Book Review: Tentacle

Rita Indiana's Tentacle (And Other Stories, 2015), is aptly named. It is a sinuous, convoluted story that smoothly slips from sci-fi to fantasy to social commentary with hardly a ripple. The book tells the story of Acilde, a young trans man who is unexpectedly identified as the savior of the world via the botched robbery of a sea anemone and a futuristic sex-reassignment surgery.

If that beginning leads you to think you're in for a classic hero's journey, you will be quickly set right. Characters slide between time periods and identities, creating a network of interlocking story lines that slowly tighten into a cohesive narrative by the final pages. Indiana's characters take nearly everything in stride. When we are allowed inside a character's head, it is rarely the one you would expect. It is a writhing, slippery story, but it is well worth hanging on for the ride.