The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe stunningly succeeds as a feminist re-imagining of Lovecraft.
Tor.com, 2016. http://publishing.tor.com/thedreamquestofvellittboe-kijjohnson/9780765386519/
I first encountered Kij Johnson when I was reading the March 2016 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine. I hadn’t heard of her before, and I read her story “Coyote Invents the Land of the Dead.” That story did not work for me. The language was too abstract for me, the story too ethereal. It had a cool vibe, but no staying power. After I read the story, I encountered some cognitive dissonance while reading the author blurb:
Kij Johnson is a three-time winner of the Nebula Award, and has also won the Hugo, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, and Crawford Awards.
Wait, what?
Of course, that’s just how it is sometimes. One award-winning writer resonates with you, another doesn’t. That I could mistake such an accomplished writer for such a juvenile one, however, stuck with me. I wanted to give her another try.
And then the fabulous Jonathan Strahan, an editor whose tastes I often enjoy, voiced high praises for The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson. It turned out that Johnson’s novella was a feminist re-imagining of a Lovecraft story. After reading The Ballad of Black Tom, I have been eager to read more Lovecraft re-imaginings, so I decided to give Johnson’s novella a shot.
I’m glad I did.The language of The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe still had Kij Johnson’s distinct flair (although I’m not sure if I can define what that is), but it was also noticeably more grounded and easier to understand, which I appreciated. While I found much of Vellitt Boe’s eponymous dream-quest to be a boring tale couched in pretty language, the ending of the novella was marvellous, beautiful, and wise. Maybe I shouldn’t be getting your hopes or expectations up, as maybe I enjoyed it all the moreso from having low expectations, but I’d only be exaggerating (not lying) to say that her story has made me a better person.
Yep, Kij Johnson definitely deserves her impressive bio, even if her work and my tastes don’t often align. And by the way, The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe stunningly succeeds as a feminist re-imagining of Lovecraft. So, reader, go read some Kij Johnson and enjoy yourself while you grapple with her unique style.