Review of “The Dark Mother” by Jamilette Cintron

Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)

The Dark Mother by Jamilette Cintron is a chilling and thought-provoking short story collection. It takes the precedence set by Mother Goose stories and flips that formula on its head with a darker, grittier, bloodier, gorier, more violent, and more pessimistic take. This is a sugar-filled treat—a literary jelly-filled doughnut—for the morbid grimdark fans among us!

It goes without saying that a bunch of TRIGGER WARNINGS could proceed this book including for sexual assault, rape, murder, suicide, and more.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

“When Monsters Meet” hearkens back to traditional mythological stories in which a wrongfully violated young woman (and her baby) is brutally avenged by a deity in a sort of post mortem deus ex machina. Specifically, the young Ebi is violated and murdered by a male warlock named Sir Donnell, who wrestles with his dark urges and inner demons. The spirits of the sea viciously dismember Sir Donnell, a perfect retribution for a brutal and savage act.

“The Beauty of Sin” reminded us of the iconic line from The Dark Knight: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." The story follows Celine, a so-called “sin eater” and witch who has her purity and healing magic stolen after a brutal attack. She seeks violence, making a pact with a powerful being to absorb the sins of others in order to exact her revenge on those who wronged her. As you might expect, the weight of all the evil and sins she absorbs gradually erodes her morality, turning her into the very kind of monster that she has been hunting. Like a drug, she becomes addicted to this curse, refusing to pass the darkness on, always chasing the elusive high.

Now, you think that these two other stories would've been the ones that put us off, but it was the next story (“To the Depths of Despair”) that really got to us and made us step away for a moment. Why? Well, because it deals with a naive, innocent young woman (who genuinely sounds like a minor) who seems to be caught in a questionable relationship with an unnamed, older man called “the Gringo,” who impregnates her twice despite their age differences. The first of the children is passed off as an orphan that the protagonist and Mami discovered (so as not to upset Papi). The second dies due to asphyxiation by the umbilical cord.

The protagonist brutally murders the Gringo with a meathook after being rejected and betrayed. Driven completely insane, the protagonist—if you could even call her one at this point—seeks to preserve her baby daughter's corpse by sewing a new suit of skin for her every year, using skin from other murdered babies. What's extra disturbing about this story compared to the previous ones is that the victims include people (babies) who are innocent and did nothing wrong to the protagonist. In the previous stories, the victims were usually bad or sinful people themselves who deserved some degree of retribution or comeuppance.

Now, we have a confession to make. We thought that “The Ramblings of a Loved Wife” and “The Safe Space” were in the same continuity and pretty much the same story. Why? Well, they both deal with female murderers. However, when we stepped back and thought about it, it makes more sense that they're two separate stories with two separate murderers who have some similarities.

It makes more sense because in “Ramblings,” it seemed clear that the murderer and the husband had been together for a while. With “The Safe Space,” we're told that the murderer travels from town to town seducing and killing men. Maybe they're intertextual. Who knows?

Anyway, going back to “Ramblings,” this story contains one of the most shocking, brutal, visceral, and gory scenes in the book—and that's saying a lot! However, this castration in the middle of oral sex is described so delicately and—dare we say—beautifully, that we have to give the writer credit. Consider the line: “I feel my mouth fill up, like when you bite into a fruit gusher. Except this was not
fruit and my mouth was filled with warm gush of copper and flesh.”
Geez! Gnarly!

There are some other great lines in this book, many of which reflect the book's bleak, pessimistic, nihilistic, macabre nature:

“People say they are making the world better by building computers and fancy new cars. But what they do not seem to understand is that with every new idea comes about an even uglier outcome.”

Tell me friend, are you Holy or are you human? What makes one more so then the other?
Who in all this madness was the teacher and who was the student?”

“...if he is dead and I am dead then he can not leave me. then[SIC] our spirits could wonder[SIC] the earth as gilded lovers together forever. Plus ghost don’t cheat so we will finally be happy.”

This captivating book could've used a few rounds of edits and revisions. For example, “then” in the previous passage should've been capitalized. Also:

“Her love lied in helping the sick” should be “Her love lay in helping the sick.”

"...laid in her once loving home" should be "lay in her once loving home."

The word “pledged” is incorrectly used instead of the word “plagued” in the following two passages:

“For every sin you consume you will be pledged with it”

“...held captive by the beast that pledged his life for so long.”

All in all, this is an interesting and unique collection of dark stories.

Check it out on Amazon!