Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories - Sandra Proudman - ★★★.¾

EDITOR: Sandra Proudman

GENRE: YA Retelling Anthology.

RATING: 3.7 stars

In a Nutshell: A well-written YA anthology that takes sixteen classic stories/fairy tales and gives them a Latinx spin. Excellent as a retelling collection. Quite good as a YA work. Recommended!

My friends know that I don’t have any fondness for YA fiction. Its characters are usually so self-centred and whiny that I can’t stop rolling my eyes at them. However, the YA anthology subcategory has brought out story collections with some unusual and inclusive themes over the last couple of years. This anthology too appealed to me by virtue of its central intent and hence I grabbed it, despite the YA tag.

Luckily, the *risk* was much worth it. 😉

This collection of sixteen stories takes classic short stories, poems and fairy tales, and reimagines them in a new setting with Latinx characters at the helm. The original stories span a variety of styles: Frankenstein, Goldilocks, Pride & Prejudice, Theseus and the Minotaur, The Great Gatsby…! What a marvellous range! The spun-off tales also cover a variety of genres: dystopia, magical realism, science fiction, horror, mythology,…

It isn’t necessary for you to know the original classics. Each of these tales stands on its own merit as an independent story. However, I always love knowing the source of the retelling so that I can judge the modified version better. After all, if a story is promoted as a remix, the approach of reading it as a fresh tale instead of as a fresh take on an existing story won’t yield best results. I had already read fourteen of the original stories in this set, so I quickly read the remaining two (‘Bartleby the Scrivener’ by Herman Melville and ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe) and went into this anthology fully prepared.

Here’s why the anthology really clicked for me:

🌹 The source material is mostly popular, and I enjoyed seeing some old favourites in the mix. (On second thought, I knew most of the original stories. I don’t know how many YAs would be familiar with these, especially the classics! Oh well!)

🌹 Right under the title of each story, there is a mention of the classic it retells. I wish every retelling anthology would follow this. It is so much more entertaining when we know the base plot and can hence experience a retelling as a ‘retelling’ instead of as wasting time trying to figure out the original story. (Which doesn’t even yield results when we aren't familiar with the original!)

🌹 The stories justify the word ‘retelling’ in every sense. This is not the kind of anthology where the original story structure is cloned in the retelling with just a minor change of setting, or where the retelling has been so twisted that you can’t see any sign of the foundational plot. Instead, in this anthology, a clear mark of the original tale is visible in the retelling, but there is also enough of novelty to make it seem like a fresh story. This is how retellings should be written. Kudos to most of the authors for handling their work well!

🌹 A majority of the stories are not typical YA in style. I, for one, was very relieved about this: no idiotic adults, no whining, no insta feelings, no shallow characters. Though the stories have YA characters, the style is not pure YA except for a couple of stories.

🌹 The Latinx representation is apt in many of the stories. A few just stop at giving their characters a Latinx background, but the rest incorporate specific traditions into the story. The representation spans diverse Latinx cultures.

🌹 The authors are also from varied Latinx backgrounds, making this a 100% OwnVoices anthology. Love it!

One negative is that a few of the stories stray into content that I personally don’t like seeing in YA works: cuss words, drug use, underage drinking, and hints of sex.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Needless to say, my favourites were those stories that weren't overly YA in style and did complete justice to either the retelling task or the Latinx representation, sometimes both. These are my favourites:

🔥 Shame and Social Media - Anna Meriano: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ with pace and wit and a social cause and outer space. What's not to like? - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

🔥 Break in Case of Persephone - Olivia Abtahi: ‘Persephone and Hades’ with the pomegranate but without the kidnapping. Loved the combination of detective fiction and Greek mythology! - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

🔥 Thornfield - Monica Sanz: ‘Jane Eyre’ with a witchy twist. Though I could guess the ending, it was still amazing to read. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

🔥 La Cotorra Y El Flamboyán - Amparo Ortiz: One of my all-time favourite short stories, Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ gets a fresh breath of life in this retelling. Knowing the original helped me realise where the story was going much in advance. But it still didn't prepare me for the ending. I actually went 'Oh, sh*t!' when I read the finale. Reader, I never go 'Oh, sh*t!' while reading fiction. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🔥 Isla Bella - Ari Tison: Quite ironic that a novel that I found mostly boring – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ inspired a spinoff that was mindblowing. I adored the indigenous rep in this story, which I probably why I went generous with my rating, though the story itself had more YA masala than I prefer. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

🔥 Evermore - NoNieqa Ramos: I read ‘The Raven’ specifically for this story, and it sure was worth it! Good as a retelling and fabulous with the gender identity theme. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

🔥 Celia's Song - Jasminne Mendez: I enjoyed the strong Latinx flavour in this retelling of ‘The Little Mermaid.’ - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

All in all, definitely an anthology worth trying. I must confess that I enjoyed it better because it was NOT a typical YA work. Actual YA readers might feel differently. Moreover, I always enjoy retellings that pay the perfect homage to their source material instead of being retellings merely in name. In that sense, this one was a winner.

A shoutout to the cover designer – What an excellent artwork that is perfect for every feature of this work!

3.7 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.

My thanks to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.