PARASITE LIFE BY VICTORIA DALPE
2/6/2018
by Tony Jones
A review and commentary on an outstanding YA debut
“Parasite Life” the debut YA novel from Victoria Dalpe was the most intense and unsettling teen novel I had read for quite some time. The YA vampire sub-genre has been totally played out by the never-ending cycle of brooding blood suckers in the same ilk as Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” and PC Cast’s yawn inducing “House of Night” series. I’ve studiously avoided most of them. Even the kids grew up and moved on to dystopia. Be rest assured though, “Parasite Life” is as far away from “Twilight” as a vampire novel can possibly be and if, like myself, you haven’t read a vampire novel for a while MAKE IT THIS ONE! Meyer, Cast and Dalpe may well inhabit the same genre, but there the comparisons end and this superb novel rises head and shoulders above the teen horror pack and has more in common with Anne Rice’s “Interview with a Vampire” than YA fiction. Perhaps it’s because I’m nosy, but I was so intrigued by Victoria Dalphe’s modern Gothic take on the vampire myth I tracked her down and some of the quotations used later in the article are the fruits of our email conversations. Be rest assured Victoria really knows her vampires and she generously answered all my rambling questions. Why does “Parasite Life” rise above your average teen horror novel? It succeeds on two crucial and inter-connected levels which are essential in writing successful YA fiction. Firstly, the ‘teen-life’ sequences are so painfully believable and realistic they exist without any need for horror, an isolated and lonely seventeen-year-old girl with no friends is horror enough. However, when the supernatural angle is filtered into the plot, it is done so cleverly and believably you’re going to be sucked into what is a unique take on the vampire myth. Blend both story strands together, supernatural and teen novel, and you have an intoxicating and very feminine vampire tale. Equally cool is the fact that Dalphe creates her own version of what a vampire is and sets her own rules, for example, the vampires in this story can live in sunlight. It sounds strange, but something about her rules work. The author also tackles tricky subjects such as menstruation, which when you think about it, should play an important role in vampire novels, but never do. I asked Victoria about the mature content of the novel, which I thought was very challenging YA: “I agree tonally some of the topics do lean more adult, but as someone who reads a ton of horror, YA, urban fantasy, etc. I felt the content, especially dealing with toxic/abusive relationships, neglect, sexuality etc. could resonate with a younger audience who are often more sophisticated than are given credit for and do deal with those issues often.” As I’ve said menstruation is not a subject you come across much in genre-fiction and Dalphe really tackles this head-on. There was one particularly gross scene I specifically asked the author about, which I was surprised was not edited when the content evolved from adult into a YA novel. Dalphe commented: “I also wanted to make it a priority to acknowledge menstruation, as it's a personal vampire pet peeve of mine that they can't encounter a paper clip without going homicidal when half the population is menstruating. I wanted to demystify and remove some stigma around something that is basic biology.” Jane is the novel’s powerful narrator, she spends her time looking after her invalided mother who either cannot or refuses to talk to her and has a weird wasting illness. She has no friends, they have little money, and she escapes her humdrum life by hiding in books. However, early in a novel outgoing and vivacious Sabrina arrives at her school and life takes an amazing upturn. For some unknown reason Sabrina tags onto Jane and they become friends. Jane presumes once Sabrina finds her feet in her new town she’ll soon be dumped for new more exciting friends, but this never happens. There is a budding sexual attraction between the two girls which awakens something hidden in Jane and it takes the girls into some dark places as the novel progresses. These relationship scenes are a combination of sexy, sensual, sleazy and terrifically edgy writing as Jane discovers her hidden talents. They may also raise a few eyebrows in the YA world… Several large sections of the novel are told in diary form. After the discovery of a hidden log, we head back eighteen years to when Jane’s mother was an aspiring artist, whom after meeting a dark stranger, her life changes forever. Much of the novel leads to how the two-story strands merge together, ultimately creating a third as Jane’s voyage of discovery intensifies. Is this a YA coming of age drama? Possibly, but it’s very close to being fully fledged adult fiction also. To call “Parasite Life” a mere teen novel does it an injustice, as adults could read it just as easily as a teenager. It was as close to being an adult novel as it possibly could be and Victoria has this to say on its potential audience: “I originally wrote it not as YA, but more in the New Adult/ Adult but when ChiZine bought it, they asked if I would be willing to rework it a little for a YA audience, as they felt it straddled the line (and I agreed) and would be a good fit for their smaller ChiTeen label. So, I dropped it from an R to a PG-13.” I must be honest here, I had never heard of ‘New Adult’ until Victoria mentioned it above. I was not surprised to hear that “Parasite Life” was originally written as an adult novel. The main characters are almost adults and the diary flashback sequences all feature adults. As I read the book I was uncertain it was a YA novel, however, the cover clearly says ‘CHITEEN’ and I was delighted to hear that ChiZine cared enough about the book to recommend such radical alterations. Victoria commented upon the changes the publisher suggested: “In the editing process I did not have to done down the content as much as I initially anticipated. Toned down the explicit sexuality, some of the self-harm elements, and reworked a lot of Hugh (Jane's father). In my mind, I liked to think of him like a predator parent, like a big cat or something, giving the tips on how to hunt and then leaving them on their own. But a creature like that wouldn't have the boundaries that a normal father/daughter would.” One of the other things that struck me as odd was the amount of true heavy-weight adult horror writers that recommended the book, there are fantastic quotes from Laird Barron, John Langan and others! As YA horror writers usually swim in a different pond, it’s heartening to hear authors of that stature read YA, this is what Victoria thought: “I was very humbled at the talented writers who were willing to give my book (and me) a read and a blurb. I was also very flattered by how bothered and uncomfortable the book made them (as seasoned horror writers).” They got that right. This really was an unsettling book. I highly recommend this outstanding vampire novel which could be read by anybody, not just moody teenagers with a 1980s goth fixation. We’re going to give the final work to Victoria and finish the article with other dark fiction/horror novels she recommends: “The goal with the book was to bring back some of the gothic and some of the lesbian vampires of the past. Since Carmilla predates Dracula by 20 years! And I love Jean Rollin's vampire movies, and in particular "Living Dead Girl" was a big inspiration for this book.” Recommended by Victoria, who likes complex characters, well-built worlds and monsters. In no particular order: Maggie Stiefvater: Raven Boys Series Awesome, really creative world building, a fluid sexuality, and a main girl character that all male characters aren't totally obsessed with a damsel. Kelly Armstrong: Darkest Powers Otherworld YA spinoff, just really fun. Potboiler, sort of a monsters meets the X-men, teens on the run type series. Sabaa Tahir: Ember in the Ashes Series I love middle eastern folk/monsters and these are just brutal, addictive, and mysterious books. Laini Taylor: Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy Beautiful, magical, heart-breaking exploration of race wars/ tribal genocides etc. Thanks to Victoria for her invaluable input in the article. Tony Jones A TRIO OF TANGIBLE TERROR FROM TONY TREMBLAY (PART TWO) |
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