Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell

Finally, in “The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis,” a group of bullies come across a scarecrow-like doll tied to a tree. The story uses a magical, changing tattoo to physically demonstrate how the veteran is overcoming his past trauma and regret. “The New Veterans” is about a massage therapist who helps an Iraq War veteran overcome his PTSD. Similarly, “Dougbert Shackleton’s Rules for Antarctic Tailgating” utilizes exaggeration to demonstrate the absurdity of taking a game too seriously. The story uses hyperbole to reveal the futility in the lust for power. “The Barn at the End of Our Term” is about a handful of former US presidents that died and woke up in horse’s bodies. The story is set during the time of the Homestead Act, but uses a monstrous, ghost-like creature to reveal the maddening conditions that families faced during that time. In “Proving Up,” a little boy must deliver a highly-coveted mirror to his neighbors. “The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979,” is a coming-of-age story that uses seagulls to represent how a young man feels like he’s losing control of the direction of his life. In “Reeling for the Empire,” Japanese women are being turned into silkworm/human hybrids and forced to reel silk in secret for Japan yet, underneath, the story is about how the protagonist uses her debilitating regret to her advantage, and also reveals how many Japanese women were treated during Emperor Meiji’s reign. In “Vampires in the Lemon Grove,” two vampires suck on lemons to quench their thirst, but really the lemons are symbolic of their withering relationship. “Vampires in the Lemon Grove,” “The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979,” and “Dougbert Shackleton’s Rules for Antarctic Tailgating” each utilize surreal elements, but are, at heart, relationship stories.Įach story in the collection utilizes animals or ghost-like creatures to reveal something deeper.

In each of these stories, characters are tormented by their inability to change the past. For example, in “Reeling for the Empire,” “The New Veterans,” and “The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis,” monstrous characters like silkworm hybrids, a living tattoo, and an abject doll are used as metaphors to reveal the deeper psychological issue of haunting regret. Many of the stories were published independent of each other before the collection was published, but most of them are thematically connected.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell