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Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin

There is an isolated town where the people live their entire lives, isolated from Elsewhere, their only outside contact being the man who delivers their supplies and takes their goods to sell Elsewhere. This place is high up, damp, has a strange fog, it's very cultish (is it a cult?), and at more or less regular intervals, a mother will disappear forever. This is the way is was, the way it is, the way it will always be. This disappearing is called an affliction or is it due to an affliction? To explain this thing that they don't understand, the women left behind must find fault with the woman taken so that they can have some kind of false hope that it won't be them next time. But they are always afraid it will be them.

Vera is the centerpiece of this story and we see everything through her eyes. I don't understand the story and never fell into the rhythm of it, The men seem to have passively faded back in this world or maybe it's that they are safe, don't have to worry about the affliction happening to them, can know that they get to go on, no matter what happens to the women. The girls and women seem to have a built in cruelty to them, a constant suspicion about who will be next, what they did to be next, will it be them next. They seem to be their own worst enemy to me. But then, if things will never change, what can they do but over think this thing?

I encourage you to read other reviews for viewpoints from those who understood and enjoyed this story more than I did. I was able to read this story with DeAnn, Jayme, and Susan and I appreciate their thoughts on the story, because discussing it was what made reading the book more enjoyable for me. I love getting answers in books I read but this one provides very few answers.

Pub: June 28th

Thank you to Celadon Books for the print copy of this ARC.