We Are Here To Hurt Each Other

In some ways, I feel this collection simply wasn't for me. I have friends who really enjoyed it, and there were a lot of moments where I could appreciate the ferocity of Ashe's imagery and story-telling, but in general, much of the work here put me off--to the extent that, at the end of the day, I feel like this collection just wasn't necessarily ready for publication.

The first third of the book presents loosely connected material which, while not always coming through in what I'd call finished stories, comes together to make something larger and more complete. Because of that, the early part of the book grew on me as it unfolded, and I was looking forward to seeing how the collection would continue in that vein. I thought perhaps I'd show more been in the wrong mindset to take in more of a collage or collection that built meaning from many parts becoming one, vs. a traditional collection. Unfortunately, the interconnectedness seemed to end there, with none of the later stories coming back to build on that early meaning and promise. As a result, that first third itself felt like something other and unfinished, and I still didn't know what to make of the larger collection.

The stories from that point on too often felt like scenes to me, vs completely developed stories, and so I remained fairly underwhelmed. Much as I could often appreciate the imagery, I often needed a bit more material/content for meaning to be clear, and the 'stories' were so light on character and plot that I didn't find myself emotionall invested or affected, even when I felt as if I should be.

By the time I got to the end of the book, I was annoyed to find that the final 'story' was more of a novella which only looked shorter because formatting was changed to make more words fit on a page than had been the case in earlier pieces. That was an odd choice, but since I'd planned to read it, I did. (Note that if it had been formatted like the rest of the book, it probably would have taken up the second half of a printed edition, in which case I don't think I would have pushed forward.) Here, there was more to dive into, but I was also left feeling as if I didn't have enough to fully understand plot and character at various points, as if the author were playing tricks with the reader instead of simply telling a story.

The author's final after-note does make me think that her goals as a writer of this collection where, very simply, at odds with what I come to a book hoping for. I often want darkness--I love horror, after all--but I also want fully developed stories, characters, and meaning, vs. scenes that feel more like snapshots in a larger horror, and that's where the collection fell short for me.

I will say that I thought the most successful piece in the collection (for me) was "Bereft"--if I'd read that one in an anthology or journal, it very well might have made me look up more of Ashe's work, which is something the other pieces wouldn't have accomplished.

And although I want it to be a side note vs. the heart of the review, I do have to mention that the lack of editing in this book was a serious distraction for me. Regular comma errors that interfered with meaning and/or disrupted flow, as well as typos and an absence of expected hyphens, made the book feel more like a proof/ARC than a polished work, to the extent that I'd probably not pick up another book from the 'press'. show less

I decided to kick off ODDtober 2024 with Paula Ashe's We Are Here to Hurt Each Other because it is one of the finest horor short story collections I've read. I wrote a massive discussion of the book that you can read here: https://www.oddthingsconsidered.com/oddtober-2024-we-are-here-to-hurt-each-other...

Review snippet: This book is not in-your-face weird, but rather is weird in that creepy, unsettling way that is often hard to explain. Paula Ashe is a rare writer in her willingness to explore the minds of both the victim and the assailant without sentimentality or a pious morality. Rather, she looks at the human condition with a sharp, focused eye, showing us the will of the victim and the will of the abuser, sometimes blurring the show more lines between the two without pandering.

Ashe had to defend this approach in her own epilogue. She explains that people actually do take value in the way she presents abuse, saying, “…there are other people who read my work for solace. For understanding. For a bizarre and bitter reprieve.” I am one of those people. As long-time readers of this site may recall, the gut punch from fiction like this was better for me in the end than years of therapy wherein all I was permitted to do was navigate my own suffering rather than build a foundation of knowledge about the human condition. It’s heartbreaking to realize we live in a culture wherein a woman who has written some of the best horror fiction to come across my radar has to apologize for daring to explore the depths and motives behind human evil. Wonderful…

This is a relatively short collection – eleven stories in 133 pages – and you can easily read it in one sitting. I’ve reread the whole of it a couple of times now, and have read two of the stories several times as I attempted to run to ground some of the names and spells mentioned in them. Ashe merges the ancient into the modern and mixes her own horrors with established devils with such skill that I still am unsure if some of her stories are wholly of her own creation or if my research skills have failed me. She inspired me to dig deeper, and even if her prose had fallen short, spurring curiosity beyond the book itself is often worth the price of admission. Luckily, her prose was on the mark, visceral and beautiful. Absolutely savage in some places. She keeps a steady balance between the gloriously cruel and the bitterly hopeful. show less

3.75/5