The Cellar Below the Cellar by Ivy Grimes | Horror Fiction Review
This is a strange little folk tale.
My 2 Cents for Free!
This is a strange little coming into your own story about a woman who finds herself trapped at her grandmother’s house by circumstances beyond anyone’s control.
Jane was visiting her grandma when a loud pop awakened her from sleep to find the sky glowing. It’s not aliens (that we know of!) but a mysterious aurora-like light arrived and apparently doesn’t have plans to leave. It knocked out power and forced them to live off the grid. This actually feels like a not so bad option in 2026. Technology has gone poof and they learn to help out their walkable neighbors in their teeny community. Well, some of them anyway. Some are just bossy, entitled and excellent at overstepping but that’s how some people are so it felt realistic.
This is a slower paced, odd little book with some quirky characters. Jane is the main character. She’s 30ish but she reads much younger for some strange reason. Initially, she’s annoyed that she can’t return to her life and her friends, but she does what she has to do which is mostly obey her grandma who runs hot and cold and who is busy most nights doing things. Grandma is also keeping secrets in the cellar under the cellar. Grandma’s house has layers and one of them is very bizarre. Jane’s journey is accepting this new life, finding her own strength and accepting her fate as she maneuvers a bunch of personalities. There aren’t a lot of answers here for those with enquiring minds. It’s more of a go with the flow as they go about their day doing what they need to do to survive type of story.
It’s a slower tale and for being so few of pages, it felt much longer. It is inspired by the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful" and the mythology around Frau Perchta, neither of which I knew anything about, so I looked them up and it all fits. If you like a dark little tale that’s slightly eerie, not too gory and deals with loss with care and gentle hands, I’d recommend this one to you. I liked that it had a slightly hopeful vibe where many end of the world (as we know it) type books tend to dwell on the dreadful men and nihilistic aspects of civilization. People can be dreadful but there’s some hope if you keep on keeping on without falling into evil!
Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Publisher Plot Synopsis
A playfully dark folk horror inspired by the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful" and the mythology around Frau Perchta, set under the blazing sky of endless auroras. When a wild solar storm wipes out all electronics and traps Jane at her grandmother' s house in the woods, she is forced to start a new life off-grid as part of a small, isolated community. However, there is something very strange about her new neighbors, and the longer she lives under the eerie glow of the auroras, the more she feels her grandmother may be hiding unsettling secrets. To have any hope in her new world, Jane must find the courage to step into her power and claim her identity, but that would mean facing whatever hides in the cellar below the cellar— a place that seems to be waiting for her. Full of delightfully weird surprises and off-kilter characters, this adult coming-of-age story explores themes of female empowerment, spirituality, identity, and community. For fans of Kelly Link, Karen Russell, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Leonora Carrington.
.png)
Comments
Post a Comment