Review | The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste

In Denton Street, Cleveland, the summer of 1980 is shadowed by the threat of a declining steel mill and a deteriorating town. Phoebe and her best friend, Jacqueline, are high school graduates and looking at a future that seems pretty bleak. Phoebe is planning to continue her studies elsewhere, and she plans to take Jacqueline with her. But things change when the girls in the neighbourhood start to transform; their fingers turning to glass and their flesh filled with rust. Their metamorphosis and the reactions from their families, community and outsiders lead to a terrible event marking Phoebe’s summer.

Years later, Phoebe returns to the neighbourhood, intending to help her mother pack their old house. As she walks through the places where the Rust Maidens used to haunt, she begins to remember. What really happened that night in 1980?

Part of me was certain it was a Rust Maiden, or all of the Rust Maidens, here to wave their long bandaged arms at me like the accusing fingers of Death. To claim me as their own.

The Rust Maidens is an engaging read that could have been fantastic, but never fully got there. On the surface, this book seems to be about unexpected transformations and the horror that comes with the unknown. But underneath, it’s also about stolen lives and a stagnant, broken community. It’s about the loss of a friendship and the lack of choices for young girls in a world dictated by adults. What happens to the girls as they slowly turns into rust seems terrible, but worse is how the people around them reacted. The Rust Maidens are viewed as a threat to the way of living. I liked how the book shows the way everything unraveled. The setting is clearly described and I could feel the oppressive feeling of a dilapidated town on the brink of something awful.

I liked the way female friendships are portrayed here. The main friendship is between Phoebe and Jacqueline, but we also get to see other types of friendships between the other girls. Dawn, the pregnant teenage girl, Helena, the preacher’s daughter, Violet, the doctor’s daughter. All the girls are constantly being referred as being someone else’s. When they break free of that expectations, they do not receive the support from the community. I thought the supporting characters are equally interesting as well, and brought different dynamics to the Rust Maidens’ situation.

What kept me from fully loving the book is that I thought Phoebe sounded exactly the same when she was 18 and when she was 46. Her present voice does not have the depth of experience of having lived with the memories of what happened to her friends. I would have liked it more if the book had focused on the past. The story is good enough to stand on its own without having to move to the present. Especially when the questions of how and why of the Rust Maidens are not explained. I’m also not fond of the heavy metaphors used at times. I think the writing could be a little more subtle in letting the story breathe. But for the most part I enjoyed the book. I fully appreciate the focus on female characters in a genre that doesn’t always give them the time of day.

About the author: Gwendolyn Kiste

Photo by Jimmy Ofisi