Pale Flesh: An Existential Story about Teen Struggle in Small Town Montana

Pale Flesh is the story of a teenage girl, Brighid, as she navigates her life in the wake of her father’s death, and the horrors of high school life as she negotiates a new friendship with a girl named Lo, whose kindred spirit is not what it seems to be. Set in the late 2000s in the central Montana town of Great Falls, this story was inspired by personal experiences of myself and others (including my sisters) from my hometown. Some that escaped and some that didn’t. As well this is my answer to a question I frequently asked friends: “What is the female version of [Chuck Palanuik’s] Fight Club?” After doing my own research and finding only answers that strayed away from the anti-capitalist and existential sentiments of Palanuik’s famous work, I decided to take the task up. I intend to move into the territory of a political Bildungsroman while examining the reactionary politics of teenagers along with themes of grief, tragic friendship, mental health, and self-exploration as the two girls cause havoc on their small town world and Brighid decides her place in the world.