Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz, Winner of the 2022 Prize
REVIEWED BY GABRIELA TOWNES
For far too long, I had fallen out of love with short story collections, so when I decided to give this one a read it felt almost as if it were a first date, setting off butterflies in my stomach – wondering whether the collection would live up to my expectations. Only to have Moniz cast a magic spell over her readers, and the realisation that this collection is everything you hoped it would be and so much more.
These stories encompass what it is to grow up black in Florida. Each character seems to lead an ordinary life, yet they are all facing a hardship they are trying to make sense of. Moniz examines a multitude of themes some of which include miscarriage, grief, friendship, sexual abuse, race, complex mother/daughter relationships to breakdowns of marriages and so much more. Despite dealing with heavy topics, I did not find them sorrowful or lacking even if Moniz doesn’t provide tidy endings – personally, it felt as if it was left to the reader to interpret where these characters’ stories may go.
There are no words that will truly do this debut justice, in this collection Moniz has brought to life writing that forces you to pause and reflect, and you will be left in awe that an author could evoke such emotion with so few carefully placed words. The writing is sublime – gut wrenching, visceral, vivid – and the characterization is flawless.
This collection had my heart aching for the characters and I was entirely consumed by their worlds. I found this collection to be deeply honest, exploring so many everyday human experiences and articulating them in a way so many of us may not know how to. Moniz will enrapture you with subtle yet arresting lines sprinkled throughout the collection that will be the final push you need to realise that this is an author we all need to be watching – here is one such line:
“I sat among them, enraptured by their stories, realizing for the first time that every one of us was a link stretching back, mother to daughter to mother, in an unbroken chain from the center of time, connected by milk and blood.”
This is your call to action, if you haven’t picked this one up or are intimidated by story collections – give this one a chance, Moniz will stun you with her words and this collection will linger in your heart and mind for years to come.
