Book Review: Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
by Abigail Stewart
The archetype of ‘creepy child’ is one that endures in both horror and thriller media. Yet, the observer is often only privy to the child’s outward display, how their affections disturb others. Oftentimes, the child is perceived as simply ‘unnatural’ or ‘off,’ and shows a disinclination toward physically harming others -- that is not the case in Baby Teeth.
From the outset, Hanna is a child who desperately desires to kill her mother. Author Zoje Stage attempts to take on Hanna’s voice, providing a rationale for her actions. She also provides a counter point-of-view in Suzette, the mother who has failed increasingly abstract tasks set forth in Hanna’s sadistic games, thereby earning her wrath.
The book opens with Hanna having “another” CT scan as she doesn’t speak, not a word, not ever. Her choice not to speak, for Suzette is certain it is a choice, seems like a personal attack, an assault on Suzette’s personhood -- “It was hard to pour endless love into someone who wouldn't love you back. No one could do it forever.”
Suzette’s struggle is twofold: she senses the loss of her former artistic self and the relationship she had with her husband and she resents her child, even suspects her of plotting against her, while constantly assuring herself that is not the case. Her husband can’t see it, certainly it must be in her head, certainly it’s because she is a failure. A stay-at-home mom, supposedly devoted to her child’s education, she spends most of her time trapped in an inward spiral of resentment, shame, and anxiety. Somehow, she has failed her child.
Hanna, however, has a rich inner world and is in no hurry to leave her manipulative games with ‘Mommy’ and succumb to the doldrums of school. “Inside, she was a kaleidoscope of racing, popping, bursting exclamations, full of wonder and question marks.” Words, to her, “were no one’s friends,” and Hanna suspects how deeply her mother wants her to speak. By thwarting this want, she is able to make Suzette more fully feel like a failure.
I cannot say the story is stronger for having Hannah’s voice included. The planning that goes into her ‘games’ is incredibly well-developed for a nonverbal child of elementary school age. At one point, Hanna constructs a collage of Suzette in a coffin using a photo she’d taken on her dad’s phone while Suzette was sleeping -- it’s plausible, but far-fetched, like much of the story, which I believe skews Baby Teeth more towards genre-fiction rather than literary. The reader must suspend quite a bit of disbelief.
Personally, I would have preferred solely Suzette’s point-of-view, though I understand why Stage included both. As a society, we are always hesitant to read a story of a mother who doesn't love her child. Often, our gut reaction is -- what’s wrong with her? The insertion of Hanna’s voice serves to further drive home the point that Suzette is not wrong in feeling uncomfortable around her daughter, she is justified, she is forgivable. “Too many things in her life were tinged with horror.”
Stage’s writing style is direct, succinct, and descriptive, and the story’s violent undertone finally reaches a fiery crescendo. Here, Stage also turns a sharp eye on Hanna’s psychopathy and includes a realistic conclusion, considering what has occured, that sold me on the entire story. Baby Teeth can only be described as a complete and total mind game and, if you’re looking to ride a wave of can’t-look-away suspense, is really the perfect choice.
Zoje Stage has a new novel, Wonderland, coming out from Mulholland Books in June 2020, which you can pre-order here.
Purchase Baby Teeth.
Abigail Stewart is a fiction writer from Berkeley, California. When she’s not writing, she reads (a lot), practices yoga, runs a dungeons & dragons campaign, and always enjoys a glass of good red wine. She lives with her partner in an apartment filled with plants and books and breakable things.
Learn more about Abigail at her website and follow her on Twitter @abby_writes.