“Where the Wild Ladies Are is an audacious book, a collection of ghost stories that’s spooky, original and defiantly feminist . . . Like the subject matter of the book, Matsuda’s writing, and Polly Barton’s masterful translation, seems to exist on a higher plane—the author seems to see things the rest of us can’t (or won’t), and writes with a subtle self-assuredness mixed with a sly, unexpected sense of humor . . . [T]hese aren’t the same old horror stories you’ve encountered before—they’re novel, shimmering masterworks from a writer who seems incapable of being anything less than original. Towards the end of the book, one of Matsuda’s characters observes of her friends with dedicated fixations, ‘Somewhere inside, these people are all quietly on fire.’ Matsuda’s book is on fire, too, but there’s nothing quiet about her maverick brilliance.”
What a fabulous review. Read it in full here.