The New Gothic of Cassandra Khaw’s Nothing But Blackened Teeth

In Montreal resident Cassandra Khaw’s novella, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, five young adults gather at a historic building in rural Japan, ahead of the wedding of two of their group. As spirits of the past haunt the group, quickly revealing why they were able to stay at such an opulent house, the friends’ pasts open like remade wounds.

Khaw’s prose reads like a modern update to the Gothicism of Shirley Jackson, in fact, reading Nothing But… reminded me a lot of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a first-person narrative, and because of the dynamics within this friend group, the reader is always wondering if we can trust Cat’s perspective, as we learn more and more about her fraught past, both within and outside of her friend group. And when the supernatural shit hits the fan, the reader is constantly asking, “What the hell is going on here?!”

While at times Khaw self-indulges in “purple-prose” to an extent that removes the reader from the story as it does feel forced, the vast majority of Nothing But Blackened Teeth is full of lush, vivid, and creative descriptions. And the interesting and realistic social dynamics Khaw sets up will keep the reader invested throughout.

And I didn’t even mention all the rad Japanese folklore! 

Purchase Link – https://bookshop.org/books/nothing-but-blackened-teeth/9781250759412

Rating: 3 out of 5 faceless girls in white dresses. 

Reviewer details – 

Review by Ian A. Bain

Social Media : @bainwrites on Twitter

I purchased this book