Most of the time, my reviews for Biff Bam Pop! deal with TV shows or movies, but every once in a while, Andy Burns will send me a book to read and review. I lucked out with the two books from ECW Press that he recently had sent me: The Time of My Life. Dirty Dancing by Andrea Warner, and The Call is Coming from Inside the House by Allyson McOuat. I already did a review for Andrea Warner’s book, which you can read here…but I especially want to talk about Allyson’s book…a book of haunting essays.
The Call is Coming from Inside the House
Allyson McOuat (she/her) is a queer writer from Toronto who has been published in the New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Broadview Magazine and Plenitude Magazine. McOuat’s “Modern Love” essay was adapted for television by Modern Love Amsterdam on Amazon Prime. She is the mother of two daughters.
Now, even though the back cover of The Call is Coming from Inside the House explains that McOuat uses the essays within the book to examine her identity as a queer woman, and as a mother through her own life experiences and various urban legends and horror films, I realized after reading the book, that the back cover did not do the author justice. The Call is Coming from Inside the House was amazing in that it takes the reader on a journey of their own identity in this often-frightening world that we live in.
Some of the stories are about ghosts, some incorporate horror films and true crime stories to explain how the author dealt with certain aspects of her life. All the stories were thought provoking and relatable even for a straight great grandmother. The essays gave me a better understanding of my queer friends and grandchildren.
Conclusion
I think my favourite two stories from The Call is Coming from Inside the House are the very last two: “The Coven” and “Epilogue.” “Coven” is about the community of women helping women. “Epilogue” is about death…not only the understanding of the act, but the beauty of returning to the universe.
Thank you, Andy Burns, for sending me these two fabulous books. I will share them with my friends and family, because as you have taught me…writing books and reading books…are the only way to free our souls.
