Week fifty-nine of Lite Reads comes to a close as we finish this Halloween-themed selection, Sweetmeats by Linda Cheng. There were questions as food for thought on social media as people had the chance to read it and think about it. Before I announce the next Lite Reads selection (October 14), I will be sharing my own thoughts here. Spoilers ahead for those who haven’t finished reading the story yet.
Sweetmeats by Linda Cheng is a YA horror reimagining of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. The story is told in first-person present-tense by Mei, a girl who disappeared for three weeks with her best friend Marlie. When trying to run away to New York, the girls are taken in by a Hansel and Gretel style witch, with a house full of candy and girls she appears to be fattening up. When Mei and Marlie escape, they tell their story to the police and their parents, but no one believes them. Eventually, the girls shift into beasts and devour one of their school bullies. The witch returns to them to make them into her pets, and Mei is helpless to resist, but Marlie kills the witch and frees them both. The story has a completely modern setting with a modern train of events, other than the Hansel and Gretel elements and general fairy tale vibes.
I generally enjoy fairy tale retellings/reimaginings in new genres, and Sweetmeats got everything right for me. Cheng manages to take some of the most enduring aspects of the Hansel and Gretel tale (a witch in the woods luring kids with candy for a mysterious purpose until the story’s conclusion), and turn that story completely on end. The modern setting and the complete disbelief of all adults involved sets the tone for the altered story right away. Sweetmeats also completely avoids some of the tropes that we expect to see in fairy tale retellings, such as romantic plots (although Mei and Marlie read as queer-coded to me). I enjoyed the way the characters interacted, and I enjoyed seeing the strong character needing to be saved by the sensitive and gentle one. The absence of the most used Hansel and Gretel trope (breadcrumbs) was appreciated, and I loved that the witch did have ulterior motives but that they had nothing to do with eating little girls in the end.
Sweetmeats manages to look at mothers, maternal figures, and mother-daughter relationships in a multitude of ways, which I thought was really interesting and fresh. Mei’s mother puts a ton of pressure on her, particularly regarding her violin playing, and essentially is trying to live vicariously through her daughter’s successes, the successes she herself was denied when she got pregnant. Marlie’s mother appears kind on the surface, and she puts the effort into saying the traditionally motherly things, but she is dangerously overprotective, providing very few freedoms. When Marlie is being unkind, she notes that their teacher is trying to mother them since she doesn’t have kids of her own, although Mei is more inclined to think that their teacher’s sympathetic kindness is deliberate and honest. Even the witch appears as a sort of maternal figure who takes in children to feed them. It’s so rare to find a short story with so many maternal figures, and ones who are all depicted in their own way, with unique reactions to the traumas the girls have faced. Mei’s mother feels like she lost her because she can no longer play the violin after the trauma, Marlie’s mother tries to shut her away to protect her, and their teacher offers kindness when no one else will.
The ending of Sweetmeats was a bit of a surprise, but the kind that makes for a darkly delightful twist ending. In the author’s note, Cheng notes that she “built this story on the premise of a vulnerable knight who’s determined to protect her princess, but in the end the princess saves them both by becoming a monster.” I think she achieved this, and then some. I honestly just took Mei at face value when she said the witch ate girls and had been trying to fatten them up, so I was genuinely surprised when they shifted into monsters and the witch tried to claim them as pets. I loved being genuinely surprised by the end, but the ending was also just incredibly satisfying.
Overall, Sweetmeats by Linda Cheng delivered on everything I wanted from the premise and more. I can see why it might not be to someone else’s taste, but for me, it’s a new favourite. I highly recommend it, and I will be looking out for more work from Linda Cheng in the future.
I hope everyone who participated by reading the story and following along on social media enjoyed the story. If you have more thoughts to add, please feel free to comment on this post, or anywhere on The Feminist Bibliothecary’s social media. Week sixty begins shortly, October 14, with a brand new short story selection, chosen as another spooky fall read.
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