Mrs. Caliban

Based on all the books BTS has liked or recommended over the years, if I could suggest a single one that they (likely) haven’t read, it’d be this lesser-known oldie but goodie.

Mrs. Caliban has the realistic sci-fi elements of the Omelas with the most unexpected of interpersonal dramas (between a woman and a sea creature), all situated within the larger context of a social parable that holds a mirror to society’s own prejudices.

It is, quite simply, unlike any other book I’ve ever read. 

And speaking of whacky, we come now to this 40-year-old story of a lonely suburban housewife, Dorothy, who undertakes a romance with a sea monster named Larry, an escapee from a research institute who shows up in her kitchen one day. That sounds like the plot of a weird B-movie, but in fact the novella is a work of feminist literature while also being a heartbreaking story of two characters who find themselves unable to escape their pasts but manage to achieve a species of healing. The writing is straightforward but conceals a great deal, an important lesson for me… show more.