tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6091647722403209052024-03-13T20:05:49.308-07:00 The Literary TreeKatrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-22680177266963235232018-08-20T08:48:00.000-07:002018-08-20T08:48:16.050-07:00Review: Vox by Christina Dalcher<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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To coincide with International Women’s Day, the lovely
people at HQ Stories made this title available to ‘Read Now’ for 24 hours on
NetGalley. Having heard a bit about it, I jumped on the offer and am glad I
did.</div>
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The funny/frightening thing about how I felt reading this
book is that it seemed so familiar. The horrifying dystopian premise is so
believable and something that is being represented, or has been, in a number of
ways in fiction over the last couple of decades – and more so now with the TV
adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale sending that book to the top of the charts
and Naomi Alderman’s The Power gaining widespread acclaim and awards
recognition. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The subject of the silencing of women is nothing new – but
it has thundered full-force into the news and everyday conversation since the
sexual assault revelations of the last year – with more women than ever
standing together and coming forward – and people listening for the first time
(many had come forward before and not been listened to). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37796866-vox?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Vox</a></i> by Christina
Dalche</b>r is due to be published in Autumn this year, and takes this silencing to
very literal extremes. It’s set in an America where women are given an
allowance of only 100 words a day, controlled by a counter on their wrist which
shocks them if they exceed the limit. They are relegated to the home, can no
longer hold jobs and are actively rewarded for speaking as few words as
possible in schools. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The story is about one woman, Dr Jean McClellan and her
quest to reclaim her voice – for herself, her daughter and for every woman
silenced. What makes this book feel so familiar right now is how quickly the
instigators rose to power and made swift changes, and began to mould the minds
of children in school – so that Jean’s own son is virtually a mouthpiece for
the government. Both heartbreakingly, and understandably, in this situation,
Jean begins to hate her own son – resent her own husband and feel a more urgent
love for her young daughter, Sonia. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The governing body are the ‘Pure Movement’, a religious
group who win power. Jean recalls how her friend Jackie chastised her for not
voting and not participating as they rose to power, like many, barely noticing
before it was too late. It’s a reminder how we must stay engaged in politics and
stay aware of changes being made, no matter how small they seem. To disengage
in the current climate could be costly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Both Jean and the author are linguists (Jean used to be a
neuroscientist) so, as a reader, there’s a lot to (gladly) learn from the
perspectives and science on language and the power of communication. Aside from
Jean, I would actually have been curious to follow Steven’s journey and how he
changes throughout the novel – a lot of it is ‘off-screen’ in a sense – but psychologically
could be a really interesting narrative too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jean is torn between her duties to her family
and her unique position as an expert and insider (she is brought on board by
the government to apparently develop a cure for the President’s brother, who
has suffered a stroke) who has an opportunity to fight back but risk everything
– and some big losses are inevitable either way. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vox </i>is angry and
fast-paced, and there were times when I wished it was longer, but I enjoyed
reading it and there’s no doubt it is engaging and relevant. It’s a scorching
debut from Christina Dalcher, hopefully the first of many. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Vox</i> is available to<a href="https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008300630/vox/" target="_blank"> pre-order</a> now and publishes on 23rd August 2018</b></div>
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<b>*Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Stories for the chance to read and review this title</b></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-72383177932736133482018-02-04T04:52:00.000-08:002018-02-04T04:52:21.654-08:00Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There was a really solid campaign behind<i><b> Eleanor Oliphant is
Completely Fine</b></i> and it’s no less than it deserves. This is a book that should
be read widely because it perfects the balance of being perfectly and equally
heart-breaking and heart-warming in a measured, almost everyday, way. At the same
time, through Eleanor, we see an astute commentary on some of the more absurd
aspects of society and human ritual. Some are hilarious and some are
illuminating and troubling. It’s a meditation on loneliness and friendship and
love. What <i>I loved</i> was that it wasn’t
romantic love that was prioritised or held up as saviour – but simple human
connection and every day kindness. The importance of the little loves. There is
trauma and drama lurking in the background, but Honeyman writes Eleanor in a
way that we could all recognise there’s a little bit of her inside of all of
us, and it’s the focus on the seemingly small things that really stands out and
makes this book memorable. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The driving force of the book is the friendship that forms
between Eleanor and Raymond ‘from I.T.’ after helping an elderly man who
collapses in the street. The bond between them, and the man and his family –
after a chance occurrence and small good deed – is one that changes the course
of Eleanor’s life. A life she had previously spent secluded in her flat, not
talking to anyone at work, drinking vodka and being tormented by her ‘mummy’. From
the moment she and Raymond intervene, she starts to witness the small benefits
of human interaction. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: #d9d2e9;">‘I would never have
suspected that small deeds could elicit such genuine, generous responses. I
felt a little glow inside – not a blaze, more like a small, steady candle’ </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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At the same time, Eleanor begins to fixate on a musician in
a band – someone she imagines to be her perfect match, despite them never
having exchanged words. ‘Mummy’ encourages this and pushes Eleanor into
stalker-like tendencies to force the meeting and desired future relationship.
With this in mind, Eleanor forces herself to conform to the standards of female
beauty she sees around her – how a woman should dress for specific occasions,
the right amount of make-up, the most complementary accessories, and the right
haircut. Sadly, it is only when she goes through these motions, that her colleagues
– people she’s worked with and been mocked by for many years – start to
compliment her and pay attention. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: #d9d2e9;">‘I’d made my legs
black, and my hair blonde, I’d lengthened and darkened my eyelashes, dusted a
flush of pink onto my cheeks and painted my lips a shade of dark red which was
rarely found in nature. I should, by rights, look less like a human woman than
I’d ever done, and yet it seemed that this was the most acceptable, the most
appropriate appearance that I’d ever made before the world. It was puzzling.’</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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She experiences being waxed and having her nails painted in
scenes that are both hilarious and sad. The humour lends itself to how absurd
each ritual can seem, as well as the financial burden of what it takes to be deemed
presentable or beautiful as a woman. That pain, that cost and the awkward
discomfort are things I’m sure many women will recognise.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Aside from the musician narrative, with Raymond’s help,
Eleanor’s barriers begin to come down and it’s immensely rewarding watching her
open herself up a little more with each successful interaction. As a reader you
feel protective of her and yet recognise her vulnerability and share her fear. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bzm6g7WomOM/Wm4rUCz0mhI/AAAAAAAAc3k/ETB01wwD4IcL9OhrME71XrrycDpo2brKACLcBGAs/s1600/rsz_gailh%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bzm6g7WomOM/Wm4rUCz0mhI/AAAAAAAAc3k/ETB01wwD4IcL9OhrME71XrrycDpo2brKACLcBGAs/s1600/rsz_gailh%2B%25281%2529.jpg" /></a>In some of the darker moments, Honeyman writes mental health
and trauma exquisitely. There are so many lines that stand out and make you
feel for Eleanor and empathise with the enormity of what she must overcome. You
feel flashes of how taxing everyday life can be for the lonely, for anyone who
suffers from mental health issues or trauma, and how hard it can be to find the
motivation to perform the ‘menial’ tasks – getting up, cooking, getting
dressed, leaving the house. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="background-color: #d9d2e9;">‘I do not light up a
room when I walk into it. No one longs to see me or to hear my voice. I do not
feel sorry for myself, not in the least. These are simply statements of fact. I
have been waiting for death all my life. I do not mean that I actively wish to
die, just that I do not really want to be alive.’ <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: #d9d2e9;">‘I took one of my
hands in the other, tried to imagine what it would feel like if it was another
person’s hand holding mine.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: #d9d2e9;">‘And I ache, I
physically ache, for human contact – I truly feel that I might tumble to the
ground and pass away if someone doesn’t hold me, touch me.’</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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When you first start reading this book, you may think that Eleanor Oliphant is just another 'quirky' character type, but persevere because her story matters and is ultimately, in its own way, a life-affirming reading experience. I found it really hard to put this book down and looked forward to my commute to get back into it. For me, the musician narrative was perhaps the weakest part but I can see how it was necessary to bring together the strands of who Eleanor is. I would definitely recommend this to anyone - it deserves its plaudits and challenges you to inhabit the mind of someone who perhaps, like most of the people in her life do, you would normally overlook. <br />
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<b><u>Some more favourite quotes: </u></b></div>
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<li><i>'Some people, weak people, fear solitude. What they fail to
understand is that there’s something very liberating about I; once you realise
that you don’t need anyone, you can take care of yourself. You can’t protect
other people, however hard you try. You try, and you fall and your word
collapses around you, burns down to ashes.'</i></li>
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<li><i>'The children seemed to have multiplied; and had gravitated
towards one another in order to form a merry band of mischief makers. It was
clear that the adults were all occupied with the party, so they could run and
whoop and chase each other with unsupervised abandon I smiled at them, envied
them slightly'</i></li>
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<li><i>'Grief is the price we pay for love, so they say. The price
is far too high.'</i></li>
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<li><i>'Tiny slivers of life – they all added up and helped to feel
that you, too, could be a fragment, a little piece of humanity who usefully
filled a space, however minuscule. I was pondering this as I waited for the
lights to change.'</i></li>
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<li><i>'I was getting to quite like my own voice, my own thoughts. I
wanted more of them. They made me feel good, calm even. They made me feel like
me'</i></li>
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<b>*Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book. </b></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-50645346077181257672017-12-14T04:29:00.000-08:002017-12-14T04:32:34.037-08:00Review: Bonfire by Krysten Ritter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pHMk_C3jD5Y/WjJuErZV4iI/AAAAAAAAc1I/DM6kZY0Yu2MG-VupHhRI7JiHkI2_t1B2ACLcBGAs/s1600/9781786331038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pHMk_C3jD5Y/WjJuErZV4iI/AAAAAAAAc1I/DM6kZY0Yu2MG-VupHhRI7JiHkI2_t1B2ACLcBGAs/s400/9781786331038.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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<b><i>'The past is a trick of the mind. It's a story we misunderstand over and over' </i></b></div>
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I definitely came to this one because of Krysten Ritter as I don’t often find myself in the thriller genre. I really like Krysten as an actress, for the roles she plays and for how she comes across in interviews and on social media. She’s great at both writing, and playing, the broken but deeply resilient (even though they don’t always know it) character. You can see it in her writing as well, that she’s invested in the internal workings of a character, however messy they may be. There’s a lot of that in Abby Williams, the protagonist of <b><i>Bonfire</i></b>, who returns to her hometown as an environmental lawyer on a case. Her main memories of the town are of being an outcast and of the strange ‘fake’ illnesses, and a disappearance, that befell some of her school tormentors all those years ago.</div>
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There’s a murky, slow-burning atmosphere throughout the book which is quietly tantalising, I did feel that the fogginess surrounding Abby’s memories after a night of drinking had a tendency to become a bit too much of a suspense-engineering-device. The revelations at the end of the book also unfold too blearily and quickly – bursting into action and ending all within a few pages after the slow build of the past few hundred pages. It’s intriguing and controlled for the first half of the book but starts to slip as it goes on and the balance is off, meaning it becomes a little confusing and less powerful.</div>
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<b><i>'There are the people of the world who squeeze and the ones who suffocate' </i></b></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w6_lFm5ZG04/WjJvTxWaJsI/AAAAAAAAc1Y/MAnJymKcFnkd8kM28ahYXTEiN9HaHX_NQCLcBGAs/s1600/contributor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w6_lFm5ZG04/WjJvTxWaJsI/AAAAAAAAc1Y/MAnJymKcFnkd8kM28ahYXTEiN9HaHX_NQCLcBGAs/s1600/contributor.jpg" /></a>Ritter does write very powerfully about teenage girls in particular - the things they will do to each other and also the things that are done to them and the way they are seen by the world. She’s extraordinarily perceptive and those are the moments that have stuck with me since finishing the book. I recall reading somewhere that Ritter originally intended this as a TV series and I do think it would work well on screen, particularly the way the ending plays out and the setting of the atmosphere and flashes of memory. The legal/environmental angle was something a bit different for a thriller and I found the look at the way a faceless corporation can benefit and/or harm a community was engaging and very relevant to our society.</div>
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I would be curious to see what else Ritter writes as she’s clearly highly intelligent and creative and with a real illuminating interest in complex ethical and social issues. <i><b>Bonfire</b></i> was engaging and atmospheric for the most part, but I think there’s more to come from this writer.</div>
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<b>*Thank you to Cornerstone and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this one</b></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-72129817506428968462017-11-07T13:22:00.000-08:002017-11-07T13:22:16.298-08:00'Everything could be different': 4-3-2-1 by Paul Auster (Review) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I’ve been meaning to read <b>Paul
Auster </b>for a long time, so I was over the moon when I had the chance to review <i><b>4-3-2-1</b>*</i>. I know it’s very much a
different beast to his other books, firstly, in terms of scale and narrative
ambition, but it was well worth persevering with. It’s not one to be rushed, it
took me probably 3-4 weeks of my commute but I have missed it since finishing
it. It’s an extraordinarily layered coming-of-age tale (x4) – playful, tragic,
philosophical and wise. But it’s not so much a character study as the study of
an idea and it’s the wit and wisdom and tragedy with which Auster’s omniscient
narrator explores this idea that the book really impacts lastingly. There will
be a few spoilers in the following paragraphs so it may be best to read this
after the book itself.</div>
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<i>‘Such an interesting thought, Ferguson said to himself: to imagine how
things could be different for him even though he was the same. The same boy in
a different house with a different tree. The same boy with different parents.
The same boy with the same parents who didn’t do the same things they did now… Yes,
anything was possible, and just because things happened in one way didn’t mean
they couldn’t happen in another. <b>Everything
could be different’</b></i> - 1.2<o:p></o:p></div>
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The story begins with Ferguson’s
father initially emigrating to the U.S.A – and the comic moment where he
forgets the America surname he’d devised, and his German ‘vergessen’ is
mistaken for ‘Ferguson’. After the precedent for accident and irony have been
set, the story begins with young Archibald Ferguson’s entry into the world, and
the narratives divide into four. They have the same biology, the same DNA, they
are all born in the same hospital at the same time but then all move to
different suburban towns, and the fate of Ferguson’s father is different for
each. They ultimately all choose different kinds of writing as their calling
and, depending on events within their lives, become political to some degree
and foster different relationships, though the relationship with Ferguson’s
cousin Amy is fairly consistent with each. <o:p></o:p></div>
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While talking to <b><i>Granta</i></b><i> (https://granta.com/paul-auster-conversation/)</i>,
Auster laid out these themes and talked about how he wrote the book in a fever,
‘possessed’. He wanted to convey the idea that the ‘world is very precarious’,
‘life becomes death in a flash’ and ultimately, ‘we are all accidents’. The
death in a flash reference is quite literal for one of the young Ferguson’s –
who is killed by a tree struck by lightning. This is actually based on a real
event which has haunted Auster from his childhood, when a boy was electrocuted
by lightning next to him. Indeed the Fergusons all encounter random accidents,
and three meet unexpected premature ends at different stages of their young
lives. Each time is tragic as the omniscient narrator really elucidates the
accidental and random misfortune of the moment, yet you’ve been so enmeshed
with each Ferguson’s history and prospects and unique relationships, that each
one weighs heavily.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HKb-t_K-ZXI/WgIjKwK1_rI/AAAAAAAAcxo/dlA2X3bkicYjfQYrq92HPYIfUVDLt3ClACLcBGAs/s1600/paul-auster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HKb-t_K-ZXI/WgIjKwK1_rI/AAAAAAAAcxo/dlA2X3bkicYjfQYrq92HPYIfUVDLt3ClACLcBGAs/s320/paul-auster.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Auster</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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With 4 different narratives
marking that coming-of-age experience, there are perhaps moments when things
can feel repetitive. As puberty kicks in, you experience Ferguson’s first
sexual cravings four times, and these are told in great detail. But Auster is
nothing if not thorough in his mission and that is something to be admired
ultimately. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Auster is so good at drawing out
that human experience and those first realisations about the world as you grow
up. I particularly loved the moment that one young Ferguson realises that
adults are just as scared as children – something that’s intensely
recognisable: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘His mother looked agitated, more confused and distraught than Ferguson
had ever seen her, no longer acting as the rock of composure and wisdom he had
always thought she was but someone just like himself, a fragile being prey to
sadness and tears and hopefulness, and when she put her arms around him he felt
frightened, not just because his father’s store had burned down and there would
be no more money for them to live on.</i> <b><i>But the truly frightening thing was to learn
that his mother was no stronger than he was, that the blows of the world hurt
her just as much as they hurt him and that except for the fact that she was
older, there was no difference between them’</i></b> - 1.2<o:p></o:p></div>
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So much of the book is about the
fragility and absurdity of existence, but also about living anyway – and not
succumbing to the accompanying fear. Often there are brilliant, standalone
sentences of the fates/universe/gods responding to events in this small
individual’s existence: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘The gods looked down from their mountain and shrugged.’ </i>6.3<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The indifferent universe is
something that I’ve always found intensely interesting in books I’ve read (I am
a big Camus fan and fan of post-war existentialism in general) and it’s very
much present here. In some ways it makes every action more poignant and
important, it’s frustrating and tragic, but it’s also freeing. There’s
something grimly satisfying about reading a line like that. </div>
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<o:p></o:p>There are some reviews which have
called Auster self-indulgent in this novel, and perhaps that’s true to a degree, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it as a negative. I am fine with writers like
Auster, Gaiman, Atwood and indeed any writer being ‘self-indulgent’ so long as
what they’re writing stimulates thought and challenges a reader in a productive
way – ie. when a reader can reflect on it and draw multiple conclusions. They
very premise of <i>4-3-2-1</i> is by its
nature indulgent, and it’s open about that. Wouldn’t it be indulgent if we had four
separate lives we could live and dip into? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘Ferguson understood that the world was made of stories, so many
different stories that if they were all gathered together and put into a book,
the book would be nine hundred million pages long.’ 4.4<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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We should always try to read
things which challenge us, and maybe even make us a little uncomfortable at
times. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘No, Ferguson replied, when Artie’s parents asked if he agreed with
this boy, but that was what made their conversations so instructive, he said,
because every time Mike challenged him he would have to think harder about what
he believed in himself, and <b>how could
you ever learn anything if you only talked to people who thought exactly as you
did</b>’? 4.4<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Auster explores sexuality (specifically pansexuality),
political feeling, art, love, death and loss and so many of the colours on
these spectrums. The reflection sexuality on love and ‘choice’ are poignant.
All of the Ferguson’s follow wherever their feelings take them when it comes to
love and sex – they very much fall in love with the <b><i>person.</i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘She still didn’t think of herself as a lesbian, she was simply a
person in love with another person, and because <b>that other person was beautiful and entrancing and unlike anyone else
in the world, what difference did it make if she was in love with a man or a
woman</b>’</i> 4.3 <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘Why did a person have to choose between one or the other, why block
out one-half of humanity in the name of normal or natural when the truth was
that everyone was Both, and people and society and the laws and religions of
people in different societies were just too afraid to admit it. As the
California cowgirl had said to him three and a half years ago: I believe in my
life, Archie, and I don’t want to be scared of it. Brian was scared. Most
people were scared, but <b>scared was a
stupid way to live, Ferguson felt, a dishonest and demoralizing way to live, a
dead-end life, a dead life</b></i>.’ 5.3<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘It wasn’t that Ferguson felt any enthusiasm for the Democrats, but it
was important to make distinctions, he told himself, important to recognise
that there were bad things in this flawed world, but also even worse things,
and when it came to voting in an election, better to go for the bad over the worse’</i>
6.1<o:p></o:p></div>
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I delighted in moments like these
- that last quote must be a cheeky reference to real-life politics and the
situations that the UK and USA have found themselves in in the last couple of
years. Indeed – another one: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘What moment could be more important for the writing of books than a
year when the world was on fire—and you were on fire with it?’</i> 7.4<o:p></o:p></div>
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There’s something to be learned
in the individual lives of each Ferguson – in all the banal moments, the icky firsts, the freak accidents, and the existential quandaries. For me, the ending is clever and makes you think back on all you've read, adding further layers and elements of pathos. There's so much in this novel that could be explored and unpicked - but these are
my thoughts as of now on a work I certainly admire and still find myself revisiting in my mind. It's a commitment worth making. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>More favourite quotes: <o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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Self-aware narration:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘There was, as there always is, another side to the</i> story’ 2.1<o:p></o:p></div>
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On music: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘The need for music that ran through their bodies, which as that point
in their lives was no different from the need to find a way to exist in the
world’</i> 2.1<o:p></o:p></div>
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On curiosity: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘Anger and disappointment could take you just so far, he realised, but
without <b>curiosity</b> you were lost</i>’
2.4<o:p></o:p></div>
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Even with four versions of a
live, you’ll never have THE answer – just answers: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘I’m saying you’ll never know if you made the wrong choice or not. You
would need to have all the facts before you knew, and the only way to get all
the facts is to be in two places at the same time—which is impossible.’</i> 2.4
<o:p></o:p></div>
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On feeling:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘We feel what we feel, he wrote, and we’re not responsible for our
feelings. For our actions, yes, but not for what we feel’</i> 3.4<o:p></o:p></div>
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A beautiful moment of
self-reflection: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘Ferguson was beginning to understand how fragile he was, how difficult
it was for him to steer his way through even the smallest conflicts, especially
conflicts brought on by his own flaws and stupidities. <b>For the point was that he needed to be loved, loved more than most
people needed to be loved, entirely loved without respite through every waking
minute of his life, loved even when he did things that made him unlovable,
especially when reason demanded that he not be loved, </b>and unlike Amy, who
was pushing her mother away from her, Ferguson could never let go of his
mother.’</i> 4.3<o:p></o:p></div>
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On life and the self:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘People die, and the world goes on, and <b>whatever we can do to help each other out,</b> well, that’s what we do,
isn’t it?’</i> 6.1<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘And what did it mean to be himself anyway, he wondered, he had several
selves inside him, even many selves, a strong self and a weak self, a
thoughtful self and an impulsive self, a generous self and a selfish self, so
many different selves that in the end he was as large as everyone or as small
as no one, and if that was true for him, then it had to be true for everyone
else as well, meaning that <b>everyone was
everyone and no one at the same</b></i><b> <i>time’</i></b> 6.3<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘The world as it was could never be more than a fraction of the world,
for the real also consisted of what could have happened but didn’t, that one
road was no better or worse than any other road, but <b>the torment of being alive in a single body</b> was that at any given
moment you had to be on one road only, even though you could have been on
another, travelling toward an altogether different place’</i> 7.4<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>*Thank you to Faber for the chance to review<i> 4-3-2-1</i> through Netgalley. </b></div>
</div>
Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-91864902422441086052017-06-23T15:02:00.003-07:002017-06-23T15:05:00.731-07:00Embrace the Wonder: My thoughts on Wonder Woman (2017) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xqNlBHdg5JE/WU2L1aQphZI/AAAAAAAAcgg/h_94jh5YoYQ1P1T1jFDpFynyhHQ6uVqAwCLcBGAs/s1600/Wonder-Woman-poster-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xqNlBHdg5JE/WU2L1aQphZI/AAAAAAAAcgg/h_94jh5YoYQ1P1T1jFDpFynyhHQ6uVqAwCLcBGAs/s400/Wonder-Woman-poster-image.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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I couldn’t not write about <b><i>Wonder Woman</i></b>. On a personal
level, this film has been a revelation, a relief and an antidote. We’ve waited
so long for this and it’s a huge moment, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
In terms of reading, the Greg Rucka return and run on the series this year has
really reinvigorated my love for the character and I would definitely recommend
the <i><b>DC Rebirth Wonder Woman</b></i> as a great place to jump on and learn about this
character and see what she really is. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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I was emotional from the second they announced the <i>Wonder
Woman</i> film. I was emotional from the first trailer and the first reviews when I
felt an enormous sense of relief and a huge weight lifted. Like many, I did not
like <i>Batman vs Superman</i>. There were very few redeeming features in it (Wonder
Woman was one of the only ones) and I do not like Snyder’s interpretation of
Superman. There’s been very little heart, very little joy and substance to be
found in the DC cinematic universe for a while.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the 12 months leading up to the release of <i>Wonder Woman</i>,
I felt a lot of fear and trepidation. This was also partly due to the response
to <i>Ghostbusters</i> last year, a film which I actually enjoyed. In the
comic book world, over the last few years, there have definitely been some moments of
extreme antipathy towards new female characters and feminist messages and
campaigns led against a few creators. So a lot felt like it was at stake,
approaching this movie and the emergence of a female hero, one of the trinity,
into the mainstream cinematic universe. If it failed, we could very
realistically not have had another chance at a female-led superhero movie for
decades, and the stigma around them may have evolved into this amorphous thing
that few would be brave enough to back or tackle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I grew up obsessed with <i>Star Wars</i>, obsessed with football,
with <i>Lord of the Rings</i> and superhero stories too. I always knew they were
male-dominated, but I think I didn’t quite realise what I’d missed until this
moment. Until I came out of <i>Wonder Woman</i> and burst into tears. I am so happy
that there will be a generation of little girls growing up now, who get to see
this and grow up with this too – to have both. But this film is so important,
not just for those little girls, but for the little boys. The little boys who
can also grow up in awe of a woman and see a different hero who they can also
aspire to be like. I know my younger self needed this movie so much.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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I felt something similar about 18 months ago, when Rey wields the lightsabre in <i>The Force Awakens</i>, and here I got to feel it through
140 minutes of a feature-length film devoted to it. I left feeling so lucky,
and then also a bit uncomfortable that I had to feel <i>lucky</i> in the first place.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SDF0JJmPjG4/WU2MEkF7Z1I/AAAAAAAAcgo/plrTuuJKnwsOPq5gRXzeq6i0Ahgd6NaEQCLcBGAs/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="650" height="120" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SDF0JJmPjG4/WU2MEkF7Z1I/AAAAAAAAcgo/plrTuuJKnwsOPq5gRXzeq6i0Ahgd6NaEQCLcBGAs/s200/download.jpg" width="200" /></a>I’m so happy that <i>Wonder Woman</i> has had such a brilliant
critical response. Critics have overwhelmingly picked up on the ground-breaking
positives in the film and it scored 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is stunning
after the DC films of recent years. On top of that, it’s done brilliantly at
the box office and hopefully brought a whole new audience to the character and
the comics. But, it’s so much more than all this to me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BrEUw98GaCU/WU2L6hU4oiI/AAAAAAAAcgk/yjQoSxnv4UU1JsgGmSR5Z805zy_bqqGKQCLcBGAs/s1600/12443.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="648" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BrEUw98GaCU/WU2L6hU4oiI/AAAAAAAAcgk/yjQoSxnv4UU1JsgGmSR5Z805zy_bqqGKQCLcBGAs/s320/12443.jpg" width="216" /></a>This is the most colour, saturation and vibrance that we’ve
had in a DC film for a very long time. Some of the shots, both the colouring
and composition, are jaw-dropping. The palette is full of variety and contrast
and there are scenes that you will just find yourself gazing at and getting
lost in. This is a film that needs to be appreciated on the big screen and I wish
I’d seen it in IMAX too. It’s not CGI heavy until the end (and the CGI is
slightly over the top in that sequence), but the light and colour that cuts
through the DC darkness is such a relief. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Chris Pine completely won me over as Steve Trevor. The movie
presents one of the nicer versions of Steve from the comics. The chemistry
between Diana and Steve was magnetic and the romance element never overpowers
the plot or individual character arcs, and doesn’t impact Diana’s growth. They
both learn from each other, and neither compromises anything about their
character in the process. They are partners doing their own thing. The movie shows how men and women who respect each other, balance each other and work well as partners and individuals. With the
world as it is right now, and some of the worrying backwards steps in the last
year, this film and Diana’s message and character was just what I needed. It’s
a reminder of how we should all aspire to be; how we should think about everyone,
love everyone, and never stop trying to help, and empathise with, every single
living being. Diana’s empathy, which Steve and others first cannot understand,
is one of her most unique and wonderful characteristics as a hero. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ufrP7MIs0Ek/WU2MJkKz1DI/AAAAAAAAcgs/gUJqMUlEMdg8fl1zfVH_8KWLKfDR1BoFACLcBGAs/s1600/Chris-Pine-and-Gal-Gadot-in-Wonder-Woman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ufrP7MIs0Ek/WU2MJkKz1DI/AAAAAAAAcgs/gUJqMUlEMdg8fl1zfVH_8KWLKfDR1BoFACLcBGAs/s320/Chris-Pine-and-Gal-Gadot-in-Wonder-Woman.jpg" width="320" /></a>Gal Gadot plays this perfectly. While watching this film, it
feels like she was born to play <i>Wonder Woman</i>. She IS Diana in these moments.
She nails her naivety, her reactions to mankind, her horror, her joy, her
passion, her flaws, her limitless care and determination. It’s a stunning
performance in every way and an iconic one. I’ve seen it compared to
Christopher Reeve as Superman, and there are some wonderful parallels, particularly
in the glasses, her goofiness in negotiating London society at first, and
shielding Steve from a bullet with her wrist (notice also the little tribute to
Rosie the Riveter posters in this scene). Wonder Woman was the ‘badass’
highlight of the travesty that was <i>Batman vs Superman</i>, but thank goodness she’s
a million times more than that here. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b54y8ejzqsM/WU2MT1dKEdI/AAAAAAAAcgw/KlU_2RP2ZWoAC2HF8xcarjKx6KVX-wxjgCLcBGAs/s1600/gettyimages-688494296-h_2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="768" height="112" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b54y8ejzqsM/WU2MT1dKEdI/AAAAAAAAcgw/KlU_2RP2ZWoAC2HF8xcarjKx6KVX-wxjgCLcBGAs/s200/gettyimages-688494296-h_2017.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Patty Jenkins directed this film brilliantly and it’s a
breakthrough of incredible magnitude. It’s the first female-led superhero film,
which didn’t have to change for anyone or anything or compromise any of its
heart and soul. It’s here now for little girls, and boys, to grow up and enjoy
and aspire to and that hopefully will get them reading and creating stories of
their own, and not being afraid to tell them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Yes, there are some narrative clichés and the villains are
probably the weakest element of the film. More could perhaps have been done to
not solely vilify the Germans, and to illustrate the point that both sides used
hideous poisons and gases, and that both were culpable in so many ways. It also
went down <i>The Book Thief</i> route of having German accents, but not the language,
which I always find a bit weird. For me though, this film gets so much more so
very right than it gets wrong. It didn’t have to be perfect, it had to be
sincere and it had to be good – and it is. Patty Jenkins has made what they
said was impossible and I feel so much gratitude towards her and Gal, to the
scriptwriters, the composers, the costume-makers, and those of the comic writers
and artists who really properly captured Diana over the years – who helped
bring the heart and soul and the art to this movie and made it more than just ‘another
superhero movie’.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I want to relive this experience again and again. I want to
take everyone I know, of every age and gender. I hope they’ll feel it too, and
understand. Take your daughters and your mothers but also your sons, brothers
and fathers and show them this is also for them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It has been so wonderful to witness the outpouring of love
and solidarity from other directors, actors, writers and artists. They know
what it means, and it’s such a tremendous show of unity and togetherness – and
also so deeply individual and personal. I loved Greg Rucka’s tweet: <i>‘So much I love
about #wonderwomanmovie but it comes down to this: @PattyJenks was sincere
throughout. @GalGadot was sincere throughout. It’s a beautiful statement. It is
an inspiring statement…’</i>. And Gail Simone too – one of the most incredible
comic writers to work on the book (and so many others) over the years: <i>‘I apologize for raving, but
honestly, this is what I have been fighting for for years and I kinda feel like
crying’</i> and <i>‘I get to go to bed knowing the Wonder Woman movie is in the world
and is going to inspire kids for decades. BUT HOW DO I SLEEP NOW’</i>. And so many
wonderful people outside of the world of comics – who all found something in
this movie too. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There’s over 7 billion people on this planet, people with
different lives, different DNA, different circumstances and experiences. We
can and should do our best to represent – but so much is so intensely
individual that there will never be a perfect or fully satisfactory single representation.
It doesn’t mean we can’t try to be sincere and still use imagination and
empathy in fiction. There will always be faults, and things missed, but we can and
should strive to acknowledge the beauty of a sincere creative effort, while
always aspiring to do more and be better each time. The important thing is to keep creating and encouraging art and provoking thought and discussion. We can have hope and we can dream and do better and
we can definitely stand up and applaud all those who aim to do the same. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Update:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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I’ve now seen the film twice and just sat back and revelled
in every frame the second time. I definitely appreciated things like the soundtrack
even more and I bought it immediately after. The music is so powerful and deeply
evocative in every scene. It’s beautifully composed and performed, to capture
every nuance and flicker of emotion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AhpnfSV4tQo/WU2MeolgH5I/AAAAAAAAcg0/HZ95Ve49NQ4WSNEH8AlUP5bXuRswkEa_ACLcBGAs/s1600/Wonder-Woman-Warner-Bros.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="1438" height="129" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AhpnfSV4tQo/WU2MeolgH5I/AAAAAAAAcg0/HZ95Ve49NQ4WSNEH8AlUP5bXuRswkEa_ACLcBGAs/s320/Wonder-Woman-Warner-Bros.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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On second-viewing that <b>no-man’s land </b>scene absolutely stood
out even more. It’s flawlessly done and in the trailer it was the bit that I thought
might make me cringe, but the editing, the photography, the pacing and the
performance is pitch-perfect. I sat there in wonder and awe. That and the
village scenes are the pinnacle of the film. I grew to love the characters of Sameer, Charlie and the Chief - again all had their flaws but all also had their individual stories and experiences which gave little insights into history and different experiences of war. I also loved Themyscira and the
Amazons, the comedic moments as Diana encounters London are so much fun, and
then the emergence of her and Steve’s partnership and the way everyone around her grows to respect her difference. The third act becomes a bit
more like a standard Snyder-verse DC movie, and the CGI battle at the end has
some weaker moments, but there are still moments in it with so much heart,
beauty and power that had me in tears.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ccCOhHZhWiY/WU2MlhX-n4I/AAAAAAAAcg4/ZOUkQ0FLftMea3TprEpf1fECSXKMqG-CQCLcBGAs/s1600/Wonder-Woman-Movie-Robin-Wright-Antiope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="160" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ccCOhHZhWiY/WU2MlhX-n4I/AAAAAAAAcg4/ZOUkQ0FLftMea3TprEpf1fECSXKMqG-CQCLcBGAs/s320/Wonder-Woman-Movie-Robin-Wright-Antiope.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I really hope there’s a substantial featurette on the DVD about
the Amazons and the incredible women who play them. Watching it the second
time, I revelled in Robin Wright’s performance even more. She is immense as
Antiope and her scenes are breath-taking. She exudes power, wisdom, experience
and beauty and I love that they show her scars, muscles and lines proudly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sadly there isn’t enough time in the story to give enough to
the incredible Amazon women, but I appreciated every second we had with every
one of them. Ann Wolfe as Artemis is a great example. She looks incredible;
proud and strong, and I hope it shows young girls that strength, power and
athleticism are beautiful and aspirational too. Wolfe is widely acknowledged as
the best female boxer in history. I love that they didn’t necessarily choose
actors to play the Amazons, they chose extraordinary people who embody their
spirit already.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WNjO7VNznYQ/WU2MrqGsCLI/AAAAAAAAcg8/mr9YbSY4CtUprOziTa0FVjGrJeLGRLaGgCLcBGAs/s1600/ann-wolfe-as-artemis-in-wonder-woman-1001746-1280x0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WNjO7VNznYQ/WU2MrqGsCLI/AAAAAAAAcg8/mr9YbSY4CtUprOziTa0FVjGrJeLGRLaGgCLcBGAs/s320/ann-wolfe-as-artemis-in-wonder-woman-1001746-1280x0.jpg" width="320" /></a>This incredible cast excelled at everything that
traditionally has always been ‘male-dominated’ – women with spears, arrows,
wrestling, kickboxing – and the camera worked to show it all in its glory (slow-motion was used so well in this film, and not enough to feel too gimmicky). Here are women being completely natural as warriors. These aren’t girls dreaming of
being the next Hollywood star on the cover of a magazine, they’re athletes,
fighters, horsewomen, there’s even a published scientist – champions and, above
all, hard-workers - all with different body types (see <a href="http://thenerdybird.com/who-is-she-meet-wonder-womans-amazon-warriors/">http://thenerdybird.com/who-is-she-meet-wonder-womans-amazon-warriors/</a>
for more about all these women!). Take notice, because no matter their
screen-time, these women are such an important part of this film and what it’s
about. <o:p></o:p></div>
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All that's left is just to say how glad I am that this film exists and just thank you to Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins especially, but also to all the creatives who played their part in this journey and who were, in the words of Rucka, sincere. </div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-61035428044694336802017-05-18T13:00:00.000-07:002017-05-18T13:00:06.583-07:00Review: The Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZA7F_NXN9WI/WRm2RNtjIQI/AAAAAAAAcek/i3TqUid8E5s1N9HaygMXVdn7V__DA2aswCLcB/s1600/23308087.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZA7F_NXN9WI/WRm2RNtjIQI/AAAAAAAAcek/i3TqUid8E5s1N9HaygMXVdn7V__DA2aswCLcB/s400/23308087.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Goodreads
synopsis:</u></b></div>
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<i>The daughter of a prominent
samurai, Mariko has long known her place—she may be an accomplished alchemist,
whose cunning rivals that of her brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy,
her future has always been out of her hands. At just seventeen years old,
Mariko is promised to Minamoto Raiden, the son of the emperor's favorite consort—a
political marriage that will elevate her family's standing. But en route to the
imperial city of Inako, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by a dangerous
gang of bandits known as the Black Clan, who she learns has been hired to kill
her before she reaches the palace.<br />
<br />
Dressed as a peasant boy, Mariko sets out to infiltrate the ranks of the Black
Clan, determined to track down the person responsible for the target on her
back. But she's quickly captured and taken to the Black Clan’s secret hideout, where
she meets their leader, the rebel ronin Takeda Ranmaru, and his
second-in-command, his best friend Okami. Still believing her to be a boy,
Ranmaru and Okami eventually warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and
ingenuity. As Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history
of secrets, of betrayal and murder, which will force her to question everything
she's ever known.</i><b><u><o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TCkzwoVXcLc/WRm2XK4C0tI/AAAAAAAAceo/Kh-f0zQSmTgQgqEOEU0LNtq5YNUzaECyACLcB/s1600/Renee-Ahdieh1-243x365.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TCkzwoVXcLc/WRm2XK4C0tI/AAAAAAAAceo/Kh-f0zQSmTgQgqEOEU0LNtq5YNUzaECyACLcB/s320/Renee-Ahdieh1-243x365.jpg" width="212" /></a>Renee Ahdieh’s <i>The
Wrath and the Dawn</i> duology was one of the fantasy debuts that I most
enjoyed in the last two years. She has a deft touch with words and is great at
creating the atmosphere of each world. She’s definitely a fantasy author to
look out for over the next few years. There are definite parallels to <i>Mulan</i> in <i>The Flame and the Mist</i>, but very loosely. <i>The</i> <i>Flame in the Mist</i> is
set in feudal Japan, as opposed to feudal China, but an obvious parallel is
lead character, Hattori Mariko, adopting the guise of a boy in order to
infiltrate the mysterious Black Clan. By doing this, she seizes control of her
own future for the first time in a life that had thus far been sheltered and
her destiny (marriage) decided for her. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The pivotal moment, after she has apparently been attacked
by the Black Clan and is threatened by a stranger, comes with this line: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>‘I will not be bandied
about by men any longer. I am not a prize to be bought or sold.’ <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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With that, and the actions she follows it with, she reclaims
her agency and sets the events of the story in motion. Ahdieh’s novel explores
gender roles, and class, in feudal Japan (with definite relevance to the modern
day too) and Mariko comes to stand out to the reader as a feminist mouthpiece
within the culture of the book. When it seems sudden and forced, it is because
there is not so much insight into her internal life (and can come across as
being ‘told’ rather than ‘shown’ – this also goes for a few of Mariko’s other
traits, such as her ingenuity) before the pivotal moment of her seizing control,
but it becomes an invaluable part of who she is and will definitely be of value
to readers, especially teen girls and boys who are reading fantasy for the
first time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The feudal setting of Japan is rich and detailed and was a
joy to read about. It is a slow-burner and definitely a world that you grow
into, but it’s very much worth it and is rich, vibrant and elaborate. My main
reading experience of Japan has come through Haruki Murakami – which is
obviously very different – so this was a new experience for me and Ahdieh drew
me in masterfully. There’s definitely still a lot to be revealed about the
characters’ pasts so I’m looking forward to that. Nothing about the book was
predictable so I was genuinely riveted and eager to unravel the mysteries while
reading. I am not a big fan of the romance angle that seems obligatory in YA
fantasy, but the romance in <i>The Flame in
the Mist</i> is very much secondary, a slow-burn and the element of disguise
and mystery between the characters is very compelling. They are certainly
interesting characters in their own right, with their own paths to follow – and
very much equals, though I felt the male character did suffer from the brooding
anti-hero trope. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The magical/fantastical elements are used sparingly in this
book, and a little vaguely, but perhaps they will have a bigger role to play in
the sequel. Mariko’s brother, Kenshin, also has some POV chapters and this
provides a good foil – though we don’t get so much insight into his internal life.
It will be interesting to learn more about Mariko’s family and their goals, and
whether they’re all as honourable as she believes. I want to keep reading already. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I would recommend this to anyone even loosely intrigued by
the premise. I think there’s much more to come from Ahdieh and I will certainly
read on with interest. I really admire how she’s willing to dive into a variety
of cultures and create such rich stories with many layers of mystery and
intrigue that need time to be unpacked fully. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Quotes:</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">“We are so
much more than what we do!” Mariko drew closer, as if nearness could invoke a
sense of truth. “We are …” she searched her mind for the right things to say. “Our
thoughts, our memories, our beliefs!” her eyes dropped to the dying boy. To the
evil tree, slowly draining him of life. “This tree is not the forest,” she said
softly. “It is but one part.”</i></li>
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">I don’t want
you to be a hero. And I don’t need anyone to save me.’</i></li>
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">'Mariko
nudged the handle of her spoon with a bound fingertip. “Are you ever angry you
were born a woman?” Yumi sat back on her heels and studied Mariko for a spell. “I’ve
never been angry to have been born a woman. There have been times I’ve been
angry at how the world treats us, but I see being a woman as a challenge I must
fight. Like being born under a stormy sky. Some people are lucky enough to be
born on a bright summer’s day. Maybe we were born under clouds. No wind. No rain.
Just a mountain of clouds we must climb each morning so that we may see the
sun.’</i></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #ead1dc;"><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">'</i><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Mariko
supposed it was possible all women and men were forced to wear their own kind
of masks’</i></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<b><i>*Thank you to Hodder and NetGalley for a chance to
read an eARC of the book.</i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-36197689655054845942017-05-01T11:53:00.000-07:002017-05-01T11:53:46.269-07:00'Find out what you might become' - Review: Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BFZWJ0st7w4/WQceThGVHqI/AAAAAAAAcdQ/31dFz8WOyE0wtU4-21j-RssgkakYHdinACLcB/s1600/33154647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BFZWJ0st7w4/WQceThGVHqI/AAAAAAAAcdQ/31dFz8WOyE0wtU4-21j-RssgkakYHdinACLcB/s320/33154647.jpg" width="208" /></a><b><u>Goodreads synopsis: </u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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<i>Noemi is a young and
fearless soldier of Genesis, a colony planet of a dying Earth. But the citizens
of Genesis are rising up - they know that Earth's settlers will only destroy
this planet the way they destroyed their own. And so a terrible war has begun.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>When Noemi meets Abel,
one of Earth's robotic mech warriors, she realizes that Abel himself may
provide the key to Genesis' salvation. Abel is bound by his programming to obey
her - even though her plan could result in his destruction. But Abel is no ordinary
mech. He's a unique prototype, one with greater intelligence, skill and
strength than any other. More than that, he has begun to develop emotions, a
personality and even dreams. Noemi begins to realise that if Abel is less than
human, he is more than a machine. If she destroys him, is it murder? And can a
cold-blooded murder be redeemed by the protection of a world?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Stranded together in
space, they go on a whirlwind adventure through Earth's various colony worlds,
alongside the countless Vagabonds who have given up planetary life altogether
and sail forever between the stars. Each step brings them closer - both to each
other and to the terrible decision Noemi will have to make about her world's
fate, and Abel's.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cCRDvfE4rFM/WQcew9ZOErI/AAAAAAAAcdU/BduZcWhM8SgQGujfOMYFTPBOzcwt97W9QCLcB/s1600/SW_Bloodline_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cCRDvfE4rFM/WQcew9ZOErI/AAAAAAAAcdU/BduZcWhM8SgQGujfOMYFTPBOzcwt97W9QCLcB/s200/SW_Bloodline_cover.jpg" width="131" /></a>I hadn’t read any of Claudia Gray’s books before this year,
though I’d heard them recommended. I actually read <i><b><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Bloodline-Claudia-Gray-ebook/dp/B01CZB2X8S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493639186&sr=1-1&keywords=bloodline" target="_blank">Bloodline</a></b></i>, my first <i>Star
Wars </i>novel, back in January and really enjoyed it. I was still mourning Carrie
Fisher and it was such a deft and impressive insight into Leia as a Senator and
politician. It captured her spirit perfectly and cemented Claudia Gray as
someone to look out for.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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So when I heard about <i><b><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MRPNT2E/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493639164&sr=1-1&keywords=defy+the+stars" target="_blank">Defy the Stars</a></b></i>, I thought I’d see what
it was like. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SqOmJPUkQGE/WQce_Qao2dI/AAAAAAAAcdY/RhB9jxJ5pkIUNUBFMSvbC54vfsdVC9UVgCLcB/s1600/w9xwv38tnyix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SqOmJPUkQGE/WQce_Qao2dI/AAAAAAAAcdY/RhB9jxJ5pkIUNUBFMSvbC54vfsdVC9UVgCLcB/s200/w9xwv38tnyix.jpg" width="135" /></a>It could have fallen into many a cliché if it had gone down
the full-blown romance route, but it’s actually a deftly-handled look into the complications of a sentient AI and the romance angles are limited and I think you're meant to feel conflicted about them - I suppose for reasons that were also portrayed in the brilliant <i>Westworld </i>series this year. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Noemi and Abel are both strong
characters on their own and are both relating to their circumstances in very
different ways. Noemi is a soldier for her planet, Genesis, which is resisting
an invasion by Earth and Abel is a lost mech, the most advanced android in the
galaxy, stranded in the middle of nowhere – lost to his master/father figure. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Mechs are designed to be disposable, to risk their lives
where humans cannot, while Naomi has to come to terms with her role as a Genesis
soldier – also expendable for the ‘greater good’ and the consequences that has
for her faith. The story is really about them both finding their individual
sense of purpose and liberation and learning how to make their own choices. I believe
it’s going to be a duology and that the worlds will be fleshed out and it’s
certainly left perfectly poised. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-akQASvoILT4/WQcfH0oF1rI/AAAAAAAAcdc/8LFXs6bnCakCG8lYy0UiNiJDpsUtKjE8ACLcB/s1600/31423196.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-akQASvoILT4/WQcfH0oF1rI/AAAAAAAAcdc/8LFXs6bnCakCG8lYy0UiNiJDpsUtKjE8ACLcB/s200/31423196.jpg" width="133" /></a><i>‘Conflicts are the
price of sentience […] assert your own will. It’s the first step toward being
something more than a machine. Find out what you might become.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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I definitely think the U.S. cover is stronger and more
accurate to the book. The U.K. one is quite misleading and looks a little like
a space-erotica. Which this book is not – at all. It does it a disservice. The book is very action heavy but
the strongest moments are Abel’s moments of introspection and his relationship
with his creator – Burton Mansfield – Earth’s leading scientist and the
designer of androids for the purposes of war. The truth about Burton is
something that the reader suspects naturally (recognising those self-seeking human qualities) but there is no reason why Abel
should, so it is still emotionally compelling to see him discover the truth for
himself and to have his innocence shattered. So much of his character is built
around his loyalty to and what certainly seems to be affection for his creator,
who he really sees as his father. It is all he has ever known to want – to be
reunited with Burton. But his programming has been evolving while he has been
stranded, and the narrative becomes him learning that there are other things to
want.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>‘Burton Mansfield’s greatest sin was creating
a soul and imprisoning it in a machine’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Noemi, on the other hand, is intensely passionate, committed
to her faith, though also questioning it, racked with guilt over the death of
her friend, and determined to save her world, no matter the cost. These two
personalities clash but also inform each other and come to teach the other the
qualities that it is lacking. It’s very carefully portrayed and built up
throughout. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There is definitely room for the narrative to go deeper (perhaps exploring the morality around human and AI nature and interaction even further, as <i>Westworld</i> did) and
the political situation to be explored, and hopefully these are things that will be addressed in the sequel. It was a fast-paced and engaging read, even though
it didn’t break any new ground in the genre, it certainly avoided its trappings
and never fell into over-sentimentality. I’m interested to see where these two
characters go and hopefully it only gets more complex. </div>
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<i><b>Thank you to Hot Key Books and NetGalley for a chance to read an eARC of the book. </b></i><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-67478409342767196592016-08-25T13:31:00.000-07:002016-08-25T13:31:01.276-07:00'Not all of us receive the ends that we deserve.' - Review: The Muse by Jessie Burton<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N_YxxVh8wEw/V64xziUNH4I/AAAAAAAAYBs/tlRfwxEpyIIrK8uOT1eSjss7oCR8_Gv8gCLcB/s1600/hero-portrait-the-muse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N_YxxVh8wEw/V64xziUNH4I/AAAAAAAAYBs/tlRfwxEpyIIrK8uOT1eSjss7oCR8_Gv8gCLcB/s400/hero-portrait-the-muse.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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<b><u>GoodReads
description:</u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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<i><b>‘A picture hides a
thousand words . . .<o:p></o:p></b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>On a hot July day in
1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London,
knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her
place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been
offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic
Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks
a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery - no more so than
when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.<o:p></o:p></b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>The truth about the
painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss,
the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into
this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his
half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss
family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .’</b><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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I appreciated Jessie Burton’s award-winning, bestselling <i>The Miniaturist</i>. I spent a Christmas
hand-selling it at Waterstones and it was a well-written, well-crafted novel. But
I loved <i>The Muse</i>. I engaged with it
and its characters, heart and mind. They’re both great books, but <i>The Muse</i> is the one I’d go back to and
the one that personally hit the spot. It had me from the selected quote before
the story even began:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i>‘Never again will a single story be sold as though it were the only
one.’</i> – John Berger<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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This is an epigraph which has been used in many well-known,
acclaimed novels – it seems to have a track record of success of its own. John
Berger is understandably part of most undergraduate studies in literature but
it’s a quote that has so much resonance in so many fields of study, and life.
At my university, we were shown Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en" target="_blank">TED talk on the ‘Danger of a Single Story’</a> </span>– and I’ve mentioned it before on this blog. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Jessie Burton’s <i>The
Muse</i> certainly draws upon this idea of the single story – about the different
ways things can be perceived, the way that different angles can convey
different meanings, and the way that narratives can be controlled to include
and exclude. It is, at its heart, about art in all its senses and incarnations
– about responsibility, representation, power, dignity and consent:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i>‘It doesn’t matter what’s the truth; what people believe becomes the
truth.’<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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Burton’s parallel narratives depict two women in different
eras, both talented and creative, and yet both – partly because of
circumstance, and partly by choice – hiding their gifts or holding back.
Originally from Trinidad, Odelle Bastien (1960s) still feels an outsider- she
explains:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>‘I was – both by
circumstance and nature – a migrant in this world, and my lived experience had
long become a state of mind’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t1Yn4j8nA2M/V64wlljt_II/AAAAAAAAYBg/vMDfbN00QCoAw_-Kwuj0vL1FLEz67KC1QCLcB/s1600/18386835._SX540_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t1Yn4j8nA2M/V64wlljt_II/AAAAAAAAYBg/vMDfbN00QCoAw_-Kwuj0vL1FLEz67KC1QCLcB/s320/18386835._SX540_.jpg" width="320" /></a>Burton navigates these angles of migration and ethnicity sensitively
and thoughtfully, exploring how it feels to be away from your country of birth
and trying to forge an identity in a place where – whether by virtue of gender
or race – you may not be taken so seriously, and may feel compelled to hide
away. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Marjorie Quick becomes a sort of mentor, as well as
employer, eager to unlock Odelle’s talents and encourage them. Back in the
1930s, a young woman named Teresa seeks to do the same for Olive Schloss, the
daughter of an art collector (also living away from home, in Spain) who paints
secretly and brilliantly (better than Teresa’s artist half-brother, Isaac). The
parallels and the way in which Burton toys with the seams of both stories and
characters is delightful and utterly compelling. Each tiny twist seems to raise
the stakes until the simple truth becomes the ultimate and most quietly devastating
prize.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The dynamic between all the characters held me captivated.
Like Odelle, I was fascinated by the enigmatic nature of Marjorie Quick and I loved
that the bonds between women – between Odelle and Marjorie, and Olive and
Teresa - are the most complex and intriguing. Both go beyond the connections
that Odelle and Olive feel to the men in their lives and endure in a much stronger
and more meaningful way. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>The Muse </i>is a book
that is so cleverly layered that I feel I want to reread it again and again and
to look at these characters from all angles. For now, these are just a few
introductory thoughts on a novel I admire more each time I think about it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Adichie’s ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ TED
talk quotes: <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>‘I realised that I had
become so immersed in the media coverage of Mexicans that they had become one
thing in my mind, the abject immigrant. I had bought into the single story of
Mexicans and I could not have been more ashamed of myself.’</i></li>
<li><i>‘So that is how to create
a single story, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over
again, and that is what they become’.</i></li>
<li><i>‘There is a word, an
Igbo word, that I think about whenever I think about the power structures of
the world, and it is "nkali." It's a noun that loosely translates to
"to be greater than another." Like our economic and political worlds,
stories too are defined by the principle of nkali: How they are told, who tells
them, when they're told, how many stories are told, are really dependent on
power.’</i></li>
<li><i>‘The single story
creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are
untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only
story.’</i></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Muse
quotes:</span></i></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>‘Not all of us receive
the ends that we deserve.’</i></li>
<li><i>‘This is what she
taught me: you have to be ready in order to be lucky. You have to put your
pieces into play.’</i></li>
<li><i>‘That if you really
want to see your work to completion, you have to desire it more than you’d
believe you have to fight it, fight yourself. It’s not easy.’</i></li>
<li><b><i>‘It doesn’t matter what’s the truth; what people believe becomes the
truth.’</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>‘In the end, a piece of art only succeeds when its creator – to
paraphrase Olive Schloss – possesses the belief that brings it into being’</i></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
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</div>
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<b> *Thank you to Picador and NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC of <i>The Muse</i>. </b></div>
</div>
Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-26490686194934418102016-08-08T12:00:00.000-07:002016-08-08T12:00:09.641-07:00'Not a horror. But a girl. Just a girl.' - Review: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7LjVe2FXgPI/V5UjC_jqY8I/AAAAAAAAXjg/zTq-_fahdRkbFJe_guXoHovrGa0pl5WqwCLcB/s1600/Nevernight-Royal-HB-front-White-title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7LjVe2FXgPI/V5UjC_jqY8I/AAAAAAAAXjg/zTq-_fahdRkbFJe_guXoHovrGa0pl5WqwCLcB/s400/Nevernight-Royal-HB-front-White-title.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
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<b><u>GoodReads
Description:</u></b></div>
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<b><u><i><br /></i></u></b></div>
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<i><b>Destined to destroy
empires, Mia Covere is only ten years old when she is given her first lesson in
death.<br />
<br />
Six years later, the child raised in shadows takes her first steps towards
keeping the promise she made on the day that she lost everything.<br />
<br />
But the chance to strike against such powerful enemies will be fleeting, so if
she is to have her revenge, Mia must become a weapon without equal. She must
prove herself against the deadliest of friends and enemies, and survive the tutelage
of murderers, liars and demons at the heart of a murder cult.<br />
<br />
The shadows love her. And they drink her fear. </b><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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The first line lays it out how it is – this book is going to
hold nothing back: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>‘People often shit
themselves when they die, did you know that?’ <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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There will be no holding back. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The first chapter is very cleverly composed, and Kristoff
hooks you immediately with his skill. There is a brilliant linguistic and
syntactic equation of acts of sex and death in these opening paragraphs. For
the reader, they happen simultaneously and simultaneously they are opposites
and the same. They echo and mirror each other in so many ways and are
contrasted only by alternating italicised and roman paragraphs. Reading these
opening scenes is a visceral experience, and incredibly immersive. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The parallels between love and death re-emerge throughout
the book. On her way to earn her place at the Red Church, the training school for
assassins, Mia meets future fellow-student and friend, Tric. When he sees her
fighting for the first time he notes that she and opponent move ‘<i>like first time lovers – hesitant at first,
drifting closer until finally they fell into each other’s arms, fists and
elbows and knees, block and counters and strikes</i>’. There are sharp moments
of foreshadowing and the whole narrative is a puzzle coming together, twisting
into a hugely exciting, adrenaline-fuelled conclusion. The final third is
impossible to tear yourself away from. In a twisted way, I appreciated and
welcomed its brutality. It lures you into a false sense of security and then
shatters it, which I felt it was something it really needed to do to avoid
falling into certain clichés. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Mia’s full character and past is unveiled to us slowly and
in snatches but it is worth the wait and the whole story is better for it. Mia
is different to the other assassins-in-training – she is <i>Darkin</i>, and has an intriguing relationship with and degree of power
over, shadows. Her constant companion is a very mysterious shadow cat named
Mister Kindly. He consumes her fear and helps her sleep through the night – for
reasons revealed as you read. I think there is much more to come from him as he
is very much an enigma in this first book but their relationship is very unique
and one of the more intriguing and different elements of the story. There are
many books with training academies, trials, teens set against each other,
assassins etc. but Kristoff knows how to write fantasy and he infuses <i>Nevernight</i> with enough other elements –
foreshadowing, shocking twists, and stylistic flourishes that it embeds itself
in your conscious as you read and remains long after – leaving you wanting
more. I’ve pre-ordered the black sprayed-edges edition from Waterstones and
look forward to learning more about Mia and Mister Kindly in particular. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Reading a digital ARC, without proper formatting, did make
the footnote element of the narrator’s voice a bit disruptive. I’m reserving
judgement on the narrative voice until I’ve read more but at this stage it
feels an unnecessary extra, ‘telling’ things rather than allowing them to come
up naturally in the story. It’s tone is sometimes a little cloying – but
reading a finished copy may be a different experience in that regard and I’m
sure it’s purpose will be clear further down the line. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I do have one more spoiler-y point to raise for discussion
or general musing: I did have qualms about a certain practice in the Red Church
(and Mia consenting to it) – and that is essentially the plastic surgery
(weaving) they have to go through – to be made physically alluring (bigger
breasts etc). In some respects I thought the controversial, more complicated
aspects of this were glossed over, as Mia, and even Tric (who initially has
reservations) go along with it mostly without comment. In some ways, it’s a
shame because Mia is someone initially described as plain, small and scrawny –
but someone who has so much power and is so talented that her appearance has
never mattered. On the other hand, this could equally be more of a commentary
on the morally contentious nature of the Red Church and what it wants to
transform people into. It’s something to consider again once the series is
finished perhaps. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>‘You are luckier than
you know. You were born without that which most people prize their loves for.
That ridiculous prize called beauty. You know what it is to be overlooked. Know
it keenly enough that you paid a boy to love you…’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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After all, the Red Church is all about fashioning a new type
of being; a complete assassin, and will remake those it needs to. The stakes
are high and only the strongest will prevail and be accepted.</div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">‘Forget
the girl who had everything. She died when her father did … Nothing is where
you start. Own nothing. Know nothing. Be nothing.’</i></li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n0lMM9ATX6U/V5UjKyutOgI/AAAAAAAAXjk/u87OOc5AouoP9vqzcpSEPqTbRwCLWKHGACLcB/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n0lMM9ATX6U/V5UjKyutOgI/AAAAAAAAXjk/u87OOc5AouoP9vqzcpSEPqTbRwCLWKHGACLcB/s1600/download.jpg" /></a></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">‘It may
not be right,’ Aalea said. ‘It may not be just. But this is a world of Senators
and Consuls and Luminatii – of republics and cults and institutions built and
maintained almost entirely by men. And in it, love is a weapon. Sex is a
weapon. Your eyes? Your body? Your smile?’ she shrugged, ‘weapons. And they
give you more power than a thousand swords. Open more gates than a thousand war
walkers. Love has toppld Kings, Mia. Ended empires. Even broken our poor,
sunburned sky.'</i></li>
</ul>
<br />
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I find myself intrigued by this world that Kristoff is
weaving and I’m certainly going to read on. I like the darkness, the mystery
and the brutality; too many fantasies get bogged down in over-bearing,
contrived romance plots and it seems that Kristoff is dodging that trap for the
most part. It’s got its own distinct character but has many of the things I
enjoy in my favourite fantasies <i>(Throne
of Glass, Game of Thrones…)</i> and is certainly unafraid to push the
boundaries of your expectations. I respect that Mia is a complex, layered,
character who – by her own nature and belief- may be hard to love, and I look
forward to learning more about her and her shadow cat (‘<i>who is not a cat’</i>). I want to see this world and mythology grow
even more into its own in the sequels to come and anticipate them eagerly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Some other choice quotes:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">'</span></span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Listen,
girl,’ Aelius sniffed. ‘The books we love, they love us back. And just as we
mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. Indelible as
the ink that graces them. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You’re a
daughter of words. A girl with a story to tell.’</i></li>
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">‘A few
thought her some thing from the abyss; some daemonic servant of the mother set
on their trail. Others mistook her for a horror from the Whisperwastes; some
monstrosity spat into being by the dark pull of twisted magiks. But as she wove
and swayed among them, blades whistling, breath hissing, the swiftest among them
realised she wasn’t a daemon. Not a horror. But a girl. Just a girl. And that
thought terrified them more than any daemon or horror they could name.’ </i></li>
</ul>
<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<span style="text-indent: -24px;">Thank you to HarperVoyager and NetGalley for letting me read a digital ARC in exchange for honest review. <i>Nevernight</i> is published on 11th August.</span><br />
<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
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<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-19579700350893477892016-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:002016-05-16T12:00:12.792-07:00'To be forgotten is to be free, you know that, don’t you?': The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North (Review)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HGmkYaVAaCE/Vydj_sbR-5I/AAAAAAAAWn0/taiGZobs-J4mJqhLwkaQzTbf8UkRufTTQCLcB/s1600/25746699.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HGmkYaVAaCE/Vydj_sbR-5I/AAAAAAAAWn0/taiGZobs-J4mJqhLwkaQzTbf8UkRufTTQCLcB/s400/25746699.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Claire North</b> is certainly one of the authors I admire the
most. She takes on some of the most technically challenging and fiddly subjects to
write about and is very versatile. Yet <i>Touch</i>,
<i>Harry August</i> and <i>Hope</i> all tackle that human desire to leave a mark and to mean something.
To mean something as a human being/life-form and <b>what it is about yourself that
is memorable</b> and can leave an impression. She always challenges you to think
beyond the bounds of the physical and the corporeal. In her books she has tackled the
limits of gender, sexuality, time, memory and more. She is unafraid and quite
unique and because of all this, I will pick up her books without hesitation.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1wIFMlOVrwQ/Vydj_of-0TI/AAAAAAAAWnw/1JsngE91p40u4ytQCHc1AfbmYyHKvebBACKgB/s1600/circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1wIFMlOVrwQ/Vydj_of-0TI/AAAAAAAAWnw/1JsngE91p40u4ytQCHc1AfbmYyHKvebBACKgB/s200/circle.jpg" width="130" /></a><b><i>The Sudden Appearance of Hope</i></b>, a bit like <i>Touch</i>, is part
globe-trotting thriller and part existential crisis/analysis. The focus of the
plot (or one of them) is an app called <b>Perfection</b> which sets goals and rewards
for people to ‘better themselves’. I read <i>The Circle</i> by Dave Eggers just a
month or two before this and they definitely both explore this technological
dystopian theme very well. While you’re reading, you only have to look up and
around you to recognise how precariously balanced society is and how easily it
could slip into something quite frightening. What Perfection is actually
pushing is conformity – a very static set of ideals based on money, body-image
and the like. Both <i>The Circle</i> and <i>The Sudden Appearance of Hope</i> touch upon the
idea of the end of privacy, the constant need to share, the setting of goals
and the reward schemes that only reward certain, approved behaviours – a subtle
brainwashing and defining of worthiness. The chasing of targets and the
relentless measuring of your life by strangers and trend-setters, telling you
what it is to be worthy and when you deserve reward is juxtaposed with Hope’s
innate condition of forgettability. The moment she turns her back, she is
forgotten – by her family, her ‘friends’, by anyone she meets – except technology.
The only path she leaves is digital. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Hope cannot have a job, cannot own property, cannot live in
the ways society usually deems meaningful – she cannot legally exist as she is
forgotten within a minute. Hope survives by becoming a criminal – an international
jewel thief. It is as she sets out to steal a jewelled bracelet that Hope and
Perfection are set on a collision course. Shaken by the death of someone
connected to it and seeing the sinister potential of its elements of mind
control, Hope sets herself a meaningful mission – to take it down. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Interestingly, Hope does meet someone like her, a fellow ‘forgettable’,
who it seems becomes memorable by following the scheme of the app and letting
it change him and help him conform. This leaves Hope with a heart-breaking
choice – should she adopt the app herself and become memorable and known to her
family, but as someone else, or honour them in retaining her own sense of
integrity and difference? What if the cure is something worse than the disease?
The only person who remembers Hope fully is her little sister, who has a form of
brain condition. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Yet the process of writing her story is also a way of
enacting meaning and leaving a trace. ‘<i>I write this to be remembered.</i>’ is one of
the opening lines of the novel: ‘Whoever you are: these are my words. This is
my truth. Listen, and remember me’. To cope Hope takes it upon herself to talk
to scholars and monks ‘men and women who’d been held in solitary confinement
for ears on end<i>. You find the happiness
you can</i>, one said. <i>Sometimes it’s
hard, sometimes you gotta dig deep, but it’s there, the thing inside that you
can be content</i>.’ For Hope’s condition is a life sentence of its own – her world
can only be a long solitary confinement with fleeting instances of connection. <o:p></o:p></div>
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‘<i>Alone you can lose
yourself, or you may find yourself, and most of the time you do both’</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the main repeated encounters Hope has throughout her
quest is with a lady called Byron, someone who seems somewhat envious of Hope’s
condition – telling her that ‘<i>to be
forgotten is to be free, you know that, don’t you?</i>’. And this is another
interesting discourse that unfolds throughout the narrative – the definition of
freedom, and how people would live without inhibition, knowing they could
never be caught, they could do anything, get away with anything. Byron is
excited by the prospect, wanting to live without limits, not understanding Hope’s
discipline (‘<i>you have no need to conform,
what’s the point? No one will thank you for it, no one will remember you.’</i>)
– but Hope comes to realise that freedom also means honouring the freedom of
those around her – that self-discipline is crucial and she must impose her own
limits and meaning (the idea that freedom that impinges upon the freedom of
others is wrong). To some extent – you have to ‘<i>permit yourself to be defined by the world that surrounds you’</i>. The
whole exchange and the relationship between these two women is written
brilliantly – in some ways they are so similar and yet there are fundamental
philosophical differences that are unpacked very neatly and effectively. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘I impose disciplines upon
myself, discourse, reason, knowledge…’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>‘To fill the place
where society should be?’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>‘Yes. And to keep me
sane. To help me see myself as others might see.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Some of the most poignant passages come in Hope’s longing to
mean something to her family and the brilliance of North’s writing shines
through in one of the descriptions of Hope’s mother:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘Mum comes in. Her
hair is bright white, cut down to the surface of her skull, and age has made
her face something extraordinary. Each part of it needs an atlas to describe;
her chin is many chins, still small and sharp but etched with muscle and line,
layered one upon the other. Her cheeks are contoured bone and silky rivers of
skin, her eyebrows waggle against great parallels of thought on her forehead,
her mouth is encased in smile lines and pout lines and scowl lines and worry
lines and laughter lines and <b>there is no
part of her which is not in some way written over with stories’.</b> </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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Hope can see all the markings of experience and all the
imperfections and find beauty in them – a kind of beauty that Perfection would
never recognise. She knows that her mother could never love the being that
Perfection would make of her. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XZtvw4pSKC8/VydkbTKFgfI/AAAAAAAAWn4/UeVcZ3T5aMAUNoasKViLLvMEWt1_UZMYACLcB/s1600/authorPhoto-186x300.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XZtvw4pSKC8/VydkbTKFgfI/AAAAAAAAWn4/UeVcZ3T5aMAUNoasKViLLvMEWt1_UZMYACLcB/s1600/authorPhoto-186x300.png" /></a>As a character, you pity Hope, but at no point does the book
make an emotional spectacle of her tragic condition – it productively explores
the nature of it and draws up on it poignantly when it needs to. The parallel
plot involving the jewel heist and Perfection balances the narrative and paces
it, while also cementing the relevance of these timeless, universal questions
in the modern, digital age. An age in which we leave a constant digital trail but long,
enduring, meaningful engagements are in decline and under threat. </div>
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The only thing I do find with some of North's book is that it's sometimes hard to engage with, keep track of and remember the wide variety of secondary characters (if you’re not
careful, you might find yourself a bit
lost) but do persevere and revisit – it’s worth it in the end and you will find
yourself wanting to go back to this book again. <i><b>Touch</b></i> was one of my Books of 2015.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fittingly, <i><b>The Sudden Appearance of Hope</b></i> is
unforgettable. <o:p></o:p></div>
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*<b>Thank you to Orbit of Little Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for letting me read a digital ARC in exchange for honest review. The Sudden Appearance of Hope is published on 19th May 2016. </b></div>
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<b>Further quotes:</b></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">The past
was just a present that had been, the future was a present yet to come, and
only now remained, and I stood by the sea, recovering my landlegs from the
road, and wept.</i><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></li>
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Knowledge.
What should I do with this place inside me where experience – tears of joy,
shrieks of laughter, the anxiety of work, the warmth of friends, the love of
family, the expectations of the world – what should I do with that place which
was never filled? I put knowledge there. <b>And in knowledge, I find myself.</b> This
sounds like an intellectual void where heart should be, but look and you may
find…</i></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Look for
the words “perfect woman” and you find bodies. Diagrams, explaining that the
perfect face belongs to an actress with smoky eyes, the perfect hair comes from
a princess; the perfect waist is barely narrow enough to support the generous
breasts that balance on it; legs disproportionately long, smile that says “take
me”. Photoshopped features combining the faces of movie stars and models, pop
idols and celebrities. <b>Who is the perfect woman? According to the internet, she
is a blonde white girl with bulimia; no other characteristics are specified.</b></i></li>
<li><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Know thyself,
and know everyone else. Having no one else to know me, having no one to catch
me or lift me up, tell me I’m right or wrong, having no one to define the
limits of me. I have to define myself, otherwise I am nothing, just a … liquid
that dissolves. Know yourself. But finding definition without all the… the
daily things that give you shape…’</i></li>
</ul>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-25817685707412503662016-04-07T12:00:00.000-07:002016-04-07T12:00:15.257-07:00Review: The Map of Bones by Francesca Haig (The Fire Sermon #2)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k-8JblZRl2w/VuXMLEy_RcI/AAAAAAAAVDk/oovXdeadVx4uyibVH92RYW4UyPZyfy21Q/s1600/map-of-bones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k-8JblZRl2w/VuXMLEy_RcI/AAAAAAAAVDk/oovXdeadVx4uyibVH92RYW4UyPZyfy21Q/s640/map-of-bones.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
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<i><b>*This review may contain spoiler for the first book in the series, The Fire Sermon, and minor spoilers for The Map of Bones.</b></i><br />
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So when I reviewed <i>The Fire Sermon</i>, the first book in this
series, I wrote this:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘I really want Haig to
give the reader more in the sequels. More insight, more internal life, more
complexity, more basis for how the world is, more believability, more emotion’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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And in book two,<i><b> The Map of Bones</b></i>, she delivers. It feels
unburdened and able to breathe more freely following events at the end of the
first book and Kip’s death. Cass now comes into her own as a character and we
get to know her as she goes through grief, and without the distraction of
romantic interests for now. There is much more interiority and the prose
blossoms in these moments. There is also more travelling and journeying but it doesn’t
feel like filler, events unfold naturally and there are certainly big
game-changing ones that occur. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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We get to know more about Zoe, stripping the layers away as the book goes on, but
Piper is still a slightly more one-dimensional character – I haven’t quite got
a hold on him yet. The villains (Zach and co.) are also quite limited but mainly because there isn't really a chance to spend much time with them. I enjoyed this as a sequel – and second books are probably the hardest to get
right in a trilogy. If some of those secondary characters develop more in the
third then I think we’re onto a winner. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i>
<i>The Map of Bones</i>, perhaps even more so than being a
dystopian quest-narrative, is a solemn, bleak meditation on memory and grief,
and what it is to really know someone. Haig comes into her forte with some of
Cass’s and Zoe’s reflective moments and inner struggles – for example, this
beautiful line on the way we remember someone after they’re gone: <o:p></o:p><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
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<i><b>“…but I betrayed her,
too, when I only remembered the bad parts. I should have remembered her
properly, even though it’s harder.”</b><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
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It’s a deeply moving moment and a cathartic one both for the
characters and the reader. The journey they go on in this book is as much
mental and emotional as it is physical, and you do feel like they’ve travelled
a long distance in both by the end. <o:p></o:p><br />
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The gradual revealing of more and more about the blast and
the Before is also very effective. It is implied that the people of the Before
advanced too far with their machinery and technology, all leading to a nuclear
disaster. Hence the intense mistrust of tanks and other machinery by the
residents in the After (except for Zach and some of the other Alphas who want
to use it for their own cruel purposes). <o:p></o:p><br />
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<i>"It’s always said that
everything’s broken, since the blast,” [Piper] said. “And we both know there’s
plenty that’s broken enough.” There were so many different kinds of brokenness
to choose from. The broken-down mountains, slumped into heaps of slag and
scree. The towns and cities from the Before, the bones of a world. Or the
broken bodies he’d seen, too many to count. <o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
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“…<i>what good ever came
out of the Before? The one thing that we know for certain about these people is
that they, and their machines, destroyed the world. They brought about all of
this.”</i> – The Ringmaster<o:p></o:p><br />
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The pacing and the subtlety is much stronger throughout the narrative
and, a true poet, Haig’s imagery is incredibly powerful and memorable. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>‘I was a walking
emissary of the deadlands, spreading ash wherever I went.’<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>‘This was how violence
worked, I was learning: it refused to be contained. It spread, a plague of
blades.’<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>‘Words were bloodless symbols
we relied on to keep the world at bay.’<o:p></o:p></i><br />
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More forces and perspectives are coming to play and the world
is both deepening and expanding. The language and imagery is very evocative and
visual and I’m beginning to see how it could be compared to <i>The Road </i>by Cormac
McCarthy in terms of atmosphere and landscape. I now have high hopes for book three. Some readers may struggle more with
this one as the pacing is slower than other recent offerings in the genre, but there are key moments of
action and reveals are measured and gradual. I personally found this much more rewarding
than frustrating – where book one was a bit more hit-and-miss with pace, this one
finds a consistent balance. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
If you've read <i>The Fire Sermon </i>and, like me, weren't sure, then I definitely recommend you give this a read as it adds much, much more and Haig stylistically hits her rhythm. This trilogy is beginning to lay its own ground and I look forward to reading more. </div>
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<b>Discussion Point: </b></div>
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<br /></div>
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I guess there is a certain discussion point that did spring
to my mind when I was thinking about these books: Haig certainly makes the
Omegas our heroes – and defines them by deformity, and yet the protagonist/hero
that she gives us is one who is an exception – who does not have a physical
deformity and is ‘special’. What does this say in the climate of diversity? Is
it a missed opportunity or is there a more intricate exploration of the mental
health of someone with Cass’s powers? I’d be interested to hear what others
think. I think it’s very complicated given the premise of the novels but I
found <i>The Map of Bones</i> a good and
thought-provoking read nonetheless and trust Haig’s intentions and knowledge of
the world and characters she is building.<br />
<br />
I like that there is a very interesting choice that the characters are faced with by the end <b>*potential spoiler alert*:</b> is it better for everyone to be equal, although all with a degree of 'deformity', or for the Alpha-Omega twin-death bond to continue? It's going to be very interesting to unpack in the next book as it certainly complicates the endgame of the different parties.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Further quotes:</b></div>
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<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>“…although
you like to think you’re so far above the assumptions and prejudices of the
rest of the world, it turns out you’re not so different from them after all.” - Zoe<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> '</span><i>Hope was not a decision I made. It was a
stubborn reflex. The body squirming toward the air. The taking of the next
breath, and the one after that.'</i><br />
<b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></b>
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i>*</i></span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">Thank you to Gallery Books (US) and HarperVoyager (UK) for letting me read a digital ARC in exchange for honest review. </b><br />
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-4377039371391188662016-04-02T13:54:00.001-07:002016-04-02T13:54:06.379-07:00Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DDyk7EECePg/VvWVkVFh3LI/AAAAAAAAVFc/rQycQYYkw10N4_6_yECRYCRPwS7Dr2fcQ/s1600/28525008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DDyk7EECePg/VvWVkVFh3LI/AAAAAAAAVFc/rQycQYYkw10N4_6_yECRYCRPwS7Dr2fcQ/s400/28525008.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>GoodReads description:</b></span></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Passage, n.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">i. A brief section of music composed
of a series of notes and flourishes.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">ii. A journey by water; a voyage.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">iii. The transition from one place
to another, across space and time.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">In one devastating night, violin
prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an
unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only
one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s
inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s
never heard of. Until now.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Nicholas Carter is content with his
life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the
servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual
passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape
and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching
for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’
passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back
to them—whether she wants to or not.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Together, Etta and Nicholas embark
on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues
left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the
Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the
deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate
Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home... forever.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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This was an intriguing adventure-romance which delves into history and time travel with care and detail. As a novel, it explores issues of family, race and identity in different time-contexts. </div>
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Bracken's <b>knowledge</b> and <b>historical detail</b> is one of the strongest aspects of <i><b>Passenger</b></i>. I enjoyed the construction of each world, and wish we could have spent longer in each time to really see these primary characters adapt, develop and relate. Their adventure and romance sometimes felt a bit too rushed, despite both Nicholas and Etta being interesting individual characters. The romantic tension did feel a little forced and too detailed, leaving little time for the chemistry to build somewhat independently of the text itself. Nicholas is a very guarded character, understandably so given his time and origins as the child of a slave and her master. It is understandable for him to be guarded from Etta and those around him in the story, but with a two-character alternating narrative, Bracken perhaps could have let the reader in a little more. We don't get many private moments with him, whereas we really benefit from the opening chapters with Etta. </div>
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I really enjoyed the opening chapters as we get to know Etta and what drives her and her love of music. Bracken writes these scenes brilliantly and really gets in Etta's head, and introducing the key relationships in her New York 2015 life. Similarly, there are some really nice moments with Nicholas on the ship, in his own time, with his sort of surrogate ship family. I would have loved to see these play out a little longer before the protagonists are thrown together. </div>
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Again you don't really get a strong sense of the character of the villain - Cyrus Ironwood - but the history of the families is bound to be expanded upon in the sequel and I am looking forward to learning more - those family/surrogate family elements were some of the things that really hooked me. At this stage, Cyrus just exists to impose a sense of threat and a ticking-clock to carry the plot forward in this first book. </div>
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Overall, it's a slow, careful and intriguing build (except for the romance angle, which I found a little too forced and rushed). It would have been nice to see the chemistry and relationship between Etta and Nicholas develop more organically, but the writing is very much '<i>telling you</i>' it's happening. In terms of plot, the pace zooms into overdrive in the final few chapters and the ending is a whirlwind of a cliff-hanger which should fire nicely into the sequel and shake things up a bit. I'm intrigued by this world, particularly the negotiations of different cultures and the time-travel concept that Bracken is building and will pick up the sequel with interest when it arrives.</div>
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<b><i>Thank you to Quercus Children's Books for a chance to read an eARC via NetGalley. This book is out in the UK on the 7th of April!</i></b></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-60453396648153058282016-03-06T12:19:00.000-08:002016-03-06T12:19:01.673-08:00Review: Radio Silence by Alice Oseman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>GoodReads Description: </b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"><i>What if everything you set yourself up to be was wrong?</i></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent;">Frances has always been a study machine with one goal, elite university. Nothing will stand in her way; not friends, not a guilty secret – not even the person she is on the inside.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent;">But when Frances meets Aled, the shy genius behind her favourite podcast, she discovers a new freedom. He unlocks the door to Real Frances and for the first time she experiences true friendship, unafraid to be herself. Then the podcast goes viral and the fragile trust between them is broken.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent;">Caught between who she was and who she longs to be, Frances’ dreams come crashing down. Suffocating with guilt, she knows that she has to confront her past…</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent;">She has to confess why Carys disappeared…</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent;">Meanwhile at uni, Aled is alone, fighting even darker secrets.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent;">It’s only by facing up to your fears that you can overcome them. And it’s only by being your true self that you can find happiness.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent;">Frances is going to need every bit of courage she has.</i></div>
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The good news – Alice Oseman’s second novel is just as good
as her first. It captures the next stage of life – the move from school to
university - while exploring some really important issues around school success
and how teenagers are taught to define their self-worth. Again she involves
the Tumblr generation in a realistic (but not cringe-y) way. She also draws in
fandoms, the perks and flaws of social media, male-female friendship,
ethnicity, sexuality and so much more and they all weave together in a very
engaging way that today’s generation will definitely appreciate. </div>
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<b><i>Radio Silence </i>is a must-read for those in their final years at
school</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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‘<i>If I didn’t get into
Cambridge, everything I had tried to be throughout my school life would be a
total waste.</i>’ – Frances, <i>Radio
Silence</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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The historical associations of Oxbridge – as the only
destination for the best and brightest – the prestige, the privilege – the confirmation
of genius, the mythical guarantee of success, it is still lorded over today’s
children. It is still the pillar against which schools measure and brandish
their greatness and often a factor in parents of a certain background selecting
the institution they wish their children to go to. But Oxbridge isn’t, or
shouldn’t be relevant anymore. The Oxbridge ideal is out of date and it’s
actively harmful to the way kids think and what they strive for. Many are
measuring their self-worth on archaic and narrow ideals. I really relate to
Frances’ plight in this regard. I think Alice is brilliant at really getting
into the very real struggle and sorrow that Frances goes through – she acknowledges
that you could argue it is coming from a position of privilege in the
first-world – that it seems selfish and ungrateful but that doesn’t mean it isn’t
any less real and important and doesn’t hurt. Frances’ quest for Cambridge and
that whole part of her experience gave me so many flashbacks and it honestly
reads so truly – I think so many people who haven’t felt understood or
represented before will feel a wave of relief when reading this book. Some teenagers
work really hard, get on with their parent(s), aren’t just interested in
parties, drinking and romance and still have an absolutely engaging and complex story to
tell. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Your whole life for about 16 years, is school, university is
the focus and end-goal imposed on you, and you so desperately want to be special
and worth something but you have such narrow parameters within which to define
that success. <i>Radio Silence</i> really
got me thinking again about those years at school, approaching university, and I
really hope that it starts a conversation in terms of the curriculum, degrees
and maybe just understanding generally what a lot of people are going through
and how we can help them. </div>
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I remember a lot of people telling me that university
was the best time of their life, and maybe that’s true for some but for others
it is a melting pot of anxiety and academic frustration and homesickness and
confusion. You could come from school where all your essays got top grades and
suddenly find yourself floundering in a place with very little guidance on
offer and which still only really rewards people who think in a certain way
(usually the way of the person marking the work, if you’re doing the
Humanities). I was also told at school that I'd really enjoy university (I studied English Literature) as there was so much freedom and I could write about whatever I wanted however I wanted. That wasn't true. In some ways I found it much more restrictive - they still wanted me to think a certain way and write in a very formulaic way and it quashed my inspiration and enjoyment and my desire to really think for myself. I still love English Literature, and I did learn new ways of thinking and was introduced to some great literature and had a couple of great professors but I also was so relieved to escape it afterwards and be master of my own learning and writing again - to try and recapture some inspiration and sense of identity. Some people find themselves, many also lose themselves – and it’s
really interesting and desperately sad to see that happen to Aled in <i>Radio Silence</i>. </div>
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I really appreciated the focus on friendship, academic life
and family. So many of these books, particularly in this age-group, get wrapped
up in romance and love-interests and it’s so refreshing not to have that –
because, personally, that wasn’t my focus at that age, and it doesn’t seem like
it’s Frances’ either – work and finding friends you can be yourself with both
feel far bigger and more intense. The platonic relationships in <i>Radio Silence</i> are so, so powerful and
moving and heart-warming that you don’t need any contrived romance plot. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The cast of the book is brilliant and diverse – but not in a
box-checking way, it's all written with so much care and attention to detail that you
feel connected to every character and you appreciate all the things that make them
unique. Alice writes so well about these things partly because she is a clever,
talented writer, and also because she is true to herself and her experience and
is living the world she is writing and reflecting on experiences that are far
more recent than an older adult thinking back and trying to make their
experience apply to today’s youth. She’s unflinchingly honest, articulate and
observant and it’s very much needed in this contemporary market. I couldn’t put
it down – I read late into the night and on the train and am still thinking
about it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The podcast narrative is beautiful and tragic and unique, as
was the look at the way people interact with their ‘obsessions’ on Tumblr – it
can be a frighteningly intense, even dangerous, place but Oseman also shows the
creativity and sense of community it can foster. You can start to understand the way people think and interact in these new ways as the world evolves and all the repercussions of those interactions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This book is a message – don’t get trapped, question
everything – question what you want and what society/school is telling you and
whether it’s right for you and be yourself because otherwise there is a lot of
suffering that you could fall into. Don’t let your school try to define you by
the universities you apply to or the subjects you study, laugh at the ones who
try to hand-pick and coach you to get into Oxbridge, just find the things and
the people you love and hold on tight. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Radio Silence</i> is
one of the books on the market that is most worth reading right now, because you
won’t have read anything like it, you won’t have met these characters before –
none of them are ‘types’ and you may even finally feel understood and able to
process the confusing and messy years of your teenage/young adult life. Even if
it’s not your personal experience or something you can relate to, it’s worth
reading to spend a few hours in the heads of these very real characters and to
see the world through their eyes. Oseman brings so many new, overlooked or marginalised voices into play and has hopefully given them a real platform in YA and it's brilliant community. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>*I received this book as an ARC for honest review on NetGalley. Thank you to HarperCollins Childrens for the chance to read it. </b></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-31123353276340030422016-01-05T13:49:00.001-08:002016-01-05T13:49:36.974-08:00Why Character Wins in Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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AKA I got excited. </div>
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You don’t just come back to Star Wars because of the
compelling/exciting plot – stripped to it’s bones it is <b><i>THE</i></b> plot. Dark vs Light.
Hero vs Villain. Father vs Son. (This is to put it all very simplistically)</div>
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You come back because you fall in love with the characters. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s what the prequels lacked for me, no one fell in love
with Anakin or Obi Wan or Padme as characters. They were fairly wooden. And I
didn’t hate those films – I found bits of them painful and the acting was
lacking but I was interested in the journey Anakin took to becoming Vader. It
could have been executed a lot better, but there were bits I did enjoy. They
lacked heart. Both The Force Awakens and the original trilogy have earnest,
excited characters with lots of life inside them that you feel protective of
and affection for. They inspired your love. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You come back for Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia.
Three icons who have endured the years.</div>
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And you will come back for Finn, Rey and Poe because they
inspire the same love that I, and you, felt for that original trio. And that is
a credit to Boyega and Ridley, who are both quite new on this stage, and Isaac
who is just stepping into these kind of action/adventure roles. Ridley must
have felt such pressure and the world on her shoulders – a female lead in a
Star Wars movie – a female with perhaps more power than perhaps any character we’ve
seen before on Star Wars… It’s brilliantly subversive and a huge task – she
would be taken to pieces if she didn’t play it well, but she does – you can see
her passion so visibly on screen. She plays it with youthful energy and wonder
and excitement – you can feel her excitement both as an actress and a character to
be part of this – and you can feel that that’s how you’d be if you were in those shoes too. </div>
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It’s the same with Finn – he seems breathlessly excited in his acting – he’s charming
and funny and you want to learn with him and Rey as they take their first steps.
Poe fits so naturally – like he was born into that role. Rey and Boyega interact
brilliantly and wittily, and it’s so fun to watch their friendship grow as they
both get thrown into these new worlds and roles. The old cast are very much
mentors and it’s great to see them again but it’s really just as exciting
spending a lot of time with Rey and Finn. Forget the ‘political correctness’
and agenda-filled debates and enjoy this because Rey and Finn have already
shown they’re so much more than that. Many of the complainers and nay-sayers have
the wrong priorities and are just voicing insecurities. These two actors and
characters are more than capable of sustaining and reviving a love for Star
Wars and what it’s always been at it’s heart.</div>
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In the same way your favourite character could be any of
Luke or Han or Leia – here you could pick almost anyone and it’s so fun to have
all these options – all different in their own way.</div>
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I LOVE Rey and I feel strongly protective of her and Daisy
Ridley – I, and probably many women who
grew up watching Star Wars and wanting to be part of it, feel such an affinity
to her and that’s already given me so much more than I hoped for from this
film. To have Rey – whose eyes light up at ships and droids and scavenging - in
a Star Wars film feels so amazing and I’m almost jealous of the young girls who
will grow up watching this and the young boys who will grow up watching her and
Finn and Poe and have them as their first point of hero. (I’m not saying Leia
wasn’t awesome – she definitely was and is – but Rey is another great character
for this generation – she is self-sufficient and proactive and in all the
action). The villains were perhaps a bit thinner but I did think Adam Driver
played some of his moments very well – you can see the conflict in him in the
big moments and hopefully his character will grow as the movies progress. Hux
was much more one-dimensional but I think this movie was more focused on
introducing the heroes and the villains will be fleshed out later (Molly Weasley
would still shut him down in a second though). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, it was nostalgic. Yes, it did replicate the plot of the
first one – but I think it did that to recapture that awe and to really show it
was going to put all its effort into launching these <b><i>characters</i></b> – because <b><i>they</i></b>
are what’s crucial. I am very much a <u>CHARACTER-</u>over-plot person – I know
that might not be the same for a lot of people – but give me good characters,
characters I care for and engage with – and I will watch the movie time and
time again regardless of plot deficiencies, wobbles and moments where I have to
suspend disbelief or ‘not-question-it’. It was the right focus for this film I
think – launching a new trilogy. And there were some moments of surprise and
nice twists and plot mysteries to carry it through too.</div>
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I needed to write this after listening to the review by <b><a href="http://talkingcomicbooks.com/category/podcast-2/" target="_blank">Talking Comics</a></b> – my favourite podcast.
They always get reviews and debates pitch perfect and they inspired all these
thoughts and this excitement to bubble up in me, so that I word-vomited this
out as soon as I got home from work. I’m so excited for this saga to continue
and just for how thrilling it is to be back on this ride with great characters
and a captivated audience. </div>
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I have several reviews and thought-pieces in the works for books by Louise O'Neill, Howard Jacobson, Victoria Aveyard, Sabaa Tahir and G. Willow Wilson (Ms Marvel!) which I will work on over the next few weeks - but this couldn't wait!</div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-67973683766506499452015-12-13T14:36:00.001-08:002015-12-13T14:36:06.001-08:00Mockingjay Part 2: My thoughts and book-to-film review...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It’s taken me weeks to get this done, even though it’s
technically only a few points and thoughts on Mockingjay Part 2. I wanted to communicate it as effectively as I could - be warned, <b><u>spoilers lie ahead. </u></b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The film is very true to the book, apart from a few minor tweaks
which are all fine and probably necessary. I actually remembered, while writing
this, something they completely changed in the first film – <u>Peeta’s leg never
gets amputated</u> in the films. Is there something a little disquieting in that? I
would like to know why, creatively, they made the decision to omit that
completely as it’s really been overlooked. Is anyone else a little bit uncomfortable
about that decision? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Otherwise, I mainly want to focus on some subtle but important changes/creative decisions in the very final scenes. In the book, the
final scene in the field is very layered and powerful – in the film, it seems
like a cashed-in chance to have a semi-happy ending with neat reassurances
(that’s slightly harsh of me, but just comparatively). I felt that in the film
this scene, and this was confirmed by the chuckles of those around me, was too
romanticised (slightly cringe-worthy). Katniss is made up and pristine, babe in
her arms. Peeta is smiling and laughing, frolicking in the grass with another
child while the sun is shining over the heavenly meadow. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is not the tone I got from the book. In the book, that ‘heavenly’
meadow is a field beneath which lie the bodies of those who died in the war. It
is noted that Katniss was reluctant to have children, remaining despondent
about the world they live in, whereas Peeta wanted to educate them about
courage and goodness. Katniss is afraid that they will have to explain about
the games – something that she can never forget. They create a memory book to
cope with the trauma and horrors that they witnessed, filling it with the good
things that people did and the people who helped them. She and Peeta rely on
each other to survive and get through – it is not so much a romantic decision
as another way to survive – they literally cannot live without the other
because they went through it together. </div>
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The
PTSD is very much ever-present and at the fore and perhaps the film could have
communicated that with a cloudier sky and sun trying to break through. These
are two people who cannot stand to continue in society – and have gone away to
heal. It is meant to be both harrowing and as hopeful as a dystopia can be when
there is no winning and only uncertainty and the hope of healing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Just look at the language used in this epilogue – Katniss is
‘<i><b>consumed by terror</b></i>’ when she becomes pregnant, it is all-encompassing and her
children later ‘<i>don’t even know they play on a <b>graveyard</b></i>’. It’s heavily
emotive, loaded word-choice. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘One day I’ll have to explain about my nightmares. Why they
came. Why they won’t ever really go away… I’ll tell them that on bad mornings,
it feels <b><u>impossible</u></b> to take pleasure in anything because I’m
afraid it could be taken away. That’s when I make a list in my head of every
act of goodness I’ve seen someone do. It’s like a game. Repetitive. Even a
little tedious after more than <b><u>twenty years</u></b>. But there are
much worse games to play.’</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s a brilliant, unsentimental final paragraph which still
manages to be satisfying while maintaining that classic dystopian bleak ending.</div>
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I also felt they didn’t need that scene with Gale raising
the issue of Katniss choosing between him and Peeta. In a way it shows his
immaturity, and the fact that he can never understand what they have gone
through, because to Katniss, that is a triviality. In truth, she wouldn’t be able to recover or deal with PTSD with
Gale, especially after the events with Prim. It’s a fact rather than a
sentimental romantic decision. They didn’t need to play up the love triangle.
For me, Gale and Peeta are – to some extent – devices to symbolise <b><u>Just War theory</u></b>. Gale is the
reckless, impulsive revolutionary who thinks the means are justified by the
ends. Book-Peeta is the voice; he is the negotiating table, the offer of bread
in the rain – he is compassion and morality. That is the triangle. And Katniss
is somewhere in between – she is survival. She wants to protect the people she
loves but still has reservations about how she does that. She is moulded and
used by those around her until she makes that final decision and act of agency,
completely by herself – to kill Coin. That is when she truly becomes an active
agent in her own right.</div>
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I’m still not completely sure it was necessary or beneficial
(besides earning a lot of money) to split the film in two. Some of the deaths
would have had a lot more impact had the narrative been allowed to flow in one
film (eg. Finnick and Prim). It lost its momentum in terms of the characters at
times. They didn’t need to make the journey through the Capitol quite so
drawn-out and games-ish. With some good editing, it could have been one
excellent film rather than two quite good ones. Talking to some people, they
didn’t really register Prim’s death – which is a moment of huge and layered
consequences. Everything that Katniss has done right from the beginning has
been for her sister – right from that first reaping. And the moment her sister
is needlessly and senselessly killed by her own side is the ultimate moment of
<i>Absurdity</i> – it’s the moment where Katniss must feel that <b>everything has been
for nothing, it’s all been a waste</b>. The girl that Gale has been watching over,
is killed by a cruel weapon of his own design. It's a brilliant and cruel twist by Collins.</div>
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‘<i>First I get a glimpse of the blond braid down her back. Then, as she
yanks off her coat to cover a wailing child, I notice the duck tail formed by
her untucked shirt</i>.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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Again, it’s very powerfully written, recalling that scene at
the first reaping – only this time, Katniss can’t save her:</div>
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<i>‘I have the same
reaction I did the day Effie Trinket called her name at the reaping. At least,
I must go limp, because I find myself at the base of the flagpole, unable to
account for the last few seconds. Then I am pushing through the crowd, just as
I did before. Trying to shout her name above the roar. I’m almost there, almost
to the barricade, when I think she hears me. Because for just a moment, she
catches sight of me, her lips form my name.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>And that’s when the
rest of the parachutes go off.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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In book and film, Katniss struggles to grieve – to feel –
until Buttercup reappears. Buttercup is the emotional trigger that Katniss
needs to break the depressive cycle – to purge herself, and it works
brilliantly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The cast was excellent – truly perfect and I don’t think any
other could have pulled it off. Lionsgate have done a great job with this
series and I just hope they don’t force a prequel or any spin-offs – I will not
watch them – this story deserves to stand alone and be taken seriously. I would
have preferred a bleaker tone to the ending in line with the book but this
remains probably one of the best book to film adaptations – particularly if
we’re going by YA book-to-film (though I’m resistant to the idea that <i>The Hunger Games</i> should be confined to
YA – it’s leagues above most of the other dystopias in there (<i>Divergent, Ember in the Ashes</i>, <i>Red Queen</i>, and many others, in terms of
layers and depth) – and I will definitely keep revisiting it. I would give the
first film 10/10 for its tension and build up and film-work. The second one
gets a 9 and Mockingjay parts 1 & 2 get a 7.5 I think, because I feel a bit
may have been lost in the two-parter format, despite some really strong
attention to detail and a big emphasis on how Katniss is used. Performances
were still brilliant. Donald Sutherland is absolutely perfect as Snow and
Julianne Moore comes into her own as Coin in Part 2. Philip Seymour Hoffman mastered the ambiguity of his character and he is a talent that the world will always miss - an incredible actor. Jennifer Lawrence is simply the best actress of her generation - she owns every film she is in. </div>
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As an additional point – it keeps grating on me that many
are still casting Katniss as the ultimate ‘kick-ass
heroine’ or ‘strong female warrior’. (Interestingly the marketing and posters for the film are exactly the kind of thing you'd think District 13 would make, which is (hopefully, if on purpose) very clever). Katniss hunts to feed her family, she
always, always tries to survive for them. That is her only motivation
throughout most of the story. She is not a revolutionary, not directly, but she
is used by them. Every time that you say that Katniss wants to lead her
district or win a revolution or assert moral leadership – you are falling for
the rhetoric of District 13, and even the Capitol, and their terms of what
makes a hero. Seeing her as a strong female action hero in that
warrior/revolutionary sense misses the point and only perceives things within
the limits of those views. She is not a hero – at least not in the way that she
is cast by them and sometimes by us. She is much more than that – she is a
flawed, human being – a woman forced to be both parents to Prim, who will
protect the ones she loves, who can be manipulated and used but who takes a
final stand against those who control her and rejects them entirely. She is a strong
because she walks away from a world stuck on repeat – where the next society
may not be any better than the last and the only promise is that of continued
manipulation and potential future violence and revenge. Her heroic traits are
that she cares about people, and her small acts of goodness are the most
powerful – her care for Rue, for her sister, her compassion and empathy for
people on either side and her willingness to consider the morality of both
sides where others wouldn’t.</div>
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<i>Mockingjay</i> is my
favourite of <i>The Hunger Games</i> books
because it really fulfils its dystopian premise and satisfyingly concludes one
of the best books ever written about war and consumerism, image manipulation,
reality TV and the cycle of violence and revenge that pervades many aspects of
human society. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-41790601567040918242015-10-22T14:07:00.002-07:002015-10-22T14:07:53.397-07:00Processing 'A Little Life' by Hanya Yanagihara <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In a BBC interview with her, prior to the Man Booker
announcement. Hanya Yanagihara spoke about her intentions when writing her
shortlisted novel, A Litte Life. In the clip, which you can see here (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p034syyk">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p034syyk</a>),
she speaks about wanting to show ‘how sometimes life is irreparable for people,
because they’ve suffered such a profound amount of damage that they’re not able
to come back from it’. In light of this approach, she further explores what it might
mean to be saved and what it might mean to have a happy ending. <o:p></o:p></div>
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With this in mind, meet Jude St Francis. Although the book
follows four friends, Willem, JB, Malcolm and Jude, it is Jude’s life which
takes centre stage and the others fade in and out over the course of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This book is both about the limits of endurance and a test
to the reader’s own endurance. It is a rolling film which occasionally stops to
focus and tell, rather than show, a chapter or a moment. It goes to some of the
darkest places imaginable and immerses you in them, repeatedly. It is a
challenge, it is not for the vulnerable and has a lot of potentially triggering
content for sexual abuse, bereavement and self-harm. It is upsetting,
distressing, depressing, and yet – there is something that keeps bringing me
back to it. I will discuss plot points which could be considered spoilers, this
review/analysis is more intended for those who have read the book and want to
join me in processing their thoughts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My marker of whether a book is good/worth reading, the
latter being the less subjective, is <span style="background-color: #ead1dc;">whether it makes me think</span>, and think hard.
Whether, the more I think about it, the more I uncover in my own mind and the
wider I can see, where new paths are open to me and I feel like I have gained
something in reading it. Obviously there are books I enjoy for other reasons,
but with literary fiction, this is more often the measure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>A Little Life</i> has
definitely had me thinking, ruminating, brooding, and it is incredibly hard to
process and find how to articulate a response to it. It was definitely worth
reading for me, but that is not to say I enjoyed the experience.<b> It is one of
the hardest reading experiences I’ve had</b>. I don’t think it’s a book you can or
are meant to enjoy. It was, in parts, arduous, sometimes repetitive,
frustrating and perhaps overwrought. Yet, it is a remarkable novel – unlike
anything else you’ll have read or perhaps will ever read. It is brave and
admirable and a work of art by an incredibly talented and thoughtful writer who
wanted to push the limits and try to explore whether someone could come back
from being so broken and having endured such extreme depravity. It had moments
so affecting and perceptive and honest, that you had to sit back in awe. It
contained multitudes. And in multitudes, there will always be good and bad. At
720 pages, the style was exacting and exhausting – but I think that’s very much
what she intended – it is essentially a character study of someone damaged in
every way possible both physically and mentally, and the people who want to
save him and bring him back from the brink. How can you save someone who is so
determined to die? And when it might be a mercy to let them? It is about the
small kindnesses in the present that must always struggle and contend with the
huge traumas of memory and flashback. <o:p></o:p></div>
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JB and Malcolm were introduced but actually were side-lined relatively
quickly and more distant as it went on. Some of the friends reached such levels
of success in their artistic careers that they became almost distant and
implausible. They had some good moments, and JB’s art certainly played a role
in exacting the emotion from different scenes. But they weren’t established as
engaging characters despite lengthy introductions. Harold was my favourite and
his relationship with Jude was the one that affected me the most. Jude met
people of such evil extremes, repeatedly throughout his life – Harold and
Willem are the two wholly, perpetually good people who hardly waver and love
him so unconditionally. Yanagihara has said she deliberately wrote the extremes
of love and unhappiness a little beyond their plausibility. It is true to say
that Jude’s relationships fall into extremes, and perhaps that is something
that can make the book seem perhaps too melodramatic at times, particularly
certain fatal events near the end. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I adored Harold and Julia and their adoption of Jude at 30,
I thought it was an incredibly hopeful and redemptive move for both parties
given their histories and it was a real point of hope and light which the story
desperately needed. I found Harold’s snippets of narration to be some of the
most engaging and perceptive. He reflected a lot on the death of his own son in
some really beautifully-written paragraphs:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘You have never known
fear until you have a child, and maybe that is what tricks us into thinking
that it is more magnificent, because the fear itself is more magnificent… I
would hold him in my arms and wait to cross the street and would think <span style="background-color: #ead1dc;">how
absurd it was that my child, that any child, could expect to survive this life’</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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And after his son has died:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘But here’s what no
one says—when it’s your child, a part of you, a very tiny but nonetheless unignorably
part of you, also feels relief. Because finally, the moment you have been
expecting, been dreading, been preparing yourself for since the day you became
a parent, has come. Ah, you tell yourself, it’s arrived. Here it is, and after
that, you have nothing to fear again.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Jude is his second chance, and even when he discovers he has
adopted a man who he is perhaps also destined to lose, he is unwavering and
constant and loves with his whole heart.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘If we were all so
specifically, vividly aware of might go wrong, we would none of us have
children at all.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Yanagihara says she hasn’t written a word since finishing this
novel, and may never write another again because of how much it took out of
her. Indeed some of the most raw, vivid and uninhibited bits of writing are in
the details of self-harm. Jude’s body is a canvas onto which all of his traumas
are etched, as if he must make himself physically resemble how monstrous he
feels. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘He is disgusted and
dismayed and fascinated all at once by how severely he has deformed himself.</i>’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘Something about the
fall, the freshness of the pain, had been restorative. It was honest pain,
clean pain, a pain without shame or filth, and it was a different sensation
than he had felt in years … He imagined he was knocking out of himself every
piece of dirt, every trace of liquid, every memory of the past few years.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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After all the psychological damage, the horrible surprises and
corruption of adult ideals and intimacies, the blunt simplicity of such
physical pain seems a refreshing alternative, both a distraction and a point of
focus. Yanagihara really gets to the heart of it in a gritty, grizzly, explicit
way that has been missing from the literary scene. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Writing this, I have also started to consider that it is
interesting that she explicitly explores male suffering. There are barely any
female characters in the book. This is probably something you could write a
whole thesis about. Julia, Harold’s wife, is the main female character I can think
of, and she has very little dialogue and presence. It is the father-figure, the
paternal role that needs to be redeemed for Jude as it is the father-figures –
who appear first as saviours – who have always turned into the perpetrators of
the most horrific abuse and violations of trust – all barring Willem and
Harold. And yet, Jude is always expecting it of them – expecting that they will
ultimately betray his trust as it has been betrayed so many times before. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Suicide and depression affect so many. But suicide is <i>the biggest killer of men under 50</i>. This
book follows one of those men who cannot see a way out, who cannot process and
cope with what has happened to him, who will not open himself to more than one
person – and that is very notable and topical and an angle that yields so much
more to think about. Jude would give anything to keep himself hidden, to keep
his suffering hidden, and he does, mostly, for his whole life. Could he have
been saved? Or is there something, a current in society or the way we live that
would have made it fundamentally impossible or implausible? I would be
interested in hearing/reading people’s thoughts on these issues. Do you think
Yanagihara explicitly wanted to focus on male emotional suffering and emotional
male relationships because they are perhaps not always honestly represented or
are under-represented? If so, then she has done a comprehensive and fascinating study
– though it is prone to the extremes. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<b>So at the end of it all, what is Jude's life worth? What are the efforts of Harold, Willem and Andy worth? </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>It's like that quote from the diaries of Anais Nin - '<i>you can't save people, you can only love them'.</i> And Willem and Harold and many more did. And they did save him repeatedly in many ways, in more ways than he ever dreamt of being saved at all. </b></div>
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There is a lot more I could say and will probably think of –
so I will perhaps add to this in the future. But for now I just want to get
some of my thoughts up and t<b>hank you to the publisher, Picador (UK) and NetGalley for the
ARC. </b>I think you need to be warned when you pick up this book, that you may not
be the same when you finish it – and whether that is for better or for worse,
is dependent on you. If there is a word to epitomise <i>A Little Life</i> in every way - it is this:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Monumental. </div>
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<b>Some of my favourite
quotes/excerpts from <i>A Little Life</i><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><i>He wished,
as he often did, that the entire sequence—the divulging of intimacies, the
exploring of pasts—could be sped past, and that he could simply be teleported
to the next stage, where the relationship was something soft and pliable and
comfortable, where both parties’ limits were understood and respected</i></li>
<li><i>It would
have been too melodramatic, too final, to say that after this JB was forever
diminished for him. But it was true that for the first time, he was able to
comprehend that the people he had grown to trust might someday betray him
anyway, and that as disappointing as it might be, it was inevitable as well,
and that life would keep propelling him steadily forward, because for everyone
who might fail him in some way, there was at least one person who never would.</i></li>
<li><i>Always,
there are people asking him if he misses what it had never occurred to him to
want, never occurred to him he might have.</i></li>
<li><i>Wasn’t it
a miracle to be adopted at thirty, to find people who loved you so much that
they wanted to call you their own? Wasn’t it a miracle to have survived the
unsurvivable? Wasn’t friendship its own miracle, the finding of another person
who made the entire lonely world seem somehow less lonely? Wasn’t this house,
this beauty, this comfort, this life a miracle? And so who could blame him for
hoping for one more, for hoping that despite knowing better, that despite
biology, and time, and history, that they would be the exception, that what
happened to other people with Jude’s sort of injury wouldn’t happen to him,
that even with all that Jude had overcome, he might overcome just one more
thing?</i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><i>If I
acknowledge that I am disabled, then I’ll have conceded to Dr Traylor, then
I’ll have let Dr Traylor determine the shape of my life. And so I pretend I’m not;
I pretend I am how I was before I met him. And I know it’s not logical or
practical. But mostly, I’m sorry because—because I know it’s selfish. I know my
pretending has consequences for you so –I’m going to stop.’ He takes a breath,
closes and opens his eyes. ‘I’m disabled,’ he says. ‘I’m handicapped’ and as
foolish as it is-he is forty-seven after all; he has had thirty-two years to
admit this to himself-he feels himself about to cry.</i></li>
<li><i>This, he
thinks, is his punishment for depending on others: one by one, they will leave
him, and he will be alone again, and this time it will be worse because he will
remember it had once been better.</i></li>
<li><i>It was
precisely these scenes he missed the most from his own life with Willem, the
forgettable, in-between moments in which nothing seemed to be happening but
whose absence was singularly unfillable.</i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><i>And
although he hadn’t fretted over whether his life was worthwhile, he had always
wondered why he, why so many others, went on living at all; it had been
difficult to convince himself at times, and yet so many people, so many
millions, billions of people, lived in misery he couldn’t fathom, with deprivations
and illnesses that were obscene in their extremity. And yet on and on and on
they went. So was the determination to keep living not a choice at all, but an
evolutionary implementation? Was there something in the mind itself, a
constellation of neurons as toughened and scarred as tendon that prevented
humans from doing what logic so often argued they should? And yet that instinct
wasn’t infallible-he had overcome it once. But what had happened to it after?
Had it weakened or become more resilient? Was his life even hiss to choose to
live any longer? He had known, ever since the hospital, that it was impossible
to convince someone to live for his own sake. But he often thought it would be
a more effective treatment to make people feel more urgently the necessity of
living for others: that, to him, was always the most compelling argument. The
fact was, he did owe Harold. He did owe Willem. And if they wanted him to stay
alive, then he would. At the time, as he slogged through day after day, his
motivations had been murky to him, but now he could recognise that he had done
it for them, and that rare selflessness had been something he could be proud of
after all he hadn’t understood why they wanted him to stay alive, only that
they had, and so he had done it. Eventually, he had learned how to rediscover
contentment, joy, even. But it hadn’t begun that way.</i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><i>And he
cries and cries, cries for everything he has been, for everything he might have
been, for every old hurt, for every old happiness, cries for the same and joy
of finally getting to be a child, with all of a child’s whims and wants and
insecurities... for the luxury of tendernesses, of fondnesses, of being served
a meal and being made to eat it.</i></li>
<li><i>That he
died so alone is more than I can think of; that he died thinking that he owed
us an apology is worse; that he died still stubbornly believing everything he
was taught about himself—after you, after me, after all of who loved him—makes
me think that my life has been a failure after all, that I have failed at the
one thing that counted.</i></li>
<li><i>‘You won’t
understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship,
I think, is to find people who are better than you are—not smarter, not cooler,
but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving—and then to appreciate them
for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you
something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be, and to trust
them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.’</i></li>
<li><i>‘Sometimes
he wakes so far from himself that he can’t even remember who he is. “Where am
I?” he asks, desperate, and then, “Who am I? Who am I?”</i></li>
<li><i>And
then he hears, so close to his ear that it is as if the voice is originating
inside his own head, Willem’s whispered incantation. “You’re Jude St. Francis.
You are my oldest, dearest friend. You’re the son of Harold Stein and Julia
Altman. You’re the friend of Malcolm Irvine, of Jean-Baptiste Marion, of
Richard Goldfarb, of Andy Contractor, of Lucien Voigt, of Citizen van Straaten,
of Rhodes Arrowsmith, of Elijah Kozma, of Phaedra de los Santos, of the Henry
Youngs. “You’re a New Yorker. You live in SoHo. You volunteer for an arts
organization; you volunteer for a food kitchen. “You’re a swimmer. You’re a
baker. You’re a cook. You’re a reader. You have a beautiful voice, though you
never sing anymore. You’re an excellent pianist. You’re an art collector. You
write me lovely messages when I’m away. You’re patient. You’re generous. You’re
the best listener I know. You’re the smartest person I know, in every way.
You’re the bravest person I know, in every way. “You’re a lawyer. You’re the
chair of the litigation department at Rosen Pritchard and Klein. You love your
job; you work hard at it. “You’re a mathematician. You’re a logician. You’ve
tried to teach me, again and again. “You were treated horribly. You came out on
the other end. You were always you.”’</i></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-23948822744105333322015-09-20T08:34:00.002-07:002015-09-20T08:34:32.665-07:00'Culture, boredom, alienation and despair': The Manic Street Preachers and 'They're Not Like Us' by Eric Stephenson, Simon Gane, Jordie Bellaire and Fonografiks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm not going to lie - what first drew me to this book,
was the fact that the<b> Manic Street Preachers</b> are my favourite band of all time –
and <i><b>They’re Not Like Us</b></i> by Eric
Stephenson (art by Simon Gane, colour by Jordie Bellaire and letters/design by
Fonografiks) contains a multitude of nods to them. </div>
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It’s an amazing feeling to
find these in art/literature as it’s usually the Manics channelling or paying
homage to others. They are definitely a literary/artistic/political band, songwriters Nicky
and Richey (some of his favourite authors were Albert Camus, Dostoyevsky, Yukio
Mishima, Arthur Rimbaud and Philip Larkin) read widely and delighted in quoting
their favourite authors and philosophers and many of their albums reference or
are inspired by art movements and paintings. </div>
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There’s a lovely, rewarding sense of inter-textuality
across culture here, with art beginning to reflect back at the Manics
themselves. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first, most blatant reference
is the title of this volume: <i><b>Black Holes
For The Young</b></i>.</div>
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This is a brilliant, psychedelic, yet fairly
obscure, song by the Manics (featuring Sophie Ellis Bextor). It’s about the
grim prospects for the future for the young when society is becoming increasingly
artificial/vacant and polluted, the tension between the urban and rural, and
the class divisions (‘<i>no sun for you young
boy’, ‘sit around in the London smog’, ‘no more feelings that you can feel’</i>). It channels the idea that the young, particularly the less privileged, are growing up to face black holes and vapid emptiness with no prospect or reward and this is certainly an atmosphere reflected in this graphic novel. <o:p></o:p></div>
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To introduce this series by the head of Image Comics, Eric Stephenson: <i>They're Not Like Us</i> sets out to tell the story of a girl with telepathic abilities, neglected by her parents, who has had enough of living. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25275114-they-re-not-like-us-vol-1"><span style="color: blue;">GoodReads blurb/intro</span></a>: <i><span style="color: #741b47;">Eisner-nominated NOWHERE MEN writer ERIC STEPHENSON teams up with red-hot artist SIMON GANE for an all-new ongoing series! We all have advantages over one another, but what if you were capable of things most of us can only imagine? What would you do – and who would you be? A doctor? An athlete? A soldier? A hero? Everyone has to make a choice about how to use the abilities they're born with... but they're not like us.</span></i></div>
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The general design and layout of
the title pages resemble some Manics album cases and booklets, especially with
the epigraph/quote at the start of each issue. The first issue is another Manics song
title: <i>‘From Despair to Where’</i> (‘<i><span style="color: #351c75;">The place is quiet and so alone / Pretend
there's something worth waiting for. / There's nothing nice in my head / The
adult world took it all away</span>’</i>). Indeed, in <i>They’re Not Like Us,</i> Syd finds this group of outsiders who resent the adult world and the way that adults, including their parents, have treated them. The lyrics in
this song are simply brilliant, some of my favourite: <i>‘<span style="color: #351c75;">outside open mouthed cows / Pass each other as if they’re drugged /
Down pale corridors of routine/ … / Words are never enough / Just cheap
tarnished glitter</span>’</i>. It can’t be called apathy because these kids do care,
they care too much, but the care has never been returned. They were not loved, because they were not understood. They are self-declared orphans. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KYAUAPB5Bg0/Vf7P8qhOI6I/AAAAAAAABO4/wFwb184agek/s1600/Photo%2B18-09-2015%2B17%2B16%2B44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KYAUAPB5Bg0/Vf7P8qhOI6I/AAAAAAAABO4/wFwb184agek/s320/Photo%2B18-09-2015%2B17%2B16%2B44.jpg" width="229" /></a>A Richey Edwards (the whole culture of early Manics and the Richey era does link nicely to the story and characters in it) lyric (featured in ‘<i>Motown Junk’</i>) opens the
second issue: <i>‘Twenty-one years of living
and nothing means anything to me’</i>, which is pretty self-explanatory. The final
words of that song are: ‘<i>we live in urban
hell, we destroy rock and roll’</i>. The area and house that the group in <i>They’re Not Like Us</i> live in epitomises that urban hell; with vandalism, violence and crime rampant. </div>
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The
lyrics ‘<i style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"><b>culture, boredom, alienation and despair</b></i>’ (from ‘<i>Little Baby Nothing’ - </i>the Manics were fighting the exploitation and abuse of
women nearly 30 years ago) should be emblazoned across the top of each page of the story. They encapsulate what it is all about, both within the story and it's overall aesthetic and references to pop culture.</div>
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The volume ends with another Richey quote: ‘<i>Find
your truth. Face your truth. Speak your truth. Be your truth’ </i>(from ‘<i>Judge Yr’self’,</i> another B-side). The arc sets up Syd's quest for her own truth and her emancipation from everything she has known. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s very rewarding to see how some of these lesser-known songs have influenced and inspired America
creator Eric Stephenson so deeply. It’s been a joy to read some of his
interviews and see that these songs have had an impact on individuals across the Atlantic.</div>
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I
suppose there are some parallels between Syd’s character and Richey but given
what little we know about Richey’s disappearance, and whether it was suicide,
it’s probably not a valuable course to pursue. </div>
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(<b>Minor spoilers ahead</b>)</div>
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When we meet Syd, she is about
to commit suicide. When a mysterious stranger shows up behind her, we perhaps think he will change her mind – but instead she plummets to the ground. Her despair is
too strong. She wakes up in hospital and the stranger (introduced as The Voice)
kidnaps her, bringing her to his house of misfits – a group of young people with abilities and a
whole lot of resentment. One member is called Wire – perhaps a nod to
Nicky Wire of the Manics, and is introduced as ‘<i>the only man I’ve met who can
honestly claim to be invulnerable’ (there you go, Nicky)</i>. At first description this sounds a bit similar to X-Men, with mutants living and being educated under the same roof by a
guardian figure like Professor Xavier and segregated by their extremes attitudes to humans. In <i>They’re
Not Like Us</i>, the Professor X figure is deeply disturbing, a man warped by his horrific past and
deeply un-trusting of anyone outside. There have only been six issues so far, so we are
still being introduced to the characters and story but The Voice is far from a
benevolent protector and this is much, much darker than any X-Men story. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://sktchd.com/interview/the-kids-arent-alright-eric-stephenson-on-the-world-of-theyre-not-like-us-and-future-of-nowhere-men/"><span style="color: blue;">one interview</span></a></span>, Stephenson spoke about an occasion where
he was mugged by a ‘<i>group of kids who seemed more interested in just giving
someone a hard time than anything else… for a lot of young people, there’s a
growing level of dissatisfaction with the world, a feeling that there isn’t
much waiting for them as they become adults … with that in mind, I started
wondering how kids with that kind of frustrated outlook might act if they were
born with abilities that made them stand out from everyone else</i>’. In the same interview, Stephenson acknowledges the comparisons to Professor X
and draws in Fagin from Oliver Twist, who ‘trained young orphans to be thieves’ (one of the characters is named Fagen). </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NK0jLSD2SOw/Vf7QOx_oqdI/AAAAAAAABPI/_wofwtGdImQ/s1600/Photo%2B18-09-2015%2B17%2B18%2B20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NK0jLSD2SOw/Vf7QOx_oqdI/AAAAAAAABPI/_wofwtGdImQ/s400/Photo%2B18-09-2015%2B17%2B18%2B20.jpg" width="300" /></a>In Volume One, we only scratch the surface with many of the characters – there is
certainly a lot more to be found out, even though we do learn about The Voice’s
heartbreaking backstory – a genuinely upsetting moment and beautifully and darkly illustrated by Gane. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This volume collects the first 6 issues of the comic, and I
think it will be a slow build. A lot of this is just getting to know the
situation and the characters and their powers and attitudes. I personally like
this because I’m all about the psyche and the character development – but others
may find the lack of plot progression disappointing. </div>
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The art grew on me over
time – at first, I didn’t think it communicated facial expressions very well,
but there are some truly inspired pages and it actually suits the tone and captures the desensitization, now that I think
back. The opening page of the first issue is stark and effective, just
showing a pair of feet on the edge of a roof. Will she or won't she? Perhaps you expect her to
be talked down from the precipice. Perhaps all your expectations will be
confounded by this story. Syd’s first line of narration reads:</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘<b>I live to fall asleep’. </b></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Despair and despondency haunt these pages and ripple outwards across the panels.
Simone Gane’s full page depictions of the house that Syd ends up living in are simply stunning. They are
impressive works of art that would sit on any wall comfortably. The panels are sometimes tinged with a reddy-brown-orange, a marker of the violent energy at the heart of the group. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ds2IPSQDYb0/Vf7QcT3KgII/AAAAAAAABPQ/R-ApTESAVUU/s1600/Photo%2B18-09-2015%2B17%2B18%2B07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ds2IPSQDYb0/Vf7QcT3KgII/AAAAAAAABPQ/R-ApTESAVUU/s400/Photo%2B18-09-2015%2B17%2B18%2B07.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Syd's telepathy and being overwhelmed by the voices in her head</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As Syd settles into the house she learns about the way they
use their powers. And it doesn’t sit comfortably with her. The group goes out
and selects a person to attack, creating an illusion for the rest of the world
to see as they do it. Granted, these people are usually perverts or miscreants,
but sometimes they just happen to be walking in the wrong place at the wrong
time – endangering the cover and anonymity of the house and those in it. They attack
‘the dregs of humanity’, the ‘simple-minded tourism and vapid consumerism’
(these could be early Manics lyrics), the ‘lemmings’, ‘sheep’ and ‘zombies’.
Even Syd, the supposed moral conscience of the group, is drawn to the rush and
release of adrenaline for a time, excited by the violence and arrogance and
sheer energy of her comrades. But throughout these issues, she struggles with
where she fits in this new world. One night she reflects that everyone has ‘capacity
for good and band’ and that her ‘whole life, <b>everyone has tried to anaesthetize the way that I feel</b>. The whole situation was totally fucked up and wrong, and
yet … maybe… I had a right to be a little bad’. The nature of evil and where it come from seems certain to be a theme that Stephenson will explore further. But the end of the comic sets
Syd on a different path, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. I am already
impatient for the next volume – and not just for the Manics references. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is the story of desensitized youth and what intolerance
and refusal to understand and empathise can do. And there’s so much more to
come. If it sounds like your cup of tea, and it won't be everyones, then pick it up and give it a try. Single issues are available in comic shops and digitally and the first trade volume is available in stores and through online retailers. I know I'll be looking out for Volume 2, and I'd be interested to hear what Manics fans, and the Manics themselves think of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-87296176690631833002015-09-02T14:30:00.000-07:002015-09-02T14:30:01.101-07:00Two of my favourite finds from LFCC: Asia Alfasi and Rachael Smith<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dDR4nRi6QRE/VeB9ewY3OEI/AAAAAAAABM4/JvDtBbKZ37E/s1600/Photo%2B28-08-2015%2B16%2B11%2B28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dDR4nRi6QRE/VeB9ewY3OEI/AAAAAAAABM4/JvDtBbKZ37E/s320/Photo%2B28-08-2015%2B16%2B11%2B28.jpg" width="240" /></a>It's taken me a while to get this posted but I just wanted to show you all a couple of little comics that I picked up at LFCC in July. One is from a creator I've been following for about a year, because of the time I spent in Libya. She is Libyan-Scottish artist/creator Asia Alfasi and is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I can't wait to read her finished graphic novels when they're ready. She is at most cons so look out for her table if you go. Another one is just a charming little book called <i>Flimsy's Guide to Modern Living</i> by Rachael Smith. It features a cat, which pretty much sold it straight away, and his life advice - delivered with humour and genuine insight! <br />
<br />
Flimsy is pretty awesome. Look at that smile. He's a little blue kitten and she's done a few mini-comics with him in his infinite wisdom. They're great on a rainy day and the advice is pretty solid. You can see more of her work (including Doctor Who cartoons) on her website:<br />
<a href="http://rachaelsmithillustration.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2015-07-29T17:02:00%2B01:00&max-results=7">http://rachaelsmithillustration.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2015-07-29T17:02:00%2B01:00&max-results=7</a><br />
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She works with Titan and does many of the comic strips at the back of <i>Doctor Who</i> single issues and was nominated in the Emerging Talent category in the 13/14 British Comic Awards. Her second graphic novel, <i>The Rabbit</i>, is out this year!<br />
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She's also illustrating a book about a boy with Asperger Syndrome called <i>Blue Bottle Mystery.</i><br />
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I also got Asia Alfasi's mini (con-only) collection called <i>Harvest</i>, which is beautiful and just makes me want an Alfasi/Ewa graphic novel soon!</div>
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The introductory story is part memoir as she comes to terms with her identity in Scotland in 1997. She is called things like 'hanky head' and accused of 'nickin' the books'. She only begins to feel at home when she is by herself with her manga, one that she'd watched years ago in Libya. It is something familiar in a new and often unwelcoming country. Rediscovering manga helped her start drawing again and won the admiration of her peers and it helped her to 'bridge relationships between a Libya lass and her Scottish peers'. Asia then inserts a statement of intent: 'my goal since has been to use this beautiful art to take part in a global cultural dialogue. Will you take part in the conversation? *smiles*' </div>
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It's charming and beautifully illustrated, a great taster that makes you want more. The middle story is <i>A Drought of Another Sort: A Silent Reflection</i> and showcases another, more sparse style. In it, a small child falls and drops their glasses. When he puts them back on the world is barren and rocky, until he finds a paintbrush which restores life and colour. The only words are 'What did you read?' - it's a lovely meditation on the power of art and creativity and how vivid and colourful it can make the world, and how it connects us to other people. </div>
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The final piece is Asia's translation and adaptation of <i>Juha: The Fantastic Tales</i> of Sheikh Nasruddin, which are traditional Middle-East folktales and often humorously portray a life-lesson. They are both funny and thought-provoking and Asia brings them to life with beautiful colour and definition. It was lovely to be introduced to some of these charming tales which I may never have come across otherwise! I would love to read more and will keep looking out for her at cons. I definitely recommend you do too - art is the great communicator and can enlighten us so much. </div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-59668664807843695152015-08-28T08:08:00.000-07:002015-08-28T08:09:08.883-07:00Fear and Phobia: 'Everything is Teeth' by Evie Wyld & Joe Sumner<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was lucky enough to win a copy of <i><b>Everything is Teeth</b></i> by
Evie Wyld and Joe Sumner from Cape Graphic Novels/Vintage at PRH. I was drawn
to it because, as a girl, Evie Wyld was fascinated by/obsessed with sharks and
there are points in my life when I have been too. It’s a weird curiosity - one merged
with fear and horror and awe and respect and it was only a while ago I began to
realise how much this ‘fear’ had been shaped by twisted portrayals in the media
and film – all from a very deliberate fear-mongering, self-interested, human
perspective. People are infinitely scarier, infinitely crueller and infinitely
more senseless than sharks and always will be. The things we do to the world around us, and to sharks, are infinitely worse than those they 'do' to us. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everything is teeth and everything can hurt us.</td></tr>
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Sharks, unfortunately, evoke many of the states
that makes us afraid – being unexpectedly dragged down, alone in a wide
expanse, at the mercy of nature and in an environment of which we’ve barely
scratched the surface. These ideas, suspicions and nightmares overtake reality.
The sea is a space on earth where man has been unable to stake his claim and
power and domination – it is beyond our control and comprehension. </div>
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This graphic novel is a memoir of Evie’s childhood, divided between
Peckham and Australia and is illustrated brilliantly by Joe Sumner. He
interweaves a couple of different styles – with the stark photorealism of the
sharks and the horrific, gruesome injuries sustained by shark attack survivor Rodney
Fox, and simple cartoonish depictions of the human characters and settings. The
colour palette is predominantly black and white, while the Australian
landscapes are sometimes tinted with a weak but warm yellow and the shocking
crimson of blood. For me, the photographic quality of the sharks is a brilliant
contrast to everything else – they are what is most real and vivid and show how
our fears can be more sharply defined than reality. Their realism also cements
them as the focus and fixation of young Evie, their clarity is a strange kind
of relief against the more subtle emotional undertones of her life. One of the
facts that most fascinates Evie is that shark skin is serrated, capable of
cutting you on its own, brushing against you by accident. They are both a grand
metaphor for fear and loss but also intrinsically important in themselves.</div>
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This is generally quite a subtle and quiet book, the more
important things are left unsaid but linger beneath the surface. There are
hints of difficulties within the family, her father comes across as an
isolated, disconnected character and her brother returns from being bullied at
school, comforted only by her shark stories. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Throughout the narrative, this question is at the heart: are
sharks fantastical man-eating monsters or innocent creatures who seek survival
like all other life forms? <o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the most affecting pages is an image of a beached
shark, <i>‘fat with young’</i>, and when cut open, ‘<i>they lie in dead rows. They look
like puppies, soft and smooth and slippery</i>’. Young Evie cradles one of the pups
as her uncle disassembles the carcass. Nothing needs to be said, as the
undertones are in the striking visuals and the short, descriptive sentences.
Evie admits that she feels worse ‘t<i>han when, in order to accommodate the new
microwave, the pet goldfish were poured into Peckham Rye pond</i>’. This time the
trail of blood is of their own making and exploitation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Every time her family venture into the sea, Evie cannot help
but envisage a scenario where they are eaten and taken from her – a hint at
that fear of death and loss that sits quietly in the story. My favourite
illustrations are those where Evie is walking down a street or across a field,
and a shark is ever present in the background – even as she sits on the sofa,
lies in her bed or washes in the bath. In a series of panels, cartoon Evie
morphs into a shark herself. It’s the quiet image always at the back of her
brain that seems to colour every experience. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Evie comes to realise that, it’s somewhat natural to be afraid of sharks
because we are afraid of death, but death is not all that they are. She accepts
that Rodney Fox went into the sea of his own accord and knew the risks and
rather than running away in fear – she seeks to learn and understand more about
the thing that’s made her afraid – to stare it in the face long enough for it
not to control or dictate the rest of her life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I would love for sharks to be explored more fully in
literature and art, rather than simply as monsters and killing machines, Evie’s
memoir is a really interesting exploration of her own journey from fear to
acceptance. It’s a quiet book, with no dramatic climax, and no argument beyond
the subtle inflections of the imagery and words, but it’s one that lingers in
your mind and will leave you scratching at the surface, wanting to know more and better understand what it is that you're really afraid of. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-32000921776961599102015-08-08T05:00:00.000-07:002015-08-08T05:00:07.976-07:00Review: 'All The Bright Places' by Jennifer Niven<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Busy-ness means it’s taken me a while to get round to
reviewing <b><i>All The Bright Places</i> by Jennifer Niven</b>, even though the thoughts have been in my head since I finished
it a few weeks ago. I really, really
admire Jennifer Niven and her reasons for writing the book. The author’s note
is amazing. I think it’s definitely a valuable one for teens and young adults
to read – especially with the growing attention to mental health and suicide
amongst young people, particularly male. Suicide is the leading cause of death
in men under the age of 35 (Department of Health, 2005) and it’s something that
we need to understand and empathise with in our literature, for all ages. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t27KCcjsD6M/VcSD1vSssaI/AAAAAAAABKo/u-0F8UmHzVM/s1600/jennifer%2Bniven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t27KCcjsD6M/VcSD1vSssaI/AAAAAAAABKo/u-0F8UmHzVM/s200/jennifer%2Bniven.jpg" width="200" /></a>Niven’s descriptions and cataloguing of inner thoughts are
very good and very human, this is the real strength of the work. I found it
much harder to relate to and engage with the dialogue (and the names were very <i>The Fault In Our Stars</i>). The dialogue is
all very neat, idealised and poetic – it’s lovely but not necessarily
believable or relatable. It’s the kind of dialogue of metaphor-heavy,
star-crossed lovers that you would find in a John Green book, which doesn’t sit
so well with who either character really is and what they’re going through. I
just felt it sometimes relegates Violet and Finch to the quirky, artistic,
offbeat romantic heroes, without the edge and depth and reality that you see in
their inner-thoughts. There is a disconnect there which I couldn’t quite get
over. Finch was an interesting character but I felt that Niven created him very
much as an ‘other’, that quirky artiste figure/romantic hero, which is
absolutely fine but I hope that there are more characters in YA who struggle
with very real things who don’t have to be outlandish and ostracised, and you
could spend more time in their head and their experience of daily life. Of
course, Finch is very memorable the way he is. I just worry these characters
will feel fake and distanced from the experience of teens reading this and
going through similar things. It’s not all poetry, it can be gritty and messy
and confusing – particularly falling in love when you’re going through
something like this, which can be the most terrifying, self-doubt and
paranoia-inducing thing.</div>
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There are definitely some quotes in this one that will stay
with you. Finch’s fixation on Virginia Woolf was really intriguing and that
line from her letters is very affecting –<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘You have been in
every way all that anyone could be… if anybody could have saved me it would
have been you’ <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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My favourite, though, is Violet’s observation – <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from bookemoji.com</td></tr>
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<b>‘<i>What a terrible
feeling to love someone and not be able to help them</i>.’</b> That’s one of the
best and most perceptive lines in relation to mental illness and the
frustrations and helplessness that come with it. The people who are left behind
are often left to wonder if they could have done more, and sometimes the simple
truth is that there is nothing they could have done. It’s like that Anais Nin
quote – ‘<i>you can’t save people, you can only love them’</i>.</div>
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Also, as Finch notes:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>‘<i>The problem with
people is they forget that most of the time it’s the small things that count</i>’</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Great YA Quote Board <br />on Pinterest</td></tr>
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The little acts of kindness and support can be the most
vital. I’m really glad Jennifer Niven had the chance to share this story with
the world, it will definitely add to an important dialogue and I have a lot of
respect for it, despite some of my qualms. Those criticisms are probably some
of the things that have helped it to sell well and appeal and get this subject across to a
larger audience. She is definitely a very talented writer and this is a book
well worth reading for anyone as they grow up in this day and age.</div>
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Some other favourite quotes:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>“Before
they can start in on Finch, and the selfishness of suicide, and the fact that
he took his life when Eleanor had hers taken from her, when she didn’t get a
say in the matter-such a wasteful, hateful, stupid, thing to do - I ask to be
excused.”</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--> “<i>It's my experience that people are a lot
more sympathetic if they can see you hurting, and for the millionth time in my
life I wish for measles or smallpox or some other easily understood disease
just to make it easier on me and also on them.”</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">-</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">“</span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">I know life well enough to know you can’t
count on things staying around or standing still, no matter how much you want
them to. You can’t stop people from dying. You can’t stop them from going away.
You can’t stop yourself from going away either. I<b> know myself well enough to
know that no one else can keep you awake or keep you from sleeping</b>.”</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0Northern Europe53.120405283106571 -3.164062536.217706783106571 -44.4726565 70.023103783106563 38.1445315tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-78005005091171478502015-07-22T14:54:00.002-07:002015-07-22T15:16:11.586-07:00'They were never little to me ... and they're not temporary anymore': The pursuit of meaning in Scott McCloud's 'The Sculptor'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><b>The Sculptor</b></i>, by Scott McCloud, is hands down the <b>most extraordinarily
powerful and resonant graphic novel I’ve ever read </b>– in fact, it’s probably one
of the most powerful pieces of art/literature I’ve ever seen/read. It’s a look
at aesthetics and the arts through an existential lens - the indifference of
the universe to one man’s dreams and the senselessness of some of the things
that life throws at us.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They were never little to me...</td></tr>
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I came to this book because of <b>Steve Seigh on Talking Comics</b>
(Issue #172 of the Podcast) – he just talked about it in the most evocative way and I knew that it was something I had to read for myself.</div>
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The book's tagline has a few issues, I feel it almost misrepresents it as a boy meets girl
cliché. It’s not like that at all. It’s about discovering what actually matters
in life and the <b>very real consequences of our decisions </b>and the sacrifices we
make. It goes to very dark places. It’s not sugar-coated in any way and Scott McCloud follows through in a
tragic, harrowing but also beautiful and uplifting way. </div>
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The relationship between the protagonist, David, and the girl who tells him '<i>everything will be okay</i>', Meg, is
dark as both parties are flawed – David is very self-absorbed as he’s been so
completely alone for so long, while Meg struggles with a deep and dark
depression. David has to empathise and be there for someone else for the first
time in a long time –and she fights him furiously. Though she first appears to him as an angel acting in an art installation, singling him out, he must come to see her as the flawed, beautifully broken and complex human being beneath that angel 'do-gooder' exterior. </div>
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Steve talks about how he read this book till 3 o’clock in the
morning, from cover to cover, because he ‘could not put it down’ – I don’t think
this is a book you will ever truly put down. I still pick it up and look
through the pages and the final panels still make me very emotional. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As a budding sculptor who had been hyped growing up,
everyone expected big things of David, he never quite achieved them. When the
bills start stacking up and his landlord’s had enough – David finds himself in
the depths of despair and hopelessness. He faces the very real questions:<o:p></o:p></div>
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What would you give to be remembered? For your art to ‘mean
something’? To make a mark?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CLMfZSnuGDk/Va_cGdcx3lI/AAAAAAAABJs/d3xU7x51C7s/s1600/Photo%2B21-07-2015%2B13%2B38%2B51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CLMfZSnuGDk/Va_cGdcx3lI/AAAAAAAABJs/d3xU7x51C7s/s200/Photo%2B21-07-2015%2B13%2B38%2B51.jpg" width="150" /></a>David has no one in the world… <b>he’d give his life. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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From that moment, he is granted the power to sculpt anything
with his bare hands – and 200 days to do it in - 200 days to live.<o:p></o:p></div>
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During those 200 days David has to confront the<b> vagaries</b> of
everything he thought he wanted – what does it even mean to ‘mean something’ or
to ‘make a mark’? Who exactly is it he wants to remember him? Does that
collective entity/audience even exist? What is it that he has to sculpt?<br />
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It is harder than he imaged to find that one thing to share
with the world to make it all worth it. When he meets Meg he is inspired by
her, by the woman who shows him attention and makes him feel worth something,
he wants to share what means the most to him. It’s a very complicated and
meaningful relationship that builds between them and McCloud does it very well
and creates very deep and complex characters. <o:p></o:p>The things that matter are the small, fleeting moments that don't seem big at the time but they're the ones to hang on to - the moments of clarity and contentment - the ones that people may overlook or take for granted, the underrated kindnesses and individual points of meaning that make no impact on anyone else.<br />
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Anyone’s who has studied art or been involved in the art
community will really identify with this book – it takes a long hard look at
the art community and the whims and prejudices artists must contend with – the sense
of utter powerlessness that so many feel and the difficulty in standing out. </div>
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N.B. My favourite film from the last year - <i>Whiplash</i> - kind of explores similar issues in the music world; issues like that danger of having a single vision and the things you can lose along the way = perhaps you lose more than you gain in the pursuit of brilliance. However much you come to respect them - neither of the main characters in <i>Whiplash</i> are very balanced or likeable, but you kind of recognise their ambition and understand what they're after - it's one of the great issues and battles of human existence - to chase greatness and to perhaps find you're chasing a red herring. </div>
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The artwork/illustration is spectacular with its melancholy palette
of blues, blacks and whites. The expressions of the characters and composition
of each scene are so involving and powerful. It’s cinematic and free form and
you feel the clock ticking and the growing sense of mania and urgency – the ending
is bleak, perhaps cynical in some ways, but it all follows through so perfectly and the whole story is brilliantly executed. I don’t
want to give too much away but I want everyone to read this book and feel what I
felt. You are very much missing out if you don't, this is one I'll treasure for the rest of my life. </div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-24498385658165875812015-07-08T05:00:00.000-07:002015-07-09T08:37:45.890-07:00'That's right... just a girl': Adventures in the comic book universe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I've been exploring the comic world with the help of the amazing<b> Talking Comics</b> crew and their podcast (<b><a href="http://talkingcomicbooks.com/">http://talkingcomicbooks.com/</a>)</b>. The comic book/graphic novel world would be an infinitely more overwhelming place without them. </div>
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There's so much I want to read and I started with some of the female-led superhero comics because it tied in to a lot of research I did around my university dissertation and has been a way into a universe I now want to explore more widely. I am very excited for the <b><i>All New, All Different Avengers</i> </b>and for <b>Miles Morales </b>taking over as the main Spiderman. I think the Batman universe is always dark and compelling and I am looking forward to reading some <span style="background-color: #ead1dc;">Indie graphic novels like <i><b>Sculptor </b></i>by Scott McCloud and <b><i>Russian Olive to Red King</i> </b>by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen </span>(both recommendations by Talking Comics). In the meantime, here are my initial favourites: </div>
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1) The new <b><i>Thor</i> </b>series by Jason Aaron has definitely been my favourite series to follow and got me interested in a character and world that I could never relate to before. Don't underestimate what Aaron has done - and it's paying off. This series has sold huge numbers and the 'twist' in who is beneath the helmet was magnificently pulled off and fit so well in the universe and the history. It didn't feel gimmicky or contrived. The colours and art have been sensational, making this book a visual treat and it would be well-worth your time and money picking up the trade. I can't wait to read more of this character's story, I hope she sticks around. There was a lot of 'female-solidarity' in Aaron's writing, which was very pointed and loaded. I think it had it's place because of the huge controversy over this character existing at all, but now hopefully this Thor can have her own story and firmly individual character - the reveal provides a great foundation for this and thoroughly integrates it. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stunning and colourful spreads</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'You have never met another Thor like me... <br />
this is not the end of my story'</td></tr>
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2) The first couple of volumes of the Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang run on <b><i>Wonder Woman </i></b>were superb. They made some bold moves and have created the definitive Wonder Woman for me (it looks particularly great compared to what the Finch's are doing now). I just hope they can find the right creative team again for her in the future. She is an exceptionally powerful woman but with strong compassion and integrity. She is physically strong, good at focusing her emotions and fiercely protective and caring over those close to her. She looks athletic and formidable and is rooted in her culture and mythology in a way that makes a lot of sense in these issues. I would recommend reading at least the first two trades of Azzarello and Chiang's run for a rich and layered look at the character and her context. I loved seeing her in London too!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'I won't be bound that way to any man'</td></tr>
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3) <i><b>Spider-Gwen</b></i> didn't hit the heights I'd hoped in it's first 5 issues but the previews for the Autumn look promising. One thing I think the Amazing Spiderman movies did well, was re-establish the character of Gwen Stacy and build on her. She was proactive and resourceful and hugely impressive intellectually - she was Peter's superior in so many ways. Emma Stone brought a warmth to the character which really reminded me how cool and unique she is. So I really want <i>Spider-Gwen</i> to expand on that and fulfil her potential. I love the costume design - the colours are vibrant and highly stylised. I just want them to do more in establishing her as Gwen first. Initially she just had the same snark as Peter and could almost have been any girl. I really want her to be a force of personality with that scientific/intellectual fervour too. I want to recognise her as Gwen more - but also for her to build on the Gwen that has existed before and continue making her unique and awesome. I don't imagine Gwen just being spider-snarky, but having, perhaps, a more composed sense of humour in some ways. It's obviously just the beginning though, and she's in good hands. Again, this has to be more than a gimmick - I want it to take itself seriously and really grab this character by the horns.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'I'm 'just' a girl'</td></tr>
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<i><b>Silk</b> </i>is another interesting and diverse spider-verse character to look out for in her solo series. Like <i>Spider-Gwen,</i> this is just getting started - and it has perhaps started more effectively by focusing on the character and building from there. She is an Asian-American spider-woman who has spent years locked in a bunker, convinced she was a threat and emerges to find no trace of her family or the life she knew before. </div>
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I loved 'Year One' of <i><b>Injustice: Gods Among Us</b> </i>- I think it could have stood alone as just that year as I haven't felt so invested in the following Years. It was a powerful alternative take on the DC heroes and their relations and had a really compelling dystopian AU narrative which was genuinely shocking and incisive in its explorations of power and consequence. </div>
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My boyfriend got me Volume 5 of the Gail Simone <b><i>Batgirl</i> </b>run, which I also really enjoyed. I need to explore that story more because it was incredibly striking and dark. This is obviously just a start and my opinions are still forming as I explore this world and it's history. I am looking forward to reading more <i><b>Captain Marvel</b></i> and <b><i>Ms. Marvel</i> </b>as well as branching out into some Indie books. I'm also collecting <i>Secret Wars</i>! I will let you know what I think. For now - <i>Thor</i> is an absolute must. </div>
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Let me know what you think and any recommendations you may have! Happy to hear about any and everything! And <b>follow me on Bloglovin by clicking the links to the left! </b></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-56663970160506240132015-06-22T03:30:00.000-07:002015-06-22T11:20:01.092-07:00Review: 'Love May Fail' by Matthew Quick<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OIB4ZQ-UJ4A/VYctti4ehhI/AAAAAAAABDw/BhZdI0UDOjQ/s1600/lovemayfail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OIB4ZQ-UJ4A/VYctti4ehhI/AAAAAAAABDw/BhZdI0UDOjQ/s400/lovemayfail.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
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<b>*I received this book as an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review</b><br />
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<i>'Love may fail, but courtesy will prevail.' </i>- <i>Jailbird</i>, Kurt Vonnegut</div>
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This is the first chance I’ve had
to write this, even though I finished Matthew Quick’s ‘<i>Love May Fail’</i> in a few days almost as soon as I received it
through Netgalley. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I enjoy reading Quick’s work
because he uses a unique blend of themes that really speak to me; whether it’s
<b>mental health, the role of parents and teachers, of love and relationships and
pain and betrayal</b> – he does it all in a very particular, quirky (Quick-y) style which blends the humorous
and ironic (without belittling anything) with heartbreaking situations and
broken, eccentric/flawed characters. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Portia Kane is having a meltdown. After escaping her cheating husband
and their posh Florida life, she finds herself transported back home and back
to square one. In need of saving herself, she sets out to find and resurrect a
beloved high-school English teacher who has retired after a violent incident in
the classroom.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>But she quickly learns that it's not a one-woman job. Luckily she meets
a few people on her journey. Can Chuck, the handsome brother of Portia's old
school friend, together with a sassy nun and a metal-head little boy, help
Portia's chances in her bid for renewed hope in the human race? </i>(from http://www.panmacmillan.com/book/matthewquick/lovemayfail)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Oddly I read the blurb of the
book and it sounded like everything I’d normally avoid (cliché romantic comedy), even the title would
usually turn me off, but I know better with Matthew Quick – I know that I’ll
always find something of what I’m looking for in his books. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>Love May Fail</i> has Camus, Bon Jovi (‘<i>Ah, bullshit. Eighties hair metal was fun. It’s still fun. God, I miss
guitar solos. Where did those go? They were like the orgasm of the song. Why
would you ever cut those out? What do teens even do in mirrors now if they
can’t play air guitar?</i>’) Dead Poet's Society and Ernest Hemingway
references, which are enough to win me over any day and Quick has cited all these as influences in many interviews. The plot is contrived at points and heavily dependent
on suspension of disbelief and coincidence but Quick’s writing is intelligent
and inter-textual and taps into sides of humanity that don’t get explored
enough. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My favourite of his books remains <i>Forgive
Me, Leonard Peacock</i> but <i>Love May Fail</i>
is another, sometimes trying, but ultimately thought-provoking adult novel. There
are times when Portia felt like a bit of a parody of herself, but switching
between different character perspectives ultimately balanced out the different
characters’ eccentricities and gave just enough of their inner-workings. As
someone who grew up in the <i>Gossip Girl</i>
generation, however, the name Chuck Bass always made me double take. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My favourite part was the story
of Mr Vernon (and his dog, Albert Camus) and the impact he had on Portia. I was
less interested in the love story, though Chuck, as a recovering addict and
father-figure to his nephew, was a compelling character on his own. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Mr Vernon<i>: ‘You gotta believe once in a while, kids. That’s what I’m trying to
tell you here. The world will try to crush that belief out of you. It will try
its damnedest. ‘If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to
kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one
and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not
break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave
impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but
there will be no special hurry.’ Does anyone know who wrote that?’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Portia: ‘<i>Ernest
Hemingway. It’s from A Farewell To Arms. We read it Sophomore year.</i>’ <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Mr Vernon attempts to make his students understand the cost
of being strong, and tells them that one day they will all understand. He certainly experiences such a cost (this could be
seen as paralleling the fate of Mr Keating in <i>Dead Poet’s Society</i> – perhaps this is one interpretation of what
could have become of a man like Keating after), in a senseless, unprovoked
attack by a student which leaves him broken and damaged for the rest of his
life. It is this Mr Vernon that Portia has to try and restore. A depressed and
suicidal alcoholic, who names his dog Albert Camus. In a darkly comic scene,
the dog jumps to its death from his apartment window – what Mr Vernon
interprets as an act of suicide. There is something of the Camus-ian anti-hero
in Mr Vernon at this point, a quality of the Meursault – as he wonders ‘<i>if it’s wrong to miss my dog much more than
I miss my mother</i>’ (he finds out his mother, who’s letters he has never opened,
has died). Mr Vernon’s thinking is consumed by a grim strand of the Absurd (see in relation to Camus) – a dark
embrace of the futility and irrationality of his existence and a step away from
society’s emotional standards and claims on him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It is this that Portia must contend with, as if somehow
saving Mr Vernon will save a whole group of students who have also made mistakes or had accidents and suffered.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Portia: <i>‘FUCK YOU, you
have a responsibility to your students! FUCK YOU, you have a responsibility to
yourself!’</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Mr Vernon: <i>‘Why?’ I
yell. ‘Why? If you can tell me, I’d be most grateful. I was just a high school
English teacher. No one cared! No one at all! The world does not give a flying
hoot about high school English teachers! Why do I have a responsibility to
anyone? What responsibility do I have?’</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Portia: <i>‘To be a good
man! Because you changed the lives of many kids. Because we believed in you!’</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Both are guilty of extremes of thinking – Portia is full of
a romantic idealism – a belief that a kind of adoration or love between teacher
and students will prevail, while Mr Vernon has fallen into apathy and
Absurdism, believing only in love's failure.</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MKro3iLnKeM/VYct85f8sWI/AAAAAAAABD4/x81HK20WGMQ/s1600/quick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MKro3iLnKeM/VYct85f8sWI/AAAAAAAABD4/x81HK20WGMQ/s320/quick.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I particularly like that Quick (a former teacher himself) acknowledges
the role of a teacher who positively impacts their students – so many of his
books make the case that such teachers can save lives, without even being aware
– they change worlds and mould minds. They matter and often they can go their
whole lives without realising just how much. Portia’s quest is an admirable
one, to give this gift to the teacher who helped her. Too often in society, the
voices of appreciation and the simple acts of gratitude are lost in the focus
on the negative and the extreme or people simply forget to express positive feelings that seem small in the moment. The pivotal roles that teachers can play are
expressed also in the personal lives of Leonard (in <i>Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock</i>) and Portia here. Both need the
surrogate paternal figures, and what other source is it to come from – with varying
degrees of absent parents and the majority of their formative years spent in
school?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In a great interview with Mountain X (I will reference this
a few times, all Quick quotes will be from here: <b>https://mountainx.com/arts/matthew-quick-delights-and-devastates-in-latest-novel-love-may-fail/–</b>)<b> </b>Quick spoke about how he tried to
channel his ‘<i>inner Mr. Keating’, ‘with no
real life experiences to back my claims</i>’ and then left teaching ‘<i>completely burned out and dangerously
depressed’</i>. He also speaks about the parts of the ‘<i>teacher/student relationship’</i> that he finds fascinating:<i> <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: #ead1dc;">‘It gets frozen in
time. I eternally think of my former students as teenagers, even though some of
them are in their thirties now. They have careers, houses and children of their
own. And they think of me as a teacher even though I haven’t written a lesson
plan or graded a test in more than a decade. I’ve given talks at the high
school I attended as a teenager and I still can’t call my former teachers by
their first names. I don’t think I ever will be able to do that.’</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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In the same interview, Quick alludes to a comment once made that his <i>‘characters take turns in rescuing each
other.’ </i>This certainly plays out in <i>Love May Fail</i>, as there seems to be a
cycle of rescue attempts and fails and people trying to do their best in
difficult situations – it is all emphasized by each switch in perspective. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In her attempted rescue of Mr Vernon, Portia wants to fulfil
some of her childhood fantasies: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>‘When I was in your
class I used to pretend you were my father, because I never had one—and if I
got to pick, I would have wanted a father exactly like you. I used to fantasize
about you taking me places like the Mark Twain House and teaching me about
great writers, the way other fathers might teach their sons about baseball
players at the ballpark. And now we’ve been to the home of a famous writer
together. It’s kind of like a childhood dream come true for me’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Even Chuck recognises the power of such a figure as a
constant:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>‘He’s been my one
constant since I quit heroin, and a constant is a powerful thing’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is ‘<i>Romantic’</i>,
in a ‘<i>wonderfully platonic way’</i>, as
Mr Vernon muses, ‘<i>the former student
returning after all these years to save the grizzled teacher who has suffered
calamity and given up hope –it’s poetic, but it’s simply not real life’</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Instead, Portia and Chuck must find something of that
inspirational time with the old Mr Vernon in each other, and their bond grows
from the shared memory of those formative years and the teacher who inspired
them. Their grand gestures for Mr Vernon fail to have the desired effect, and when
he runs away in fear – both must face the question: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>‘What do you do when
the person you admire most literally turns his back on you?’ <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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The answer is, muddle through, put your heart and soul into
something worthwhile and hope it pays off in the end. For Portia, it is to
write the novel she’s been meaning to, and to make it a tribute to the teacher
who kept her going. This is where the title has such resonance – Quick has
talked before about the influence of this quote (taken from the beginning of
Vonnegut’s <i>Jailbird</i>: ‘<i>Love may fail, but courtesy will prevail’</i>),
and Vonnegut in general, on him. For Quick, this quote embodies the notion that<b> <i>‘small, simple things save us in the end’</i></b>
(<b>see Mountain X interview</b>) – perhaps not the grand, memorable gestures but the
quiet acts of gratitude and care – the smallest courtesies done with sincerity.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>‘Some students beat
the hell out of you with a baseball bat, and some students save you by writing
novels. And <u style="background-color: #fff2cc;">we’ve got to thank our saviour </u>no matter how many times we feel
attacked and broken, because we damn well need them. So that’s what today is
about. Thank you, Portia, for Love May Fail’</b><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Love May Fail</i> is
heart-warming, moving, funny, dark and full of small, simple feats of impact and it resonates on an individual and human scale. </div>
</div>
Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-36650175788304760912015-06-14T08:40:00.003-07:002015-06-14T11:06:05.884-07:00Game of Thrones, Series 5 Episode 9 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>‘The Dance of Dragons’</u></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Series 5, Episode 9</u></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>*Spoilers ahead*, only read on if you’ve seen the episode.</u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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I know I’ve fallen behind and so I am only going to briefly
talk about episodes 7 and 8 before I get on to episode 9, which has more
material and compelled me to write more. 7 & 8 were pretty mixed. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My discussion points from <b>episode 7 </b>– again, it’s hard to
stomach Sansa’s plight. She is locked in her chamber and visited nightly by
Ramsay. Sophie Turner is brilliant again but every avenue of hope is ripped
away from her character in this episode. Brienne spends a good thirty seconds
staring into the distance. As if they haven’t made joke enough of the Sand
Snakes, Tyene beseeches a dying Bronn to tell her she’s the most beautiful girl
in the world, flashes him and then gives him the cure to the poison she
infected him with. I don’t really know why any of this happens. It wins dumbest
scene of the episode. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dany and Tyrion scenes, even though they haven’t met quite
yet in the book, are really good – they have a great dynamic and seem to be
developing a mutual respect. This is a change that has made sense so far and is
working well for the development of both. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><u>Now for Episode 9:</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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As the episode begins, Stannis’ camp is in bad shape.
Melisandre looks on as tents burn, and she kind of looks expressionless and
like she’s made of plastic. Which she could. Cause she has no soul. But sadly
she doesn’t melt. In the book, the ordeal of Stannis and his army is still
going on and is much more drawn out – here it is heavily simplified and rushed
through as if the showrunners are just impatient to get it out of the way.
Frustratingly, Stannis doesn’t listen to Davos – the only person giving him
good advice, and sends him back to the Wall to ask for supplies. Bad things
happen when Davos isn’t there and this is no different. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jon brings the surviving Wildlings back to the Wall, only to
have Ser Alliser glare down and make him sweat/freeze a bit. Jon Snow, in this
episode, is like a cupcake – gaining more frosting as it goes on. Ser Alliser
eventually lets them in but there are clearly tensions in the camp and it’s a
‘frosty’ welcome. Haha. Ha. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Before he leaves, Davos asks Stannis to let him take Shireen
with him. Stannis insists that ‘his family stays with him’ and this is when I
know that the very unsubtle hints of horror and manipulation throughout the
season are about to come true. Watching this episode for the second time just
lays bare all the emotional manipulation, which I optimistically mistook for
characterisation, that this series has been in terms of Stannis and Shireen.
Even a scene like Davos giving Shireen a wooden stag now seems cheap and tacky.
This storyline has been so condensed and accelerated now that it seems even
more contrived. I know that George RR Martin supposedly told the showrunners
something like this would happen – but I don’t see how it can happen in a way
like this – because Stannis is hundreds of miles away from Shireen in the books
(she stays at the wall), and in a sample chapter from Winds of Winter, he has
this exchange with a knight:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘<b>It may be that we
shall lose this battle … in Braavos you may hear that I am dead. It may even be
true. You shall find my sellswords nonetheless.’<o:p></o:p></b></i></div>
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<i><b>The knight hesitated. ‘Your
grave, if you are dead –‘ <o:p></o:p></b></i></div>
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<i><b>‘—you will avenge my
death, and seat my daughter on the Iron Throne. Or die in the attempt.’</b><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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Which is a very different sentiment to ‘burn my child’. The way
it could be done differently, which might make more sense – is if Selyse and
Melisandre do it against his will or without his knowledge. It doesn’t lessen
the horror but makes more character consistency sense.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In the show Davos, leaving, tells Shireen: <i>‘I’ll want to
hear all about the dance of dragons when I’m back’</i> – which are the kind of
weighted last words usually saved for Starks. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Prince Duran Duran in Dorne has invited everyone round for
tea. Jaime secures Bronn, Myrcella (and Trystane’s) voyage with him. I have a
feeling the Sand Snakes, if Ellaria has changed her mind, might have something
to say about this (a way to incorporate part of Myrcella’s book storyline
maybe?). Jaime allows Bronn to get a deserved elbow in the face. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In Braavos, Arya spots Ser Meryn Trant – who his having to
endure Mace Tyrell’s random bursts og song. ‘Oysters, clams and cockles’ very
quickly becomes infuriating and makes me claw at my ears. I can still hear it
now. Arya follows Meryn into a brothel for our weekly brothel scene. This gets
randomly more disturbing as the show has decided to make Meryn a paedophile,
who will only accept a girl who looks barely a teenager. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Ellaria reswears her allegiance to Duran Duran and becomes
much more like the Ellaria of the books – counselling Jaime, telling him that
she knows he probably had nothing to do with Oberyn’s death and even drops in
some relationship advice - ‘<i>we love who we love’.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Stannis visits Shireen’s room, muttering some drabble about ‘<i>sometimes
a person has to choose. Sometimes the world forces his hand … he must fulfil
his destiny</i>’. Shireen just asks if she can help, which is a big mistake. The
innocent and the honourable often suffer the worst fates in Game of Thrones.
Shireen is led out, clutching her little stag and looking confused. As she
realises what is happening, she screams for her parents. Watching her mother
crack is one of the hardest bits. As the flames start, Selyse shoves Stannis
aside and runs for her daughter – as if she’s just snapped out of it and
remembered she is a mother. She collapses as guards hold her back and my heart
breaks. It’s heart-rending and often they would end the episode on a moment
like that, but this time we switch to the grand opening of the fighting pits.
Which it’s quite hard to care about right now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Dany decides she quite likes smart-talking Tyrion, who
issues a series of put-downs to her irritating husband. Because you can’t keep
a good Jorah down, he pops up to fight again. I think even Dany is beginning to
admire his persistence. After successfully laying the smackdown on every
challenge, Jorah launches a spear through a Son of the Harpy who is about to
stab Dany. Apparently there are thousands of them, just to add to the drama.
Hizdahr, even though he’s been acting suspiciously, doesn’t last long. Jorah offers
Dany his hand, which I really hope doesn’t give her greyscale, and they hop
down into the pit to try and escape.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tyrion saves Missandei. Missandei saves Tyrion. But the Sons
of the Harpy have them all surrounded, even as Jorah and Daario single-handedly
hold off hundreds. A big army of Unsullied would be really useful right now.
Seriously, where are they?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Missandei and Dany hold hands and share a moment of ‘<i>we’re
going to die but at least we’re together’.</i> That is, until Dany’s ride shows up
and she jets on out of there. Harsh, Dany, harsh. At one point Drogon breathes
his stinky dragon breath in her face and then squeaks adorably. This is all kind
of epic and true to <i>Game of Thrones</i>.
Even with some dodgy effects this is pretty impressive and a nice way to end
the episode. She is now just about completely caught up with her book story and
I think events in the finale will match more closely to what we know from the
books for certain characters. For others, I think it isn’t hard to guess the
trajectory they will take. Dany’s future though, is harder to predict, and I just hope that <i>Winds of Winter</i> arrives in the next couple of years.</div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609164772240320905.post-89383475170192179492015-04-09T09:16:00.000-07:002015-04-09T09:16:17.156-07:00'Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds...': Women and Mothers in George RR Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I've had this in the works for a year or so. My ambition with this blog just kept growing until heights
became unreachable. To do this comprehensively is just too big a task for right
now so it is going to be more of an opinion piece supported by what research I
have managed to do.</div>
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What I have written is shorter, simpler but still researched
and something that I can build upon in the future. It centres upon two of my ‘favourite’
female characters in <b>George RR Martin’s <i>A
Song of Ice and Fire</i> series: Catelyn Stark and Cersei Lannister. </b>As usual
these ‘favourites’ of mine are much maligned by a lot of the readers and
show-watchers. I’m also aware that when citing ‘good female characters’ in <i>Game of Thrones</i>, many would
automatically think about Daenerys, Brienne or Arya – all who are ‘good’, or ‘badass’,
in very overt ways. I love Brienne and Sansa, and like Arya and Daenerys, but
they are quite easy to like and engage with as a reader – and I like a
challenge. Daenerys, Arya and even Brienne all gain a certain degree of
independence outside the moulds of society, determining their own path by
fortune and by their own design. Catelyn and Cersei are, in some ways, more…
troubling, and certainly more trapped. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">There will be spoilers for show-watchers, so I would only
read on if you have read the books, know plot and character details or aren’t
bothered about knowing since they may not be included in the show anyway. </span></u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Catelyn and Cersei appear to be on opposite sides and become
enemies: Stark vs Lannister, honour vs dishonour, good vs evil, North vs South
etc. Upon closer inspection, they parallel each other in many regards. They are
united by a simple fact: they will do anything to save their children. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Anything</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Through all their apparently warped, and sometimes murderous
actions (particularly Cersei), both are driven by tragedy, loss and a feeling
of powerlessness because of their sex and roles as wives (not necessarily by
choice) and mothers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The show has its own interpretation of the characters, which
is just that, an interpretation. And there are times when it strays from the
source material but Lena Headey and Michelle Fairley are both fantastic
actresses who, I think, do understand their characters and play them well. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Particularly in her point-of-view chapters in <i>A Feast For Crows</i>, the reader can see
just how paranoid Cersei is and how haunted and affected she was by a prophecy
she was told as a young girl. The prophecy she must live with is enough to
drive her mad – as she is told that<b> she will outlive all of her children</b> (‘<i>Gold shall be their crowns and gold their
shrouds … and when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his
hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you’</i> FFC, 611),
endure an adulterous husband and will lose her power and status. She must live
every day of her life, raising her children, knowing/fearing that they will die
before her and there is nothing she can do to stop it (‘<i>Queen you shall be … until there comes another, younger and more
beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear’</i> FFC, 610). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Catelyn, too, thinks that she has outlived all, or nearly
all, of her children (she does not count Jon as one of them). She believes Bran
and Rickon to be dead, Arya to be lost/dead, Sansa in the clutches of the
Lannisters and witnesses Rob’s own horrific murder. In the books, as opposed to
in the TV show, she releases Jaime Lannister after hearing of Bran and Rickon’s
apparent deaths, believing Sansa to be the only child she could possibly get
back. (The show often omits details which seem small but actually radically
alter or disrupt the continuity and character development, Robb is understanding
of her motives in the books). In terms of their children, Cersei and Catelyn
both seem doomed to suffer the worst as mothers.</div>
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The show has kind of broken my heart by apparently, so far, omitting
Lady Stoneheart (Beric Dondarrion gives his ability to Catelyn when he finds
her body in the river, and resurrects her as a mute, deformed living corpse).
This storyline extension is one that takes part of womanhood – or of
motherhood, in the wake of such horror – to a next stage which deserved to be
seen. I am not saying I want Stoneheart for a cheap revenge narrative, but
because she could come to stand for so much more. Catelyn was always a leader
in life, her sex just didn’t allow it, she acted as advisor to Rob and stood by
his side as a duty, rather than remaining in Winterfell to mother Bran and
Rickon. Her most important warnings go unheeded because no one takes her
opinion as ‘emotional’ woman and mother, seriously enough. I would like to see
her lead the Brotherhood and where that storyline goes.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FYeG8ka7dBU/VSajes0H6hI/AAAAAAAAA3g/c1OLpYtcKeQ/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FYeG8ka7dBU/VSajes0H6hI/AAAAAAAAA3g/c1OLpYtcKeQ/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" height="183" width="320" /></a><b>Valerie Estelle Frankel, in her book <i>Women in Game of Thrones: Power Conformity and Resistance</i>, </b>writes
of Lady Stoneheart as a ‘female monster’ (145). She is ‘the lady who was once
highborn, conformist, lovely, well-spoken and proper has become her own shadow,
a monster that lurks in the wild and subverts the patriarchy as a fearsome
outlaw’ (145). She argues that such ‘female monsters produce shock, not because
they are unusual… but because of their unwomanly conduct. With their immorality
and amorality, they challenge human conventions’. Lady Stoneheart certainly
conducts herself with a sense of amorality, in what we see of her. She is
bloodthirsty and willing to hang Brienne and Podrick for their links to those
who sinned against her. Estelle Frankel also alludes to a trope of folklore in
which ‘women die powerless, betrayed by men, and then rise as monsters’ (146) –
which aligns with the events of the Red Wedding and its aftermath. Stoneheart
thus becomes an ‘outlet of female power’ and a representation of the ‘outcast’
(146), who can finally come back and challenge all the norms and standards of
the world that trapped and pillaged her. She is finally unleashed as a warped
but individual and independent woman, who could potentially be involved in the
power play of Westeros.</div>
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By the end of <i>A Dance
With Dragons</i>, nearly all of Cersei’s family ties are dissolved as well. She
has been reduced to beast and outcast after her walk of shame and time in captivity
– it will be interesting to see how that has changed her in <i>Winds of Winter</i>. It may create a
Stoneheart out of her, having to fight for herself and rebuild her own world. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The show captures some of Cersei’s anger at being stuck as a
woman in a man’s world (as cited by Estelle Frankel), as she sees it, which appears
many times in the books. In episode 4 of series 3, she rallies against Tywin:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘Did it ever occur to
you that I am the one that deserves your confidence and your trust? Not your
sons. Not Jaime or Tyrion, but men. Years and years of lectures on family and
legacy … Did it ever occur to you that your daughter might be the only one
listening to them, living by them, that she might have the most to contribute?’
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This parallels a quote from <i>A Feast For Crows</i>, where Cersei rises in the wake of her father’s
death:<o:p></o:p></div>
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‘<i>Cersei did not weep,
no more than her father would have. I am the only true son he ever had</i>.’
(FFC, 54)<o:p></o:p></div>
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And this remains one of my favourite scenes from the series:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZKgxzW4J3o">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZKgxzW4J3o</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘<b>Everywhere in the
world they hurt little girls</b></i><b>’</b> Series 4, Episode 5. Lena delivers that line
so beautifully. It’s a little different to the book material but I think it
ties in to Cersei’s mothering side and how hard it was for her when Myrcella
was sent away. Perhaps part of her is playing Oberyn, to win him to her side,
but I am certain there is something genuine in this scene too. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Her love for her children, whatever delusions accompany it,
is certainly there in the books. Joffrey’s death is much more poignant in the
book (on a separate note, so is Ygritte's - so moving) – even narrated by Tyrion, who, in that moment, sees just a <b>scared
thirteen year old boy</b>, not a tyrannical menace: <i>‘the boy’s eyes met Tyrion’s. He has Jaime’s eyes. Only he’d never seen
Jaime look so scared. The boy’s only thirteen. Joffrey was making a dry
clacking noise, trying to speak. His eyes bulged white with terror … “Nooo,”
Cersei wailed, “Father help him, someone help him, my son, my son…”’ </i>(Storm
of Swords Part 2, 257) and then ‘<i>When he
heard Cersei’s scream, he knew that it was over… His sister sat in a puddle of
wine, cradling her son’s body. Her gown was torn and stained, her face white as
chalk … it took two Kingsguard to pry loose her fingers’</i> (258). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Furthermore, unlike in the show, Jaime is not present at the
wedding and Cersei can only describe it to him later: ‘<i>If you had seen how Joff died… he fought, Jaime, he fought for every
breath … He had such terror in his eyes … When he was little, he’d run to me
when he was scared or hurt and I would protect him. But that night there was
<b>nothing I could do</b> … Joff is dead and Myrcella’s in Dorne. Tommen’s all I have
left.</i>’ 429<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is Cersei at one of her moments of most profound and
utter powerlessness. The inability to protect and save her child causes her
immense grief and parallels Catelyn’s in the moment she kills Walder Frey’s
wife, only for him not to care. Both are devastated by their own inability to
save the ones they love. Both, driven mad by it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_jO5hqGYkUc/VSajdMq19CI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/h7zUqcsROY8/s1600/4.2.Cersei.crying.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_jO5hqGYkUc/VSajdMq19CI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/h7zUqcsROY8/s1600/4.2.Cersei.crying.png" height="200" width="320" /></a>In <i>A Feast For Crows</i>,
Cersei is intensely protective of Tommen. When a sip of wine goes down the
wrong way, she has a kind of panic attack and shows her true vulnerability:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>‘My son is safe,
Cersei told herself. No harm can come to him, not here, not now. Yet every time
she looked at Tommen, she saw Joffrey clawing at his throat. And when the boy
began to cough the queen’s heart stopped beating for a moment. She knocked aside
a serving girl in her haste to reach him. … “I’m sorry, Mother,” Tommen said,
abashed. It was more than Cersei could stand. I cannot let them see me cry, she
thought, when she felt the tears welling in her eyes. She walked past Ser Meryn
Trant and out into the back passage. Alone beneath a tallow candle, she allowed
herself a shuddering sob, and another. A woman may weep, but not a queen.’ (</i>FFC,
202)<o:p></o:p></div>
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She vows that no harm will come to him while she lives, she
will ‘<i>kill half the lords in Westeros and
all the common people, if that was what it took to keep him safe’ </i>(613). While
Cersei’s point-of-view chapters don’t always do much to characterise her beyond
her manipulations and schemes, she has moments of tenderness that we have not
been privy to before:<br />
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<i>“I will break my fast
with the king this morning. I want to see my son.” All I do, I do for him.
Tommen helped restore her to herself. He had never been more precious to her
than he was that morning, chattering about his kittens as he dribbled honey
onto a chunk of hot black bread fresh from the ovens… I was never so sweet and
innocent, Cersei thought. How can he ever hope to rule in this cruel realm? The
mother in her wanted only to protect him; the queen in her knew he must grow
harder, or the Iron Throne was certain to devour him” 661-2<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Certainly she is a warped character – as a daughter of Tywin
Lannister, she was bound to be to some extent. She recognises her own youthful naivety in Sansa Stark and both punishes her and tries to protect her from it. But she is intelligent, fierce
and protective – though she often channels these parts of herself in
destructive ways. They are traits that Catelyn shares. Both make mistakes, they
are human, but they are both far more complex women than they initially seem
and of immense value to Martin’s writing. They deserve to be taken a little
more seriously by watchers and readers – and show-runners. A character like
Cersei, perhaps not always deserving of sympathy, still deserves an attempt at
empathy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Additionally, I would like to say that the series’ apparent
omission of Arianne Martell is perhaps one of its most blatant disservices to
women. One of the wonderful aspects about Dorne, which Oberyn tries to explain
to Cersei in that scene I included, is that gender does not matter in terms of
hierarchy – women can rule and be heirs – they can fight and hold their own,
even the ‘bastards’ (see the Sand Snakes, Oberyn’s ‘bastard’ children). Arianne
is the heir to Dorne. Yet the showrunners have appeared to erase her and
transferred her status to a male character who is frankly not that interesting
in the book. This is even more annoying given that she is going to a
point-of-view character in <i>Winds of
Winter</i>! Arianne, Stoneheart/Catelyn and Cersei, even a character like Val
the wildling princess, would, if all featured in the TV show, have been complex
female characters involved in the power play of Westeros – two, at least, in
charge of men.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rs5z25lXHuQ/VSajdkm0tFI/AAAAAAAAA3U/k6qEI_QX9PY/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rs5z25lXHuQ/VSajdkm0tFI/AAAAAAAAA3U/k6qEI_QX9PY/s1600/download.jpg" /></a>I do watch the show and have enjoyed it – brilliant casting,
acting, settings, effects - but it does have its failings. I think some,
completely made up, brothel scenes could be sacrificed – and I’m not convinced
Talisa was a great character addition when they somehow made the Red Wedding
even more horrible by having her stabbed in her pregnant stomach… Some of their
creative decisions have not made sense (Tyrion and Jaime parting on good terms,
then Tyrion going on a murderous rampage?!). I know it’s an impossible job to
maintain consistency and continuity when condensing books of these sizes into a
ten episode season of a one hour TV show, but Ros and Talisa are hardly more
interesting than an Arianne or a Stoneheart, or even Tysha. Still, showrunners have
said not to judge until they have finished their story, so we shall see how it
plays out. In the meantime, I await the Winds of Winter with great interest. I
thoroughly recommend readings the books for the immense plot and character
detail that are there – it is a lot more rewarding. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Full Citation for Valerie Estelle Frankel:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><u>Women
in Game of Thrones: Power, Conformity and Resistance by Valerie Estelle Frankel.
North Carolina: McFarland & Company inc., 2014<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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Katrinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07481141507382827457noreply@blogger.com0