Connie Willis, "All My Darling Daughters"
I was reminded of this short story today, and since it left such an indelible scar on me, I figured maybe I should talk it out as some sort of PTSD therapy effort. I have read the story twice, once when I checked Fire Watch out of the library in undergrad, and then again years later when I found it in The Winds of Marble Arch, just to see if I remembered it accurately. The second go-round was actually less traumatic, mostly because I knew what was coming. The slow dawning of horrified realization from my first reading was, thankfully, a unique experience.
I didn't think it was an easy story to get into - it's set in a boarding school type place, in the future, and Willis does the old Clockwork Orange slang thing, although not to such an extent (or else the story would be completely incomprehensible). There is some explanation for the situation, although since it's told from one girl's point of view, the reader is not given a tutorial on the inner workings of this society. That factor helps set the tone for sure, and the only real problem from doing it this way was that when things finally click for the reader (at least in my case), you're not sure for awhile if you're interpreting words and actions correctly in this fictionalized world, or if you're mistaken about what these things mean (and if you are like me, you're thinking, "please, let me be mistaken."). This somewhat lessened the impact of the reveal for me, thank goodness.
I don't want to spoil this story, so this discussion will have to remain disappointing vague, for anyone who has both a morbid sense of curiosity to know what happens and a desire to protect their own fragile psychosis by not reading it themselves. The story does make you think about power and desire, and the way in which people can look at someone and see only an object, something that is less than the sum of their parts. I'm glad Willis wrote it, and I'm glad I read it, even though I feel like I lost some of my innocence. I have no doubt that there are people who see the world and behave the way that the villains of the story do, and it's heartbreaking to think of the people they destroy by so doing.
Also, it helps to know I have company. Here are some other reviews of the story:
In describing an aspect of the story, tvTropes says: "[It is] the least horrifying thing, out of the many horrifying things about ["All My Darling Daughters"].
"Features an Excellent Vocabulary of Expletives Worthy of College Students of the Future"
"Manages to Both Titillate and Terrify"
"Creepy"
"One of the Most Disturbing Things I've Ever Read"
"Not to My Liking"
-All from GoodReads
"Frack This Creepy Father Pet Stuff"
-Blue Tyson
"So Incredibly Horrible to Read" and "I'm Not Sure I've Ever Been So Shaken by Anything Else I've Ever Read"
-Marchenland
And then, most poetically and succinctly:
"Ouch"
-Susan Stepney
