Allyson McOuat
Published: 30th April 2024
Genre: essays
Spoilers?: no
From Allyson McOuat, author of the popular 2020 New York Times Modern Love essay “The Ghost Was the Least of Our Problems,” comes her debut essay collection
In a series of intimate and humorous dispatches, McOuat examines her identity as a queer woman, and as a mother, through the lens of the pop culture moments in the ’80s and ’90s that molded her identity. McOuat stirs the ingredients required to conjure an unsettled spirit: the horrors of pregnancy and motherhood, love and loss, the supernatural, kaleidoscopic sexuality, near-miss experiences, and the unexplained moments in life that leave you haunted.
Through her own life experiences, various tall tales, urban legends, analysis of horror and thriller films, and spine-chilling true crime incidents, McOuat uncovers how cultural gatekeeping has forced her, as a mother and queer femme woman, to persistently question her own reality. Through this charming and humorous exploration of what moments have made her who she is, McOuat demonstrates for readers a way through by forgiving herself and exorcising her stubborn attachment to a phantom, heteronormative, nuclear family structure.
Galley provided by publisher
A few key-words are catnip to me when it comes to essay collections: pop culture; queer women; urban legends. Allyson McOuat’s debut essay collection was right up my alley (pun fully intended). It’s a welcome expansion on her piece in The New York Times and an essay collection I thoroughly enjoyed.
McOuat’s essays seamlessly blend personal experiences with insights from pop culture, particularly focusing on themes such as motherhood, queerness, pregnancy, true crime, horror movies, bisexuality, patriarchy, and violence. Some particular standouts for me were “The Haunted House,” “The Man at the End of the Bed,” and “The Fortune Teller,” but, really, aside from one or two early chapters where I was likely getting used to McOuat’s writing style, I didn’t feel like there were any misses in this collection.
I tend to find essay collections very hit-or-miss and I think that the more episodic, memoir-like structure of this collection worked in its favor. It also definitely helped that McOuat is heavy on the pop culture references and her pop culture references align with mine very neatly. Her use of film, television, and literature is purposeful and thoughtful, and reminded me of Carmen Maria Machado’s writing, particularly Machado’s essay on Jennifer’s Body. At the same time, I could definitely see how a reader who was less familiar with the 80s and 90s media landscape might find it distancing, so this is definitely a YMMV situation. McOuat provides a helpful reading/watching list (something everyone should do, actually. I love recommended reading. It’s like fun homework.)
While the topics covered in this collection are familiar to me, their treatment is novel. McOuat’s references to the supernatural and horror movies offer a fresh perspective on womanhood, particularly queer womanhood. Queer people have always had a particular kinship with horror and the monstrous, but the ways these subjects are tackled are handled with so much care and thought is a treasure. McOuat’s prose is exceptional: I highlighted several passages in my copy purely because I loved the writing. And it’s funny, too! Despite handling such difficult topics — postnatal anxiety, lost love, gender-based discrimination, victim complexes, trauma, pregnancy — Allyson McOuat is just so funny. I’d love to buy her a coffee and pick her mind.
This book is a delight. If you’re at all interested in queer culture, horror pop culture, womanhood, etc., I can’t recommend The Call is Coming From Inside the House enough.
Sentence: WED. I’m beyond excited to see what Allyson McOuat does next.
six of queens reads 