Absolutely adored this collection of short contemporary Indonesian horror stories! From a simple retelling of Cinderella, to things substantially more graphic and horrifying, I absolutely devoured this easy and thrilling read in less than 2 hours. An absolute must read!

Unsettling, sinister, dark, macabre- these are words that immediately sprung to mind when I finished Apple and Knife but….. probably the ones I will use 24 hours later, and, having had time to absorb these tales are; unfamiliar; unique; thought-provoking; mind-blowing and refreshing. It was the sort of book that initially I wondered if I had really enjoyed, it is totally different from my usual style, but now I am realising how refreshing a read it was. Bad women who are not necessarily dominatrix or hags, cultural anxiety about women’s bodies faced full on, modernist slants on old tales and confrontation of attitudes towards women from both men and women. These are what I will come away with, as well as a new foray into Indonesian literature. Thanks for finding this book Vintage Women Book Club.

‘’Come. Come, child. Sit by me. Are you sure you want to hear how I became blind? Oh, it’s a scary tale, child. So much blood was shed, like when an animal is sacrificed. It was an awful event involving someone very close to me. You may know of her. I was butchered. Yes, you could say that. And I even butchered myself. My eyes were pecked out by a bird. They say it was a dove from heaven, but it was actually a black crow straight out of hell. I screamed. I begged it to stop. But my shrieks were drowned out by its caws. It got to the point that you could no longer tell what was flowing, tears or blood, The crow only heeded its owner and she wasn’t satisfied until my eyes were hollow sockets.’’ Forget the term 'Short Stories collection.' It doesn't apply here. Apple and Knife feels like a dark ritual. Yes, it is a ritualistic dissection of myth, patriarchy, and the feral edges of female desire. Blending Indonesian folklore with a sharp, contemporary gothic sensibility, Paramaditha transforms the meek, 'acceptable' 'once upon a time' into a visceral cry for reclamation. In these pages, the domestic and the demonic collide, proving that the most terrifying monsters are often those born from societal expectations and repressed truths. Each story is a journey through a landscape where blood is a stain, yes, but also a source of power. The Blind Woman Without a Toe: Sindelarat’s eldest step-sister narrates her side of the story, the original story of Cinderella, the tale of mutilation and obsession and hunger for power. Through the fairytale and its darkness, Paramaditha makes a commentary on the multi-faceted, ever-expanding ways women and their dreams and feelings are constantly being mutilated. ‘’Blood and ghosts. I nodded. It made sense. They always showed up together in stories. I stopped with my whys.’’ ‘’I am a fish trapped in an aquarium. My gaze penetrates the glass, but keeps getting refracted in the process.’’ Blood: Let’s be honest. Even in our very ‘modern’, very ‘liberated’ world, the word ‘menstruation’ is only whispered. In certain cultures, women are still considered ‘miasmatic’ while on their period. Nowhere is this more acute than in Muslim countries and Islamic states. An ad concept for sanitary napkins becomes the vehicle for a woman to narrate the way her life changed when her period came. When blood and ghosts appeared in unison… Quite graphic scenes in this one, but so powerful. I don’t think I have ever read a story about menstruation or seen it described with such lyricism and sincerity, tying female sexuality to the miasma cultures continue to project when it comes to women’s bodily functions. Doors: The wife of a state official during Suharto’s regime narrates the circumstances that led to her husband’s death and her relationship with another man, while secrets and sighs remained firmly kept behind doors. Quietly political and subtly erotic. Political writing doesn't have to be loud as if it were created to become the ugly soundtrack of demonstrations. Political writing should not be a cacophony of motos screamed by beings isolated from society. Because, my Lord, we've had enough of nonsense, okay? ‘’Had those figures ever made a sound?’’ Kuchuk Hanem: The tale of a courtesan that fascinated Maxime Du Camp and Gustave Flaubert. It reads like a story from Arabian Nights and poignantly demonstrates how most men want to fall in bed with the ‘courtesan’ but live with the good ‘wifey’... Tale as old as time… ‘’What I do, child, is offer a home for the screams. If I didn’t, the scream would evaporate and leave the woman mute for ever.’’ Scream in a Bottle: As part of her research, Gita visits the ‘lair’ of Sumarni, a witch, an ally of the devil and bearer of a dozen other colourful names. But what does this strange woman do? She keeps the screams of women in sauce bottles. Because when a scream is lost, then the woman will be mute forever, and the bottle can be opened only when the woman dies. This is such a beautiful, haunting story. Terrifying like a howl in the night, with allusions enough to create a dozen new stories. It brought tears and aching… The Queen: A man, who has spent his life ‘testing’ virgins in a very cruel game, finds himself trapped in a dull marriage and his mind plagued by a sudden and absolute obsession with the supernatural. Mundane but familiar issues blend with Indonesian myths of queens and deities in an elegantly sexual tale of jealousy, rage and ferocious sexuality. Yes, I loved it. ‘’We come from the same place, cramped, dark, wet, red. But she doesn’t want me because she thinks I suckle at the breast of a she-wolf.’’ Vampire: Possibly the most haunting, seductive vampire story I have ever read. I wanted to underline every single line in it. Perfect. Hypnotic. Fiery. Bloody. Beauty and the Seventh Dwarf: A woman who lives in a world of twisted fairytales makes an unholy pact with one of her employees. Based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this is a dark tale of depravity, beauty and sexual role-playing. I don’t believe in trigger warnings, but they might be necessary before you read this story. For what it's worth, I adored its Sade-esque quality. ‘’But who? Who was this faceless woman, whose eyes dropped away to nothingness?’’ The Well: A daughter, whose siblings have turned her into their father’s sole carer, finds a strange escape through a red door. A well, a mysterious female presence, and a different world reigning in the nightly forest. A tale that echoes The Red Riding Hood and The Twelve Dancing Princesses, with traces of the Norse myths and even W.B.Yeats’s The Stolen Child, where whimsical peace gives way to bloody deeds. Duty and imprisonment are two vastly different things… ‘’If the moon looks strange, like a woman who has risen from the grave, you’ll know that she has never departed.’’ The Obsessive Twist: An alluring dancer in a village receives the hatred of a Muslim teacher who condemns her as a source of corruption for the poor, innocent men… Yes, sure…Her act of revenge when the time comes is decisive, nightmarish and seductive. A tale about hypocrisy and repressed lust, weirdly reminiscent of Salome’s dance and the infamous scene in Oscar Wilde’s play. ‘’The darkness is long for those who are not whole.’’ The Porcelain Doll: A souvenir porcelain doll gets shuttered by an elderly couple’s cat, and their life changes. Sadness and resentment enter their household as if the doll were the one thing that brought light to their routine. As if the poor feline is a vile murderer. The last page of this story is one of the most moving, haunting endings I have ever encountered in a book. Any book. I sobbed. Enough said. Also, do read about the ghost of Sundel Bolong. Fascinating legend! Apple and Knife: A young woman becomes the favourite subject of her gossipping aunts because she owns her beauty, she works, and in an outrageous decision, she decides to divorce her husband because she fell in love with another man. When Cousin Juli organises a pacifying get-together, frenzy and lust get the upper hand. A Dionysian tale rich in female rage and the repercussions of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Although nowhere near the situation depicted in the story, I’ve had my fair share of horrible aunts in my life…You just never fit into their domestic narrative. And I am so proud of it. A Single Firefly, A Thousand Rats: A moving tale of fireflies and graveyards, of motherhood and womanhood. My God, what a collection! Our world often becomes a 'home for the screams' . For many women, this world is a daily reality, inescapable and endless. These stories reflect screams society has spent centuries trying to bottle up. We often talk about the folklore elements that lend strength to the stories of today. And it is true. However, Paramaditha doesn't just use folklore as a vehicle. She subverts it; she guts it, rearranges its parts, and forces us to find the beauty in the resulting carnage. Whether she is exploring the 'miasma' of womanhood or the quiet rot of sexuality and obsession, her voice remains hypnotic and unapologetic. This collection is a haunting reminder that while duty and imprisonment are often confused, sometimes, blood cannot be avoided... ‘’I live in the caves of darkest night, enveloped in grey mist. I know neither morning nor dew. I dare not challenge the light; I’m not like anyone else. I am obsessed with red. Red pooling in continuous flow, reminiscent of fresh fish. I thirst for blood. I am a black butterfly with wings of velvet. I dart into corridors, drawn by the vortex of the night. She doesn’t know my pain, my moans, my passion. She closes all the windows to drive away my ungainly thirst.’’

Intan Paramaditha's collection of short stories is unsettling and thought-provoking. She takes her readers on a rollercoaster ride through life in Indonesia. Like Naomi Alderman, the feminist slant is delivered through power subservsion. Like Helen Oyeyemi, the stories often draw on fairytales and the supernatural. The opening story tells the tale of Cinderella, but from the perspective of her stepsisters. Other stories take inspiration from myth and dystopia. Thank you to Penguin RandomHouse for my review copy. This collection explores the power, fear, and danger of being a woman. I would particularly recommend to fans of Margaret Atwood.