Book Review: Bitter Apples, edited by Eric Raglin

Short story horror collection ARC thanks to BookSirens

Isn’t that a great cover? Makes me itchy.

Five stars:

I received an advance review copy from BookSirens for free, and I am leaving this honest review voluntarily.

I deeply enjoyed this collection of horror stories based around teaching—it made me uncomfortable in the most delightful way. It felt like an exploration of my own stress dreams about school: I have skipped an entire semester or year of a class, and I have to sneak in and take the exam without the teacher/professor ‘s noticing; it’s the end of the year, and I have to clean out my locker but I don’t remember where it is; the teacher/professor detests me and only me (this actually happened to me, but it replays in grotesquerie in my dreams). This book perfectly captured that stress dream horror feeling, and now I need a brightly colored blanket and a cookie. Thanks! That was fun.

Note: My teacher’s disliking me happened once in elementary school, and once in high school. I have talked and written about the former, the fifth grade teacher who became infuriated that I could read two books at once, my own and the textbook at hand, and that she could not trip me up.

The latter was my Chemistry teacher, whose primary career was as the soccer coach. Schools, please don’t do this. When he learned I needed help with the material and was an accelerated student, being the only 10th grader in the class, he forced me to sit in the front, right in front of him. He also gleefully announced every one of my grades to the class, and would mock the good ones as “flukes” or worse. He never once helped me. I think my block with Chem was, again as with math, the why of it all. I tried to get him to explain the why of balancing equations, where it came from, who discovered it all…just so the hours of tedious homework would make sense to me. So I could read about the history of what I was doing. He laughed at me—and then told my class of 11th and 12th graders about my questioning. Only my friends who had been in Biology II Advanced Placement with me when I was in 10th grade, and knew I understood science quite well, didn’t laugh.

Therefore, this little horror book, which I read in one sitting, was satisfying.

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There is a reason why I could track two books at once, and why I needed to know the why of my schoolwork, instead of just filling out worksheets and plugging in numbers. I can still do two or three things at once, involved things, and need to, sometimes: I often listen to a podcast or audiobook while writing, and I can process both deeply. It’s like my brain needs that extra massage to be satisfied. I also, yes, need to know why I am doing something.

I recently just learned the reason for all this, something new I learned about myself that put a clear lens over my whole life. I haven’t decided if I will share it in a podcast episode—most of my reviews have praised me for being so open about my life and my struggles and pain—or in a subscribers-only post here, because I might not want it to be everywhere…but why not? I shall ponder.