Review: Mnemosyne’s Daughters by Brit Chism

Mnemosyne’s Daughters is a thought-provoking collection of modern day short stories inspired by Greek mythology that author, Brit Chism, uses to highlight social issues affecting women in today’s society.

Told from a surprisingly male perspective, there are nine short stories in all – a few somewhat blandly titled after women. Then there are the rest, like “Alice Silver-Blue Hair and the Saints,” “Elysian Fields Next Exit,” “Mnemosyne’s Daughters,” “Layla and the Rage,” and “Medea Royal,” each of which express the author’s robust imagination that is evident throughout this collection.

At the heart of each story are women from all walks of life – jogger, Eurydice, who suffers betrayal at the hands of a musician husband, former prostitute-turned-FBI-informant, Katya, who begins an illicit affair with her handler as revenge fuels her soul, fun-loving Jocasta, Queen of Mardi Gras, who finds a much younger Queen’s Consort, and Medea Royal, an opera singer with the voice of an angel and the heart of a murderer.

From the vomit-stained streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter, to derelict dwellings in the Ukraine, and from peanut-growing rural Georgia to the back stage of a New York opera house, Chism’s stories cover a broad spectrum of settings as they highlight social issues that plague our society in the form of human trafficking, violence, sexually-transmitted diseases, assault, murder, betrayal and revenge. Chism rips away the veneer of social acceptability, throwing a spotlight on the disenfranchised – those barely surviving on the fringes of society, running from the law, and especially those running from the demons within themselves.

The author’s prose runs the gamut from gritty to compassionate and earnest. In some stories, like “Eurydice,” there is more telling than showing, and Chism is a bit on the nose in his descriptions. Shifting points of view are occasionally disruptive as well, and backstories aren’t always well conveyed. On a purely structural level, there are some breaks in dialogue or action that aren’t properly broken up with section or page breaks.

However, Chism has a particularly fine eye and innate attention for detail, crafting stories that are rich in texture, bringing visceral authenticity to each setting. It doesn’t take much to close one eyes and see the murky sludge of the Mississippi, or to smell the unpleasant remains that is the French Quarter after a night of hell-raising debauchery.

The major impact of these stories lies in Chism’s skillful three-dimensional characterization of the protagonists. At the helm of each story are compelling, albeit flawed women, who have learned by example and by mistake. Like their mythological counterparts, Chism’s protagonists are deceitful, manipulative and strong, with each woman believing in the means to an end – whether it be Jacosta reading the investigator’s report that confirms what she already suspects, or the drag queen, Mona, as she primps in the mirror, decked out in makeup and wig, her cancerous lesions hidden under her rhinestone gown and long gloves. Chism writes with great empathy and pathos, which permeates these characters’ lives.

Overall, Mnemosyne’s Daughters is an affecting collection of stories that pays homage to the resilience of women young and old, and leaves a reader feeling enriched and inspired by book’s end.