3 out of 5

Hm, I don’t know if I’m supposed to say anything about this, because part of the success of ‘Elephant’s Foot’ is that it’s not what you think it is, womp womp.  I’m not sure at this point if that makes the story better, or if it makes it a one-read pony.  I do know I’ll be checking out Fuentes’ upcoming 2016 book to see how the style carries over, because her writing has a very bouncy openness to it, as she takes us through a few days in the life of an unnamed school girl and shows us how her small circle of friends respond to an item of oddity that pops up in their lives: the titular foot, which one girl claims can tell the future.  Because of the goofiness of this, and the way the narrative weaves in and out of moments in the recent past which are very coming-of-agey, it’s undoubted that we’re reading yet another semi-autobiographical exploration of What It Is to be a girl, growing up with feelings that the world – or a Catholic school, in the narrative – represses.

But like I said: it’s not what you think it is.

Which is setting you up for a twist, I realize, but that’s not exactly what I mean.  Thankfully, the characters do inform the direction the tale takes, which to me always counters whatever negative connotations ‘twists’ generally bring to mind.  Just, as I said, it’s still hard to tell from the compressed format what the intention of the structure was, which is why my rating hovers in the middle.  I sat with the read a bit afterwards, questioning: Would I be satisfied with either part of the story (before and after this “not what you think it is” moment) on its own?  …And neither part delves deep enough or hits uniquely enough to make that a resounding yes.  So within the world of short stories, ‘Elephant’s Foot’ falls into the pile of being a palate whetter, the EP that you buy while waiting for the album to come out but then generally don’t return to.  Should Fuentes’ debut deliver on the promise of this short, then I’ll feel super cool for having read it; if not, then I’ll still feel super cool ’cause duh and stuff look who we’re talking about.