Malafemmena

Starred review from May 23, 2016
Ermelino (The Black Madonna), reviews director at PW, offers a collection of arresting short stories that call to mind the work of Lucia Berlin in their sparse realism and humor, as well as their fine attention to the often-harsh details of women’s lives. “Where It Belongs,” in which old-world Italian traditions surrounding childbirth and death frame a stark portrait of a young woman’s life rocked by the violence of men, is a fitting opening story for a volume titled after the popular Italian song that speaks of a woman loved, hated, and regarded as less than virtuous. In the haunting “Six and Five,” Santino marries because he wants “the good things in life” and to have sex “regular,” but the girl isn’t from the neighborhood, and just enough is revealed to let us know that Santino’s choice is a disappointment to him. In “The Baby,” a decades-spanning story involving Robin and Christina, a pair of close friends, there’s a pregnancy, a sojourn in countries where their foreignness is palpable, and the sense that there is often a truth in memory, and in the telling of stories, that feels truer than what happened. Birth and death, love and friendship, drugs and violence, home and abroad: the stories’ themes are elemental and affecting, lingering in the mind like parables or myths sketching something vital, sad, and true.

May 15, 2016
Edgy short stories about women in trouble abroad and at home from Ermelino (Joey Dee Gets Wise, 2015), the Reviews Director at Publishers Weekly. "So there I was in Australia, in Sydney, working in a pub that recreated the Tyrolean Alps. I wore an appropriately humiliating costume and pink suede clogs...." "The ship ultimately left us, not in Singapore but on a tiny island off Malaysia that had never seen a tourist...." "Robin and Christina had a plan to meet in Le Havre and go on to Paris. In the flea market there they would buy backpacks, or as Robin, having been to Europe before, called them, rucksacks, and they would hitchhike, or as Robin called it, auto-stop, across Europe." The characters in Ermelino's 16 quick stories get around. They crack jokes, take opium, have ill-considered assignations, and are lucky to get out alive (some don't). There are a lot of great lines and a few truly timeless questions ("Is Nicole Kidman wearing Zac Posen, and did she really buy her lasagna pan at Williams-Sonoma?" "They have room service in the Howard Johnson Motor Inn on Forty-Third Street?"), but it all goes by a little too quickly. Characters and situations are whisked away before we can really understand or get involved with them, and even very sad situations are presented with little emotion. Some of the stories are clearly more conceptual than narrative -- "James Dean and Me," for example, is an extended surrealist joke set on the Afghan border, which the narrator is trying to cross with her deceased movie-star friend. "Fish Heads" is a sketch about eating fish heads. "Where It Belongs" is a dark Italian folk tale-ish type thing set in Brooklyn. Too cool for some readers; just right for others.

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July 1, 2016
Ermelino's short story collection presents characters leaping from one precipice to another, exploring the varied boundaries of memory, landscape, and self-awareness. In the title tale, Tom, a daytime TV producer, finds himself drawn to the mysterious Lucia during a wedding reception. It's a romanticized connection that soon devolves into chaos, forcing Tom to confront his own apprehensions. Sister-in-Law follows a young New Yorker as she attempts to talk her way out of her own demise at the hands of the titular character. Many of Ermelino's short tales hinge on recollections that evolve into deeper connections and realities. The Baby follows two young friends, Robin and Christina, whose travels abroad in the late 1960s unfold to reveal a haunting collision of memories surrounding an unexpected pregnancy. In Louise Ciarelli a student's hair leads to unexpected problems in a classroom in a Catholic school. Marguerite follows a group of world travelers whose relations expand and contract, unintentionally tethered to a drug addict. Spanning perception, continents, and time, Ermelino's 16 tales stealthily explore her characters' unwieldy predicaments and conflicting desires.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2016

"Malafemmena" is the title of an Italian song referring to an evil woman, one who lures others into a web of deceit. Ermelino, director of reviews at Publishers Weekly, offers a collection of stories involving risky situations far and wide. In the titular story, a beautiful, mysterious woman picks up a vulnerable man at an Italian wedding in Queens, NY. In the blink of an eye she sets him up as an accessory to murder. "Mother Love" tells of the peculiar relationship between a son and his mother--people in their neighborhood are convinced that she is a witch. In perhaps the most highly absurdist tale in this collection, a woman who is crossing the Afghan border believes she is traveling with James Dean, the long-dead American actor. Throughout the book, Ermelino keeps readers lingering on the edge of fantasy and reality. VERDICT Written in a style comparable to that of Margaret Atwood, each scenario is so thought-provoking, so taut, and so dizzying that a pause between stories is required just to catch one's breath. Open-minded readers with a sense of adventure will want to take a look. [See Prepub Alert, 2/21/16.]--Susanne Wells, Indianapolis P.L.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2016

Admit it, you've always fantasized about being tough and adventurous, about crossing swords with the Mafia or sleeping with strangers and smoking opium-laced hashish. Reviews Director at Publishers Weekly, Ermelino (The Sisters Mallone) takes you there with strong-willed female characters circling through New York's Italian American neighborhoods and far-off India and Afghanistan.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 5, 2016
Klages (Portable Childhoods) draws a loving portrait of 1930s queer San Francisco in this deftly crafted tale of love, solidarity, and magic brought full circle. In the present day, Helen Young sells the last, lost work of famous pulp cover artist Haskel to an unethical art dealer who’s due for a comeuppance. Haskel was famous for art showing evocatively gruesome villains threatening lovely young ladies, but his last painting instead depicts the heroine of a romantic story. The narrative then goes back in time to cover the events leading up to Haskel’s final painting and abrupt career end, introducing a charming cast of queer women working as lawyers, singers, mathematicians, and witches. Emily, a newcomer to the group, crosses Haskel’s path by coincidence; the two fall into a whirlwind romance that ultimately requires the support and skills of all their friends to see through. Klages folds history and the modern world into a thoroughly satisfying novella that’s rich in detail, warm in regard, and clever in execution.