And this morning, it feels like the world has gone mad...

I understand the anger. I understand the sense of marginalization which drove people to vote for a man whose entire campaign was based on hatred, fear, and divisive language. I understand feeling like burning down the house because there's no other way to get rid of what's wrong with it.

I understand, because I'm a woman, and I have children who aren't textbook perfect, and I have friends who are black, Hispanic, Muslim, Jewish, gay, trans, or otherwise outside the comfort zone of those very angry people who just made Brexit look sane. 

My autistic son will become one of their targets. He certainly won't get services, if they have anything to say about it. Too expensive, too great a burden for us to care for those who, by virtue of a genetic roll of the dice, aren't "normal," who are innocent to a degree the rest of us have lost.

My trans child faces a world where violence is seen as acceptable, where fear of something one cannot understand means beating it out of a body. Will I relax when my child leaves the house now? Probably not. My phones will become harbingers of dread once again, as they were when my father was dying, and all the news was bad.

All we can do now, those of us who can't fill our hearts with hatred, is to live, and live in a way which shows we will never surrender to hatred. We cannot let fear win, and we need to reach out our hands to all those who will be left out of the new definition of what makes America great.

Crisped + Sere by T.J. Klune
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Crisped + Sere picks up where Withered + Sere left us, and I was immediately swept back into the bleak and terrible world Cavalo and Lucas inhabit. In twenty-one days, the leader of the Dead Rabbits, Patrick, will return for Lucas, and Cavalo has choices to make.

These characters are complex, and hurt, and yet even in their broken state, they have a powerful beauty. Their imperfections keep them human in a setting where it is all too easy to lose sight of one's humanity, as the Dead Rabbits have done. Even Patrick, nemesis and villain, has moments of clarity, when his humanity surfaces. It only magnifies his darkness, but it also makes him believable. The relationship between Cavalo and Lucas isn't tender, but it is love, as close to it as either of them could bear, anyway, and perhaps it's even redemption. I want to think so, for their sake.

I am in awe of the skill with which TJ Klune portrays this world, and its flawed, magnificent inhabitants. These are books I will read again, and I know I will find new things each time I do so. I recommend this book, and the prior book, without reservation.

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