{"id":5650,"date":"2024-08-26T13:59:41","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T18:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/?p=5650"},"modified":"2024-08-26T14:17:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T19:17:28","slug":"book-review-softie-by-megan-howell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/book-review-softie-by-megan-howell\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Softie by Megan Howell"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Emily Barnard<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Softie, <\/span><\/i>written by Washington, D.C. author Megan Howell (pictured), is a thought-provoking book featuring a collection of short stories. These stories, while including contrasting characters, worlds, and genres, carry similar themes that ring true for many. Many of the protagonists in Howell\u2019s stories are young women of color, who have experienced some form of prejudice either within their own experiences or their families\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Family is a prominent theme throughout Howell\u2019s stories, both the challenging and priceless aspects of it. In particular, abuse within families is a subject touched on frequently, as is how Howell\u2019s protagonists overcome it. Howell delivers on these themes in her stories in a powerful way, creating an air of sympathy and relatability for her various protagonists in their different, yet recognizable dynamics between parents and their children.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One story in <\/span>Softie <\/span><\/i>that touches on the topic in an endearing and emotional way is the very namesake of the book, \u201cSoftie.\u201d The story features a young Black girl named Clio who lives with her father, a famous Hollywood director. Clio\u2019s father has treated her poorly her entire life, abusing her in ways a father never should. In this excerpt, Howell reveals Clio\u2019s internal feelings toward her father:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d been infected by him for so long I could only feel sorry for him the same way he did for himself and maybe me to some extent. He looked like a little boy even though he towered above the squat businessmen sitting with him. His hands were folded politely in his lap. He nodded. His eyes look worried. His back was hunched. I felt so humiliated for him that I wanted to kill him just to stop feeling<\/em>.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Clio resents her father for everything he has done to both her and the other girls in his industry. She is embarrassed that he is her father, but at the same time, knows no other alternative. Clio does not yet realize that there is a way out. Howell\u2019s tragic and realistic tale of child abuse will make readers\u2019 hearts ache for Clio. Throughout the story, Howell builds strong development for Clio as she realizes the extent of how troubling her situation is, and her desire to be free grows.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another story in <\/span>Softie <\/span><\/i>that explores such themes in both a harrowing and realistic way is called \u201cMelissa, Melissa, Melissa.\u201d The namesake of the title, Melissa, is a young girl who lives with her parents: a white father and a Black mother. While she has many fond memories of her father, a darker side to him is revealed throughout the story when Melissa recounts the moment leading up to him leaving. Howell successfully uses juxtaposition to compare the behaviors of Melissa\u2019s parents, highlighting a healthy relationship between a parent and child with an unhealthy one. By telling the story in the eyes of a young girl, Howell captures just how damaging these situations are to children. Readers, through Melissa\u2019s perspective, will feel just as powerless as she did when she reflects on her father\u2019s behaviors toward his family:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he ever apologized to Mom for anything. Not when he called her filthy names just to get a rise out of her; not when he went behind her back to make big, confusing purchases like the antique set of fishery books; not when he poked fun of her anger, dressed her down, or lied to her<\/em>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though \u201cSoftie\u201d and \u201cMelissa, Melissa, Melissa\u201d are written in a realistic nature, Howell has quite a few stories in <\/span>Softie <\/span><\/i>that, while drawing elements of the fantastical, still carry these recognizable themes of relationships and family. An example of such a story is \u201cKitty & Tabby.\u201d The protagonist, Tabitha, is a high school girl who has remarkably familiar struggles. She does not have many friends, nor does she have a healthy relationship with her father. When Tabitha befriends Kitty, a girl who lives nearby, Tabitha\u2019s perception of the world around her changes forever. Howell delivers these themes in a new, exciting way while digging deeper into the psychology of parents, exploring how many view their children as their own legacies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Abuse within families can take many forms and have various roots, which Howell portrays sensitively in <\/span>Softie. <\/span><\/i>By writing in the perspective of these young women, she demonstrates their inner thoughts superbly. Readers can feel how distraught and unsafe they feel in their situations and cannot help but root for them when their resolve to be free grows. Howell\u2019s provocative stories, no matter the genre, will prove inspirational for anyone who can relate to and feel moved by the various strong and complex protagonists in <\/span>Softie.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Softie\u00a0<\/em>will be released in November 2024. Copies are available from West Virginia University Press.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bios:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Megan Howell: Megan is a DC-based writer. She earned her MFA in Fiction from the University of Maryland in College Park, winning both the Jack Salamanca Thesis Award and the Kwiatek Fellowship. Her work has appeared in McSweeney\u2019s<\/em>,\u00a0The Nashville Review<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Establishment<\/em>\u00a0among other publications. Her debut short story collection\u00a0Softie<\/em>\u00a0is forthcoming with West Virginia University Press in November 2024.<\/p>\n

Emily Barnard: Emily Barnard is an undergraduate student at 51ÁÔÆæ. She is majoring in English, currently on the Creative Writing track, and minoring in Film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Emily Barnard Softie, written by Washington, D.C. author Megan Howell (pictured), is a thought-provoking book featuring a collection of short stories. These stories, while including contrasting characters, worlds, and genres, carry similar themes that ring true for many. Many of the protagonists in Howell\u2019s stories are young women of color, who have experienced some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nBook Review: Softie by Megan Howell - since '75<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/book-review-softie-by-megan-howell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Review: Softie by Megan Howell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Emily Barnard Softie, written by Washington, D.C. author Megan Howell (pictured), is a thought-provoking book featuring a collection of short stories. 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