Nisha is struggling. She’s been struggling for a long time, but the social and political climate before and after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 is heating up to the point that the independence women’s health clinic where she works in Chicago might have to shut down. We Dance Upon Demons, Vaishnavi Patel’s latest novel, inserts supernatural forces into the fight between bodily autonomy and those who would condemn women to suffer and die because they can’t access vital healthcare—with Nisha caught in the middle.
Although she is very clearly seriously depressed, Nisha is the kind of person who refuses to take breaks unless someone else forces her to. When a coworker tells Nisha to leave the clinic for a few hours on a particularly bad day, she takes herself to the Art Institute of Chicago (one of my favorite places). Nisha takes a chance to touch a sculpture depicting the Nataraja, Shiva dancing on a demon of ignorance and subduing it. Usually looking at the sculptures and paintings sooths Nisha’s soul, but touching the statue causes Nisha to blackout. After she wakes, Nisha starts to see very strange things: demons walking among people, goading humans into acts of violence. Worse, a man starts following her around the city, trying to persuade Nisha to return his power.
It feels as though Nisha is trying to push herself to the brink as she constantly worries that she’s doing enough to keep the clinic going and keep their patients safe. She takes on escort duty in addition to helping counsel patients and connect them with local resources. It feels as though Nisha is trying to push herself to the brink as she constantly worries that she’s doing enough to keep the clinic going and keep their patients safe. All of this is going on while Nisha tries to figure out what the hell is going on with the man stalking her, attempts to sooth her worried mother, and deal with her complicating feelings about the new doctor working at the clinic who she used to date. There is a lot going on in this book.
The only thing that seems to give Nisha a measure of peace and clarity is returning to Kathak. Dancing through the forms again brings on visions of the past, in which women who had their own supply of supernatural power could use it to change their circumstances. These women make Nisha wonder if, perhaps, she might be able to put her finger on the scales of the universe and tilt it back towards justice.
I’m not sure how I feel about how this story ascribes anti-abortion violence and policies to demons. It’s not hard for me to see anti-abortion efforts has purely human. Putting the blame on demonic influence, I feel, shifts responsibility and blame off of these folks when they are very much accountable for the deaths, injuries, and psychological pain their actions cause. That said, it would feel amazing to be able to do some righteous smiting against the pernicious evil of anti-abortion activism.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
- This statue is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, ↩︎