The Gilda Stories Book

My first encounter with Gilda was by way of the 2015 anthology Ghost: 100 Stories to Read with the Lights On, edited by Louise Welsh. It includes a story from this book, 'Off-Broadway, 1971'. I was instantly spellbound, and bought The Gilda Stories as soon as I'd finished it. (Literally. I read the story standing up in my kitchen, and ordered the book online before I'd even sat down; that's how rapt I was.)

The Gilda Stories introduces the title character as a slave girl in Louisiana, 1850. Some years later, she is made into a vampire, and each story relates a segment of her long and fascinating life. Yerba Buena (later known as San Francisco) in 1890; Missouri in 1921; Boston in 1955; New York in 1971 and 1981; plus two visions of the future, 2020 and 2050. (As the book was published in 1991, the way Gomez imagines 2020 is especially interesting! Once you get past the clunky technical details, the idea of people communicating with each other via private video channels is pretty prescient, as is the backdrop of increasing environmental decline.)

As my initial reading of 'Off-Broadway, 1971' proves, the stories can be enjoyed individually. But to read them in context is something else altogether. Despite the title, as I read I became more and more convinced that this is a novel - a more coherent work than any novel-in-stories I think I have ever read. The stories don't just show us scenes from Gilda's life, they build a bigger picture. What's wonderful about that is that it has a genuine sense of scope; I believed in Gilda as someone who had lived for one hundred, two hundred years. Her character is developed slowly, meticulously. Her relationships deepen, grow in significance, and change in shape over the course of the years. There's a rare thoughtfulness to Gilda's progression.

The Gilda Stories is so rich with narrative and visual possibilities, I really can't believe it hasn't been made into a film. It's basically Interview with the Vampire if the main character was a black lesbian. Plus there's so much potential for sumptuous period settings and costumes. The time is now for someone to option it!

This book truly transported me. Just wonderful.

TinyLetter