesting novel. I respect lots of things that it is doing, but I didn’t enjoy the experience enough. A book like this needed to make have uncomfortable laughs and I didn’t have a ton of those. Lots of authors I respect and Tori Amos blurbed this novel I know my local author friend Brian Asman LOVED this. I think most readers who like transgressive gory horror fiction will love this. I think this is a good novel that I didn’t connect with. I will however be first in line to see what CJ Leede does next.