Nalo Hopkinson – Sister Mine
What a brilliant start to my no-white-dudes-of-specfic year! Anyone who reads these knows how much I adore the placing of old tradition in modern contexts, and Hopkinson does not disappoint. The vibrancy of Afro-Caribbean spirituality makes even this sad, redemptive story hum with the sheer joy of living, a contrast so thematically appropriate I am convinced it is intentional. Maybe I am losing my disdain for first-person narrators, too, because here again the approach feels so necessary. Messy and unapologetic stories about sisters: this book was always going to be a hit for me, but it’s carried off so well that it quite frankly should be a hit for everyone.
What a brilliant start to my no-white-dudes-of-specfic year! Anyone who reads these knows how much I adore the placing of old tradition in modern contexts, and Hopkinson does not disappoint. The vibrancy of Afro-Caribbean spirituality makes even this sad, redemptive story hum with the sheer joy of living, a contrast so thematically appropriate I am convinced it is intentional. Maybe I am losing my disdain for first-person narrators, too, because here again the approach feels so necessary. Messy and unapologetic stories about sisters: this book was always going to be a hit for me, but it’s carried off so well that it quite frankly should be a hit for everyone.
Eli Brown – Cinnamon and Gunpowder
I don’t know whether I am truly enamoured of the story, or of the food it describes. One of my big depression symptoms is that I stop being able to think of things to cook, and this book set me on fire with ideas and, more importantly, the want to execute them. What a precious gift. Seriously, though, one of the best uses of a first-person, diary-style narrator I’ve read in a long time, and an excellent plot, and just the right amount of everything I love (a badass, justice-hunting, food-loving, mom-to-everyone pirate queen? Found family dynamics at every turn? A hulking enforcer with an instinct for cannon warfare who also knits? Serious critique of colonialism on every page without sounding preachy?) to seem like this book was made for me.
I don’t know whether I am truly enamoured of the story, or of the food it describes. One of my big depression symptoms is that I stop being able to think of things to cook, and this book set me on fire with ideas and, more importantly, the want to execute them. What a precious gift. Seriously, though, one of the best uses of a first-person, diary-style narrator I’ve read in a long time, and an excellent plot, and just the right amount of everything I love (a badass, justice-hunting, food-loving, mom-to-everyone pirate queen? Found family dynamics at every turn? A hulking enforcer with an instinct for cannon warfare who also knits? Serious critique of colonialism on every page without sounding preachy?) to seem like this book was made for me.
Hannu Rajaniemi – The Quantum Thief
Well good grief. Hard SF is one of my favourite things, especially because, unlike really involved fantasy, it never seems to care about explaining itself. Being lost and seeing the world come into sharper and sharper focus with each page is one of my favourite things about the genre, and Rajaniemi has an exquisitely deft hand. The conceptual work is mind-boggling, the plot and characters hold their own extremely well, and the writing itself is just delicious. Switches in style depending on viewpoint, subtle but definitely there, and the threads of everything coming so harmoniously together only to be broken apart? Clearly I have to devour everything this man has written.
Well good grief. Hard SF is one of my favourite things, especially because, unlike really involved fantasy, it never seems to care about explaining itself. Being lost and seeing the world come into sharper and sharper focus with each page is one of my favourite things about the genre, and Rajaniemi has an exquisitely deft hand. The conceptual work is mind-boggling, the plot and characters hold their own extremely well, and the writing itself is just delicious. Switches in style depending on viewpoint, subtle but definitely there, and the threads of everything coming so harmoniously together only to be broken apart? Clearly I have to devour everything this man has written.
N.K. Jemisin - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Jemisin says that she writes in a non-traditional voice, using non-linear time, and compares this aspect of her writing to the novelties of fanfiction. I have to agree, lover of fanfiction that I am, that she takes what is best of the genre and works it into a splendid novel. It is predictable in its unpredictability, full of deliciously atypical archetypes and a metahistorical sense that greatly appeals to me. I have trouble with first-person narrative, though, so I was not entirely enthralled, despite the fact that her narrative conceit is an absolutely brilliant piece of foreshadowing.
Jemisin says that she writes in a non-traditional voice, using non-linear time, and compares this aspect of her writing to the novelties of fanfiction. I have to agree, lover of fanfiction that I am, that she takes what is best of the genre and works it into a splendid novel. It is predictable in its unpredictability, full of deliciously atypical archetypes and a metahistorical sense that greatly appeals to me. I have trouble with first-person narrative, though, so I was not entirely enthralled, despite the fact that her narrative conceit is an absolutely brilliant piece of foreshadowing.
N.K. Jemisin - The Broken Kingdoms
And again, what marvelous dexterity in storytelling. Jemisin has a way of giving everyone a second chance, of making the world deeper by reminding us all that there is no such thing as the ultimate evil. This is not the usual logic of narrative, and I love it. Again, the first-person conceit is important to the narrative as a whole, and I do like that the colour of the voice is different. I like all the elements of this story, actually, but I do not think I love any of them.
And again, what marvelous dexterity in storytelling. Jemisin has a way of giving everyone a second chance, of making the world deeper by reminding us all that there is no such thing as the ultimate evil. This is not the usual logic of narrative, and I love it. Again, the first-person conceit is important to the narrative as a whole, and I do like that the colour of the voice is different. I like all the elements of this story, actually, but I do not think I love any of them.
N.K. Jemisin - The Kingdom of the Gods
Okay, no, this one I love. I love the emptiness of change, how Jemisin skates along fundamental alterations and shows them to be necessary evolutions. I love the narrator's voice, the hard things and the happy things and all the bittersweetness woven through. I love that Jemisin is more than ready to shatter the world she has built in order to make something new from its ashes; I do not know if I know other authors who could be that brave.
Okay, no, this one I love. I love the emptiness of change, how Jemisin skates along fundamental alterations and shows them to be necessary evolutions. I love the narrator's voice, the hard things and the happy things and all the bittersweetness woven through. I love that Jemisin is more than ready to shatter the world she has built in order to make something new from its ashes; I do not know if I know other authors who could be that brave.
N.K. Jemisin – The Awakened Kingdom
What a lovely novella! What a...disconcerting note for this particular author to strike. I have a hard time accepting the extremity of a matriarchy, even though she does show shades of it in the previous trilogy. I have a very hard time with using this mirror to highlight the ridiculousness of the patriarchy in the rest of this world, because it is...I don't know. It feels off. I don't like it. I do like the narrative voice, and I do like the arc of the story, but...disconcerting.
What a lovely novella! What a...disconcerting note for this particular author to strike. I have a hard time accepting the extremity of a matriarchy, even though she does show shades of it in the previous trilogy. I have a very hard time with using this mirror to highlight the ridiculousness of the patriarchy in the rest of this world, because it is...I don't know. It feels off. I don't like it. I do like the narrative voice, and I do like the arc of the story, but...disconcerting.
Tracy Guzeman - The Gravity of Birds
I am speechless. I am speechless, my eyes are wet, my heart, my physical heart, feels the kind of way it does not usually, not from books. This is my first impression. I ran here to record it, but I cannot think yet. Later, I will write: how do you describe something that has become everything? Physical and emotional pain layered and woven and carefully, perfectly broken into small pieces and put back together in new and unsettling shapes. Nothing ever coming right, everything sitting just adjacent of being made whole again, loss and betrayal and betrayal and loss and never being able to fix the things that you have fractured, and all shown in such simple, poignant language. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful.
I am speechless. I am speechless, my eyes are wet, my heart, my physical heart, feels the kind of way it does not usually, not from books. This is my first impression. I ran here to record it, but I cannot think yet. Later, I will write: how do you describe something that has become everything? Physical and emotional pain layered and woven and carefully, perfectly broken into small pieces and put back together in new and unsettling shapes. Nothing ever coming right, everything sitting just adjacent of being made whole again, loss and betrayal and betrayal and loss and never being able to fix the things that you have fractured, and all shown in such simple, poignant language. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful.
Gigi Levangie Grazer - Seven Deadlies
What a clever, fun book! I really enjoyed the conceit, I really enjoyed the stories, the narrator's voice was rich and well-executed, and all of the characters breathed the kind of unreal life that comes when the narrator is aware of the crafting of her story. The epilogue was unnecessary, and destroyed so much of what I enjoyed about the book, and all for what? For an edgier, spookier turn? I enjoyed the carefree tale-spinning on its own, the idea of an imagination run away with itself, the idea that these absurd things might just even be true.
What a clever, fun book! I really enjoyed the conceit, I really enjoyed the stories, the narrator's voice was rich and well-executed, and all of the characters breathed the kind of unreal life that comes when the narrator is aware of the crafting of her story. The epilogue was unnecessary, and destroyed so much of what I enjoyed about the book, and all for what? For an edgier, spookier turn? I enjoyed the carefree tale-spinning on its own, the idea of an imagination run away with itself, the idea that these absurd things might just even be true.
Carol Cassella - Gemini
A mystery, a romance, small-town America, modern-day. None of these are things I like, but I was struck by this book. It is perhaps that I have been in a space where I needed to know that the things you think are going to work are not, that there are too many contingencies, that things are never perfect. It is perhaps that I have needed to know the difference between the types of love that the character whose life is told in flashbacks finds. It is perhaps that I have needed to broaden my horizons and say that stories of found family, of loves lost and lies forgiven, are the ones that touch me most, regardless of genre or setting or only mediocre dialogue.
A mystery, a romance, small-town America, modern-day. None of these are things I like, but I was struck by this book. It is perhaps that I have been in a space where I needed to know that the things you think are going to work are not, that there are too many contingencies, that things are never perfect. It is perhaps that I have needed to know the difference between the types of love that the character whose life is told in flashbacks finds. It is perhaps that I have needed to broaden my horizons and say that stories of found family, of loves lost and lies forgiven, are the ones that touch me most, regardless of genre or setting or only mediocre dialogue.
Mary Renault - Fire from Heaven
I should not be shocked at how refreshingly frank and open I find Renault's writing, not after having read this many books. But I am – I still am. I am in awe, as always, of her research, of her lyricism, of how brilliant she is at showing character and narrative development in subtle ways without ever losing clarity. I enjoyed her Alexander, perhaps all the more because I was taking a more academic look at Ferdowsi's at the same time, and I enjoyed how she positioned him as the central character while simultaneously making REALLY central the way others around him thought and talked about him. How do you write about someone's life whilst still keeping them a mystery? This, this is how.
I should not be shocked at how refreshingly frank and open I find Renault's writing, not after having read this many books. But I am – I still am. I am in awe, as always, of her research, of her lyricism, of how brilliant she is at showing character and narrative development in subtle ways without ever losing clarity. I enjoyed her Alexander, perhaps all the more because I was taking a more academic look at Ferdowsi's at the same time, and I enjoyed how she positioned him as the central character while simultaneously making REALLY central the way others around him thought and talked about him. How do you write about someone's life whilst still keeping them a mystery? This, this is how.
Agatha Christie – Thirteen Clues for Miss Marple
One of my dearest friends is so entirely like Miss Marple that I always get a more-than-I-probably-should kick out of reading her. This particular set of short stories were devious and bite-sized, and served up precisely the kind of logical twists that I enjoy in small doses; I find my problem with detective novels is that the writing isn't good enough to make the Grand Reveal worthwhile, and I get bored of the suspense. But short stories! And Christie, obviously.
One of my dearest friends is so entirely like Miss Marple that I always get a more-than-I-probably-should kick out of reading her. This particular set of short stories were devious and bite-sized, and served up precisely the kind of logical twists that I enjoy in small doses; I find my problem with detective novels is that the writing isn't good enough to make the Grand Reveal worthwhile, and I get bored of the suspense. But short stories! And Christie, obviously.
Cixin Liu – The Three-Body Problem
Firstly, Ken Liu is an EXCELLENT translator. Secondly, Cixin Liu is an absurdly good writer. I started this book on my morning commute and could not put it down all day; I got no work done because I couldn't read quickly enough to satisfy the hunger. Hard sci fi is some of my favourite, and the philosophical questions posed at the fringes of science, the ethical questions posed by humankind's continued existence on this planet, the sheer breadth of Liu's conceptual work, and the astonishingly delicate, poetic nature of his writing (astonishing because it is not something I am accustomed to in hard SF), the moral complexity and profound humanness of his characters...this is, I immediately knew, a book worth re-reading, and worth recommending to everyone.
Firstly, Ken Liu is an EXCELLENT translator. Secondly, Cixin Liu is an absurdly good writer. I started this book on my morning commute and could not put it down all day; I got no work done because I couldn't read quickly enough to satisfy the hunger. Hard sci fi is some of my favourite, and the philosophical questions posed at the fringes of science, the ethical questions posed by humankind's continued existence on this planet, the sheer breadth of Liu's conceptual work, and the astonishingly delicate, poetic nature of his writing (astonishing because it is not something I am accustomed to in hard SF), the moral complexity and profound humanness of his characters...this is, I immediately knew, a book worth re-reading, and worth recommending to everyone.
Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart
Such heaviness! I think this book was almost more gripping for the way Achebe understand the loss that comes with change. All of his characters go through the process of changing and losing, and all of them experience a different facet of it, so that the book represents a whole spectrum of grief. There is a sense of inevitability, too, that he so carefully puts across, and that his characters seem to feel without ever explicitly being described as doing so. What mastery! What art! I don't think I have ever been so drawn into characters lives in such a short space of pages.
Such heaviness! I think this book was almost more gripping for the way Achebe understand the loss that comes with change. All of his characters go through the process of changing and losing, and all of them experience a different facet of it, so that the book represents a whole spectrum of grief. There is a sense of inevitability, too, that he so carefully puts across, and that his characters seem to feel without ever explicitly being described as doing so. What mastery! What art! I don't think I have ever been so drawn into characters lives in such a short space of pages.
Magnus Flyte - City of Dark Magic
Oh man this was definitely the most bizarre sort of rom-com, and I'm not sure what kind of fiction it was but it was weird and it was fun and it was a hell of a romp. The pseudo-science underlayer and the very clear association that the author has with actual academics were most of the fun; I found the dialogue a little forced at times, the characters uninspiring (except a few of the minor ones), and the plot of the story overall nothing terribly special. But it was fun, and light, and I learned some things about Beethoven and Prague!
Oh man this was definitely the most bizarre sort of rom-com, and I'm not sure what kind of fiction it was but it was weird and it was fun and it was a hell of a romp. The pseudo-science underlayer and the very clear association that the author has with actual academics were most of the fun; I found the dialogue a little forced at times, the characters uninspiring (except a few of the minor ones), and the plot of the story overall nothing terribly special. But it was fun, and light, and I learned some things about Beethoven and Prague!
Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake
Oooooooof. Firstly, MAtwood, congrats on your amazing post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel (I’m still bitter about the whole speculative fiction thing, can you tell?). The slow reveal here was really well handled; Atwood is many things as a writer that I do not always like, but she is also a master of pacing. I loved Snowman as a perspective character, and I really enjoyed the meta-structure, where the plot for the character and the plot for the audience were different entities. What an accomplishment! I don't know that I feel particularly compelled to read the rest of the series, but I did like this installment quite a bit.
Oooooooof. Firstly, MAtwood, congrats on your amazing post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel (I’m still bitter about the whole speculative fiction thing, can you tell?). The slow reveal here was really well handled; Atwood is many things as a writer that I do not always like, but she is also a master of pacing. I loved Snowman as a perspective character, and I really enjoyed the meta-structure, where the plot for the character and the plot for the audience were different entities. What an accomplishment! I don't know that I feel particularly compelled to read the rest of the series, but I did like this installment quite a bit.
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
What an astonishing, heartbreaking book. What matter-of-fact-ness, what deft use of first-person narration and the agonisingly slow reveal, what a treatise on innocence and the cost of knowledge. Abruptly ended? Perhaps; I thought so as the big reveal conversation happened that I wish it didn't feel quite so much like an illustration that could be used in a "show, don't tell" this-is-what-not-to-do. But the characterisations were excellent, the explorations of love and hope and relationship were handled very well, and the overall universe felt so real, so just a sidestep away from normalcy, that I greatly enjoyed the parsing of it. A stellar read!
What an astonishing, heartbreaking book. What matter-of-fact-ness, what deft use of first-person narration and the agonisingly slow reveal, what a treatise on innocence and the cost of knowledge. Abruptly ended? Perhaps; I thought so as the big reveal conversation happened that I wish it didn't feel quite so much like an illustration that could be used in a "show, don't tell" this-is-what-not-to-do. But the characterisations were excellent, the explorations of love and hope and relationship were handled very well, and the overall universe felt so real, so just a sidestep away from normalcy, that I greatly enjoyed the parsing of it. A stellar read!
Dara Horn - All Other Nights
What a well-paced book! The main character was also enjoyable to read, as I rarely find male protagonists, and the plot intriguing. While the prose was nothing special, the seamless flows between descriptive and dialogue were a treat, and the main character's development was astonishingly good. The background characters (most of them women) were unfortunately much less developed, and definitely didn't have storylines that did not serve to feed into the main character's, but that is more of a flaw in afterthought than one I noticed while reading.
What a well-paced book! The main character was also enjoyable to read, as I rarely find male protagonists, and the plot intriguing. While the prose was nothing special, the seamless flows between descriptive and dialogue were a treat, and the main character's development was astonishingly good. The background characters (most of them women) were unfortunately much less developed, and definitely didn't have storylines that did not serve to feed into the main character's, but that is more of a flaw in afterthought than one I noticed while reading.
Guy Gavriel Kay - Children of Earth and Sky
This is the third Kay novel I read as soon as it was released, and the most disappointing, I think. I like three things about Kay novels: the intricate plot that successfully weaves together multiple storylines into an unexpected and devastating climax, the immediately emotionally impactful characters, and the beauty of the prose. Children had none of those. The prose rang hollow, no poetic sensibility behind it, and I didn't even once (as I usually do at least once a chapter with Kay) find a phrase or a sentence so beautiful I had to read it again for sheer aesthetic pleasure. I did not find myself caring about any of the characters (and have a LOT of things to say about the unfortunate effect of having no main characters, no sympathetic characters, be from the stand-in for the Ottoman Empire, thus setting up an unfortunate tacit approval of the Christian European position), and the only emotional resonances came from scattered references to the Sarantine Mosaic. I always enjoy Kay's female characters – he is one of the few male specfic authors who can write women at all – but both female leads here were one-dimensional and ultimately served as the romantic prizes of two main male characters. And, the cardinal sin: there is no plot. There are scattered storylines, none of which really come together in any way more than incidentally; I cannot, even now, identify the climax; and the last third of the book is more or less individual chapters describing what each character does in the end of their story. None of whom, I will remind you, the reader has been made to care about. At the end of the day, as I said to my fiance, two books out of thirteen that are disappointing is still not bad. It does make me sad, though, because I had looked so very forward to this return to my favourite of my favourite author’s worlds.
This is the third Kay novel I read as soon as it was released, and the most disappointing, I think. I like three things about Kay novels: the intricate plot that successfully weaves together multiple storylines into an unexpected and devastating climax, the immediately emotionally impactful characters, and the beauty of the prose. Children had none of those. The prose rang hollow, no poetic sensibility behind it, and I didn't even once (as I usually do at least once a chapter with Kay) find a phrase or a sentence so beautiful I had to read it again for sheer aesthetic pleasure. I did not find myself caring about any of the characters (and have a LOT of things to say about the unfortunate effect of having no main characters, no sympathetic characters, be from the stand-in for the Ottoman Empire, thus setting up an unfortunate tacit approval of the Christian European position), and the only emotional resonances came from scattered references to the Sarantine Mosaic. I always enjoy Kay's female characters – he is one of the few male specfic authors who can write women at all – but both female leads here were one-dimensional and ultimately served as the romantic prizes of two main male characters. And, the cardinal sin: there is no plot. There are scattered storylines, none of which really come together in any way more than incidentally; I cannot, even now, identify the climax; and the last third of the book is more or less individual chapters describing what each character does in the end of their story. None of whom, I will remind you, the reader has been made to care about. At the end of the day, as I said to my fiance, two books out of thirteen that are disappointing is still not bad. It does make me sad, though, because I had looked so very forward to this return to my favourite of my favourite author’s worlds.
Mary Doria Russell - Children of God
Russell is an astonishment. How can one slender book be so much of everything? The music, the revolution, the loss and the heartache and the coming home again, the working through trauma and the harsh realities of neurodivergent life seen from inside and from out. "Jesuits in Space: The Re-Jesuit-ing" is more than I have ever wanted a book to be: elegant, heartwarming, heartbreaking, eloquent, perfectly paced, perfectly shaped, breathing characters lifting themselves off the pages, redemption and renewal and the feeling of coming home. A perfect book, if there ever was one, and certainly a perfect sequel to The Sparrow, which I loved more than anyone has any right to love a book.
Russell is an astonishment. How can one slender book be so much of everything? The music, the revolution, the loss and the heartache and the coming home again, the working through trauma and the harsh realities of neurodivergent life seen from inside and from out. "Jesuits in Space: The Re-Jesuit-ing" is more than I have ever wanted a book to be: elegant, heartwarming, heartbreaking, eloquent, perfectly paced, perfectly shaped, breathing characters lifting themselves off the pages, redemption and renewal and the feeling of coming home. A perfect book, if there ever was one, and certainly a perfect sequel to The Sparrow, which I loved more than anyone has any right to love a book.
Erika Swyler - The Book of Speculation
A librarian and his sister and their circus curse sounds a little like a joke, but this novel was a treat! Excellent pacing, which is something I find I care more and more about as the years go by, and a brilliant conceit, just teetering on the edge of the fantastic. I could have used a bit more of the sense of reverence that comes from book-lovers; there wasn't quite enough there to really show Simon, just enough to tell, but that's really my only structural complaint. The prose is nothing special, but the story is well-worked and engaging.
A librarian and his sister and their circus curse sounds a little like a joke, but this novel was a treat! Excellent pacing, which is something I find I care more and more about as the years go by, and a brilliant conceit, just teetering on the edge of the fantastic. I could have used a bit more of the sense of reverence that comes from book-lovers; there wasn't quite enough there to really show Simon, just enough to tell, but that's really my only structural complaint. The prose is nothing special, but the story is well-worked and engaging.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Love in the Time of Cholera
What an interesting, interesting book. I have to say, while Marquez is an astute observer of the human condition and writes with just enough humour to get by the charge of cynic, I can't get behind Florentino Arizo as a main character. I don't like the way he treats any of the women in his life, and I especially have raised hackles at his long con on Fermina Daza. I like her so much, and if I could convince myself that this book was truly about how all the men in her life are colossal jerks to her, I might like it more. Formally, of course, Marquez is smooth as silk and perfectly balanced. I am just unhappy with the treatment of his characters. I am also unsatisfied with the way he understands love, despite my delight in the details of his narration.
What an interesting, interesting book. I have to say, while Marquez is an astute observer of the human condition and writes with just enough humour to get by the charge of cynic, I can't get behind Florentino Arizo as a main character. I don't like the way he treats any of the women in his life, and I especially have raised hackles at his long con on Fermina Daza. I like her so much, and if I could convince myself that this book was truly about how all the men in her life are colossal jerks to her, I might like it more. Formally, of course, Marquez is smooth as silk and perfectly balanced. I am just unhappy with the treatment of his characters. I am also unsatisfied with the way he understands love, despite my delight in the details of his narration.
Paula Lichtaworicz – The First Book of Calamity Leek
Droll and unsettling, insufficiently concluded and too subtly unpacked, unsatisfying in the best sort of way, this book is a nice change from the usual YA dystopia (although come to think of it I don't think this book is YA after all). I like the characters, I love the imperfect and unreliable narrator and the clever conceit of her voice, and I am intrigued by the many unresolved contradictions. A favourite? No, but a treat nonetheless.
Droll and unsettling, insufficiently concluded and too subtly unpacked, unsatisfying in the best sort of way, this book is a nice change from the usual YA dystopia (although come to think of it I don't think this book is YA after all). I like the characters, I love the imperfect and unreliable narrator and the clever conceit of her voice, and I am intrigued by the many unresolved contradictions. A favourite? No, but a treat nonetheless.
Anne-Marie MacDonald - Fall on Your Knees
Whoever recommended me this book, sometime in my first year of university, knew me too well. Broken things appeal to me, broken hearts and homes and names. Older sisters who try and try and try. Immigrant stories, music stories, tumbling, headfirst, into loves you cannot understand, growing up and coming out and making hard decisions; faith and fear and coming home to Canada. And sisters, always sisters. Plus brilliant narrative pacing and nonlinear storytelling? A book meant for me. I loved it.
Whoever recommended me this book, sometime in my first year of university, knew me too well. Broken things appeal to me, broken hearts and homes and names. Older sisters who try and try and try. Immigrant stories, music stories, tumbling, headfirst, into loves you cannot understand, growing up and coming out and making hard decisions; faith and fear and coming home to Canada. And sisters, always sisters. Plus brilliant narrative pacing and nonlinear storytelling? A book meant for me. I loved it.
Anita Amirrezvani - Equal of the Sun
While Pari Khan Khanoom is a great subject and the choice of a eunuch as narrator is an interesting one, this book is only meh. I would have liked more focus on the princess and less of weird eunuch revenge plots and even weirder eunuch sex? But, as quasi-historical fictions go, it was okay. At the very least, it was nice to see non-Western subjects, and also very nice to be able to understand the sprinkling of Persian!
While Pari Khan Khanoom is a great subject and the choice of a eunuch as narrator is an interesting one, this book is only meh. I would have liked more focus on the princess and less of weird eunuch revenge plots and even weirder eunuch sex? But, as quasi-historical fictions go, it was okay. At the very least, it was nice to see non-Western subjects, and also very nice to be able to understand the sprinkling of Persian!
Margaret Atwood – The Blind Assassin
It is no secret that I'm far from Atwood's biggest fan. I have to say that, here, I am impressed by the careful maintenance of suspense so that even though most of the revelations were not surprising, they were at least unsolved in my mind until she explicitly revealed them. I am not certain whether the plot was anywhere nearly as gripping as the desire to solve that puzzle, though, and the characters were equally uninspiring. I usually have lots of sibling feelings, especially in books about sisters who have only each other, but here I didn't. I think the first person conceit was a necessary one, though it didn't make me like it any more than usual.
It is no secret that I'm far from Atwood's biggest fan. I have to say that, here, I am impressed by the careful maintenance of suspense so that even though most of the revelations were not surprising, they were at least unsolved in my mind until she explicitly revealed them. I am not certain whether the plot was anywhere nearly as gripping as the desire to solve that puzzle, though, and the characters were equally uninspiring. I usually have lots of sibling feelings, especially in books about sisters who have only each other, but here I didn't. I think the first person conceit was a necessary one, though it didn't make me like it any more than usual.
Mark Z. Danielewski - House of Leaves
What a remarkably unsatisfying book. Maybe I missed the point, or some resolution clues, or need to read it again after acquiring a psychology degree, but I think the main storyline had no end, and I think the paper it was pretending to be about had no argument or structure, and I think the stylistic choices were interesting and engaging and I was enraptured by the book and by what it said about what "home" means, but by 3/4 through with no resolution in sight it just felt like cheap thrills. All flash, as they say, and no substance. But, then, maybe I just don't understand the art of it. Maybe this is an entirely inaccessible work.
What a remarkably unsatisfying book. Maybe I missed the point, or some resolution clues, or need to read it again after acquiring a psychology degree, but I think the main storyline had no end, and I think the paper it was pretending to be about had no argument or structure, and I think the stylistic choices were interesting and engaging and I was enraptured by the book and by what it said about what "home" means, but by 3/4 through with no resolution in sight it just felt like cheap thrills. All flash, as they say, and no substance. But, then, maybe I just don't understand the art of it. Maybe this is an entirely inaccessible work.
Kazuo Ishiguro – The Buried Giant
Man, why am I just meeting Ishiguro this summer?! I love his just off the edge of reality style, I love the really critical themes, the ambiguous endings; I love his characters and his careful arrangement of speech patterns and I deeply adore his twisting of so many strands into a single luminous point. Plus, in the case of this book, post-Arthurian England? Old married couples? People trying to do the right thing and miserably failing? Totally my jam. Also, to risk sounding like a dust-jacket review, this book was "compulsively readable."
Man, why am I just meeting Ishiguro this summer?! I love his just off the edge of reality style, I love the really critical themes, the ambiguous endings; I love his characters and his careful arrangement of speech patterns and I deeply adore his twisting of so many strands into a single luminous point. Plus, in the case of this book, post-Arthurian England? Old married couples? People trying to do the right thing and miserably failing? Totally my jam. Also, to risk sounding like a dust-jacket review, this book was "compulsively readable."
Diana Abu-Jaber - Birds of Paradise
While I had some Major Stylistic Concerns, I really did enjoy this book. The intricate plot worked very well, deftly woven together with nothing coming in too late or too early and everything progressing slowly. The descriptions of pastries were earth-shattering, the sharp focus on so many complex and competing realities well-handled and balanced, and I must admit it is always so nice to read books by people who understand the subtle play of race and gender in the everyday. Also books about siblings! Man. Truly a satisfying book.
While I had some Major Stylistic Concerns, I really did enjoy this book. The intricate plot worked very well, deftly woven together with nothing coming in too late or too early and everything progressing slowly. The descriptions of pastries were earth-shattering, the sharp focus on so many complex and competing realities well-handled and balanced, and I must admit it is always so nice to read books by people who understand the subtle play of race and gender in the everyday. Also books about siblings! Man. Truly a satisfying book.
Marie Brennan - A Natural History of Dragons
The clever conceit of a memoir! I love the tone, I am fond of the world-building, and I grew somewhat attached to the characters. I'm curious to read the next installment, if only because this was so tantalising conceptually, but the book itself was not particularly gripping. Thus continues the long trend of Jessica being disappointed by steampunk-ish pseudo-Victorian fantasy! A genre so made for my very specific tastes, yet destined to never quite meet my rigorous standards for literature.
The clever conceit of a memoir! I love the tone, I am fond of the world-building, and I grew somewhat attached to the characters. I'm curious to read the next installment, if only because this was so tantalising conceptually, but the book itself was not particularly gripping. Thus continues the long trend of Jessica being disappointed by steampunk-ish pseudo-Victorian fantasy! A genre so made for my very specific tastes, yet destined to never quite meet my rigorous standards for literature.
Sue Monk Kidd - The Secret Life of Bees
I think the biggest criticism of this book is that it seems to rest either on the assumption that it takes a white narrator to make black experiences in the Civil Rights era accessible or on the assumption that it is okay to have black characters be entirely in service of the white protagonist's story. A delightful story it is, though, and I love honey and bees and found family. It is well-written (although first-person! The bane of my existence!) and the characters unique and the pacing excellent. I enjoyed it! Maybe not enough to reread, but I did enjoy it.
I think the biggest criticism of this book is that it seems to rest either on the assumption that it takes a white narrator to make black experiences in the Civil Rights era accessible or on the assumption that it is okay to have black characters be entirely in service of the white protagonist's story. A delightful story it is, though, and I love honey and bees and found family. It is well-written (although first-person! The bane of my existence!) and the characters unique and the pacing excellent. I enjoyed it! Maybe not enough to reread, but I did enjoy it.
Scott Lynch - Red Seas under Red Skies
I love Scott Lynch's worldbuilding, I love it to pieces. I love his characters, I love his perfectly twisting plots, I love his emotional pulls and punches. I especially love the care he takes in description. I less love that he has missed a critical component of writing an anti-patriarchy book. His intention is excellent, and he seamlessly works gender (and racial!) equality into a believable and unremarkable everyday reality within the world of the novel. But he also does not have female main characters, and by "main characters" I mean characters who have purpose outside the furtherance of their plot. Instead, we have the usual gamut of (well-written!) love interests, right hands, and power brokers, all of whom are singularly ruthless and some of whom seem to exist purely so that their pain can further the character development of the main (male) characters. That's the one flaw in a devious, clever book, though.
I love Scott Lynch's worldbuilding, I love it to pieces. I love his characters, I love his perfectly twisting plots, I love his emotional pulls and punches. I especially love the care he takes in description. I less love that he has missed a critical component of writing an anti-patriarchy book. His intention is excellent, and he seamlessly works gender (and racial!) equality into a believable and unremarkable everyday reality within the world of the novel. But he also does not have female main characters, and by "main characters" I mean characters who have purpose outside the furtherance of their plot. Instead, we have the usual gamut of (well-written!) love interests, right hands, and power brokers, all of whom are singularly ruthless and some of whom seem to exist purely so that their pain can further the character development of the main (male) characters. That's the one flaw in a devious, clever book, though.
Terry Pratchett - Eric
Ah, Pratchett. It never gets old to read his insightful entry into human nature, here pretending to be about Faust but mostly being about the nature of history and also business practices and also just a little bit of the things people will do to be just a little bit less powerless. Short and sweet this one was, plus I love Rincewind.
Ah, Pratchett. It never gets old to read his insightful entry into human nature, here pretending to be about Faust but mostly being about the nature of history and also business practices and also just a little bit of the things people will do to be just a little bit less powerless. Short and sweet this one was, plus I love Rincewind.
Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner
Would the emotive impact have been the same in the third person? I think probably; the first-person narrator was a little too omniscient for my tastes, making revelations a little stilted or artificial feeling that a third-person narrator would have done seamlessly. But what an emotive impact there was! Brothers are not quite the same for me as sisters, but sibling stories always hit home, as do stories about found family and redemption. The thematic execution here was good, too, and the character arc very carefully balanced. I struggle with the way this book was sold to me as a story about the Taliban's impact on Afghanistan, because the book is both so much more and so much less than that. I would have ticked it off my reading list years ago if it had been sold to me as what it is: a simple, beautiful book about love and loss and belonging.
Would the emotive impact have been the same in the third person? I think probably; the first-person narrator was a little too omniscient for my tastes, making revelations a little stilted or artificial feeling that a third-person narrator would have done seamlessly. But what an emotive impact there was! Brothers are not quite the same for me as sisters, but sibling stories always hit home, as do stories about found family and redemption. The thematic execution here was good, too, and the character arc very carefully balanced. I struggle with the way this book was sold to me as a story about the Taliban's impact on Afghanistan, because the book is both so much more and so much less than that. I would have ticked it off my reading list years ago if it had been sold to me as what it is: a simple, beautiful book about love and loss and belonging.
Steven Galloway - The Cellist of Sarajevo
I was in tears, when I read this book, for most of it. I remember glimpses - not of text, but of visualisations of scenes, which is usually how I recall books but somehow these are more vivid. Maybe it is because I have seen so many photos of war zones. Maybe it is because the main characters, in all their desperation and all their desire to be, are the kind of people I can recognize. Maybe it is simply that the writing is good. This book has stuck with me, and, more than that, it is important, this story of how humanity survives through war, and how sometimes it dies.
I was in tears, when I read this book, for most of it. I remember glimpses - not of text, but of visualisations of scenes, which is usually how I recall books but somehow these are more vivid. Maybe it is because I have seen so many photos of war zones. Maybe it is because the main characters, in all their desperation and all their desire to be, are the kind of people I can recognize. Maybe it is simply that the writing is good. This book has stuck with me, and, more than that, it is important, this story of how humanity survives through war, and how sometimes it dies.
Ken Liu - The Grace of Kings
I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed Liu's characters (so multifaceted! So flawed! All so sympathetic and yet all so unsettling, all at once), I enjoyed his smooth dialogue and his careful descriptive. I remember not liking the pacing, and I remember feeling dissatisfied with the ending, but beyond that I have only memories of being intrigued, of enjoying, of wanting to see this world be built more. The world hasn't gripped me, though, in the way that worlds like N.K. Jemisin's do. I'm going to read the next book in this series, though, and I think anyone who enjoys historically-infused fantasy should read this one. It is always so refreshing to have this genre written about places and times other than someone's twisted vision of medieval Europe; someone called Liu's genre "silkpunk" and it is so far 40 times more satisfying than any steampunk I have read.
I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed Liu's characters (so multifaceted! So flawed! All so sympathetic and yet all so unsettling, all at once), I enjoyed his smooth dialogue and his careful descriptive. I remember not liking the pacing, and I remember feeling dissatisfied with the ending, but beyond that I have only memories of being intrigued, of enjoying, of wanting to see this world be built more. The world hasn't gripped me, though, in the way that worlds like N.K. Jemisin's do. I'm going to read the next book in this series, though, and I think anyone who enjoys historically-infused fantasy should read this one. It is always so refreshing to have this genre written about places and times other than someone's twisted vision of medieval Europe; someone called Liu's genre "silkpunk" and it is so far 40 times more satisfying than any steampunk I have read.
Hillary Mantel - Bring Up the Bodies
I love what Mantel can do with sentence structure and diction. I love it. I love her deft hand, her impossibly careful way of presenting in third-person narration an irreducibly first-person account, with all of its flaws and biases and limitations intact. I love how Cromwell, here, has a new awareness of his prominence; he names himself, often, rather than sinking into the background as a nameless "he." I love the startling new awareness in Cromwell, and thus in the reader, of precisely how terrifyingly large his power has grown. I love the sinuous weaving of speculation and nostalgia and planning, love the personal touches and the efficiency and the brief glimpses Cromwell - and thus the reader - gets of how, along with fear, there is love for him in the world. I love the semi-colons, still, and the colons, and the abrupt, chronicle-like, dialogue.
I love what Mantel can do with sentence structure and diction. I love it. I love her deft hand, her impossibly careful way of presenting in third-person narration an irreducibly first-person account, with all of its flaws and biases and limitations intact. I love how Cromwell, here, has a new awareness of his prominence; he names himself, often, rather than sinking into the background as a nameless "he." I love the startling new awareness in Cromwell, and thus in the reader, of precisely how terrifyingly large his power has grown. I love the sinuous weaving of speculation and nostalgia and planning, love the personal touches and the efficiency and the brief glimpses Cromwell - and thus the reader - gets of how, along with fear, there is love for him in the world. I love the semi-colons, still, and the colons, and the abrupt, chronicle-like, dialogue.
N.K. Jemisin - The Fifth Season
N.K. Jemisin, says Felicia Day, can do no wrong, and I tend to agree. I never quite know where to start with her vast reaches of time, her careful worldbuilding, her brilliant grasp of the nature of history and religion, her deep awareness of human nature. Gushing about her perfectly fleshed, solid and ephemeral characters, her twisting plotmaking, the way she uses perspective changes to such great effect - nothing can do justice to her work. I can never put her works down, and this was no exception. It deserved the Hugo. It deserves to have everyone read it. For now, I am going to nurse the hole in my heart that this heartbreaking book has left me with.
N.K. Jemisin, says Felicia Day, can do no wrong, and I tend to agree. I never quite know where to start with her vast reaches of time, her careful worldbuilding, her brilliant grasp of the nature of history and religion, her deep awareness of human nature. Gushing about her perfectly fleshed, solid and ephemeral characters, her twisting plotmaking, the way she uses perspective changes to such great effect - nothing can do justice to her work. I can never put her works down, and this was no exception. It deserved the Hugo. It deserves to have everyone read it. For now, I am going to nurse the hole in my heart that this heartbreaking book has left me with.
Garth Nix - Sabriel
I seem compelled to read this trilogy fairly often, and every time I do, I am struck by how lovely it is. This first book captures so well the worries and fears of a young woman thrust into something she barely understands, pairing intricate and beautiful worldbuilding with characters who live and breathe themselves off the page. I love this book, I really do, and its deep-seated optimism and its freshness and its vigour.
I seem compelled to read this trilogy fairly often, and every time I do, I am struck by how lovely it is. This first book captures so well the worries and fears of a young woman thrust into something she barely understands, pairing intricate and beautiful worldbuilding with characters who live and breathe themselves off the page. I love this book, I really do, and its deep-seated optimism and its freshness and its vigour.
Garth Nix - Lirael
I always have to hand it to Nix, when I finish this book, for being one of the few genre fiction authors I've read who not only centres his work on women, but actually knows how to write them. Every time I read this book I like Lirael a little more, and I think I was so disappointed in her initially because she is not like Sabriel. Sabriel is every bit as badass and powerful and confident as I want to be, but Lirael is so much more like what I am. I think there is a beauty in this, in making the heroine an insecure, clinically depressed, introverted librarian who doesn't quite know where she fits in the world. I think it is important that her sorrows and her worries are taken seriously, that the experiences Nix writes for her serve to embolden but not to change her, that, at the last, she is as bold and as frightened as she was at the first. I love this character, and I love the way Nix builds on his own constructs in Sabriel without feeling as though he is deviating at all. It can be hard to integrate new ideas into a previously established world, and he does it masterfully.
I always have to hand it to Nix, when I finish this book, for being one of the few genre fiction authors I've read who not only centres his work on women, but actually knows how to write them. Every time I read this book I like Lirael a little more, and I think I was so disappointed in her initially because she is not like Sabriel. Sabriel is every bit as badass and powerful and confident as I want to be, but Lirael is so much more like what I am. I think there is a beauty in this, in making the heroine an insecure, clinically depressed, introverted librarian who doesn't quite know where she fits in the world. I think it is important that her sorrows and her worries are taken seriously, that the experiences Nix writes for her serve to embolden but not to change her, that, at the last, she is as bold and as frightened as she was at the first. I love this character, and I love the way Nix builds on his own constructs in Sabriel without feeling as though he is deviating at all. It can be hard to integrate new ideas into a previously established world, and he does it masterfully.
Garth Nix - Abhorsen
What a book. What a book, what a mythos, what a carefully conceived cast of characters, what a story. Nix leaves no thread unbound, no stone unturned, and while at times his dialogue can be a little clumsy, his descriptive flows so well. I appreciate how well he maintains the same tone throughout this trilogy, one that is serious but optimistic, that acknowledges and leaves space for fear but shows all the things that are more important than fear. I love the deft handling of narrative newness and the care he takes to keep Lirael at the centre. What a book! I forget about this trilogy often when I list my favourite books, but when I remember it I almost always pick it back up to read again.
What a book. What a book, what a mythos, what a carefully conceived cast of characters, what a story. Nix leaves no thread unbound, no stone unturned, and while at times his dialogue can be a little clumsy, his descriptive flows so well. I appreciate how well he maintains the same tone throughout this trilogy, one that is serious but optimistic, that acknowledges and leaves space for fear but shows all the things that are more important than fear. I love the deft handling of narrative newness and the care he takes to keep Lirael at the centre. What a book! I forget about this trilogy often when I list my favourite books, but when I remember it I almost always pick it back up to read again.
Jorge Luis Borges – The Book of Imaginary Beings
I love encyclopaedias! I love mythical creatures. I love Borges' half-serious cataloguing, and I love the convoluted publishing history of this little book. I also love that it is self-consciously incomplete, that the scope for imaginary beings is so large and the aims of this book so small.
I love encyclopaedias! I love mythical creatures. I love Borges' half-serious cataloguing, and I love the convoluted publishing history of this little book. I also love that it is self-consciously incomplete, that the scope for imaginary beings is so large and the aims of this book so small.
Ronald Frame - Havisham
HMMM. As I get older, I have less and less patience for first-person narration (if you have read my lists before, you are tired of reading this), and here I think it was used unwisely where it could have been used rather well. I think the narrative was an interesting one and many parts of it were rather enjoyable, trying to humanise Miss Havisham, but, man, you could TELL it was written by a dude simply by the choices he made to try to give her value. And by his characterisation, oh geez. I did appreciate that he kept the crazy to a minimum, really made it a point of morals and obligation, to be fair, and the descriptive was actually rather fluid and lively, but overall I just want to take dudes who think they can write women and be like "HAVE YOU EVER ACTUALLY SPOKEN TO A WOMAN?"
HMMM. As I get older, I have less and less patience for first-person narration (if you have read my lists before, you are tired of reading this), and here I think it was used unwisely where it could have been used rather well. I think the narrative was an interesting one and many parts of it were rather enjoyable, trying to humanise Miss Havisham, but, man, you could TELL it was written by a dude simply by the choices he made to try to give her value. And by his characterisation, oh geez. I did appreciate that he kept the crazy to a minimum, really made it a point of morals and obligation, to be fair, and the descriptive was actually rather fluid and lively, but overall I just want to take dudes who think they can write women and be like "HAVE YOU EVER ACTUALLY SPOKEN TO A WOMAN?"
Greg Bear - Anvil of Stars
Ooooooooooffffff high-concept scifi with deep and troubling moral implications? Proto societies and artificial environments and the question of how right and wrong changes on a planetary scale? Hyper intelligence against brute instinct, metaphors layered on metaphors, viewpoint characters (blessedly in the third person) who don't understand themselves and a trick of narration so that the revelation of their character to the reader becomes almost as important as the main plot? My goodness, my goodness.
Ooooooooooffffff high-concept scifi with deep and troubling moral implications? Proto societies and artificial environments and the question of how right and wrong changes on a planetary scale? Hyper intelligence against brute instinct, metaphors layered on metaphors, viewpoint characters (blessedly in the third person) who don't understand themselves and a trick of narration so that the revelation of their character to the reader becomes almost as important as the main plot? My goodness, my goodness.
Emma Donoghue - The Wonder
Emma Donoghue continues to be one of the most gripping writers I have ever encountered. This is the third of her books that I have been unable to put down. It is the third of her books where I have marvelled at how much story she can tell in less than 300 pages, with a limited viewpoint third-person narrator and a careful building of setting without, somehow, the use of a lot of descriptive. Her vocabularian care, the way she builds up the plot, the centrality of character development, all of these things contribute to making everything she writes a pleasure to read. Plus, The Wonder is about family and Florence Nightingale and saints and Irish history and food and fasting, and sure if I don't love all of those things.
Emma Donoghue continues to be one of the most gripping writers I have ever encountered. This is the third of her books that I have been unable to put down. It is the third of her books where I have marvelled at how much story she can tell in less than 300 pages, with a limited viewpoint third-person narrator and a careful building of setting without, somehow, the use of a lot of descriptive. Her vocabularian care, the way she builds up the plot, the centrality of character development, all of these things contribute to making everything she writes a pleasure to read. Plus, The Wonder is about family and Florence Nightingale and saints and Irish history and food and fasting, and sure if I don't love all of those things.
Nilanjana Roy - The Hundred Names of Darkness
I love cats and puns and righteous causes and misfits and found family and magic and South Asia, so it should be no surprise that I ate this book up. While I will confess that the writing did not really move me (although I deeply appreciated the dialectical jokes embedded in the ways that some of the animals spoke), the story itself was like curling up with a warm, purring car. I miss my cats, and this book helped with that. Plus, with characters like Umrrow Jaan and Doginder Singh and Sir Thomas Mor the peacock, how could you not be suffused with giggles?
I love cats and puns and righteous causes and misfits and found family and magic and South Asia, so it should be no surprise that I ate this book up. While I will confess that the writing did not really move me (although I deeply appreciated the dialectical jokes embedded in the ways that some of the animals spoke), the story itself was like curling up with a warm, purring car. I miss my cats, and this book helped with that. Plus, with characters like Umrrow Jaan and Doginder Singh and Sir Thomas Mor the peacock, how could you not be suffused with giggles?
Cixin Liu - The Dark Forest
While I couldn't always follow the plot, when I found it, it astounded me. While I couldn't always feel for the protagonist, I always respected him and found him believable. But let's be real - cosmic sociology? This was always going to be my jam. Liu's work always has an episodic feel to me, the last chapter of this book most so. It felt like the final episode of a season where the plot of resolved but the seeds of next season are still being sown just in case the network does, in fact, greenlight a next season. I didn't like The Dark Forest as much as I liked The Three-Body Problem, and maybe it was the switch in translators, and maybe it was simply that the second wasn't as good as the first. But it's still magnificent hard SF that asks important questions, as all good genre fiction does, about what it means to be human.
While I couldn't always follow the plot, when I found it, it astounded me. While I couldn't always feel for the protagonist, I always respected him and found him believable. But let's be real - cosmic sociology? This was always going to be my jam. Liu's work always has an episodic feel to me, the last chapter of this book most so. It felt like the final episode of a season where the plot of resolved but the seeds of next season are still being sown just in case the network does, in fact, greenlight a next season. I didn't like The Dark Forest as much as I liked The Three-Body Problem, and maybe it was the switch in translators, and maybe it was simply that the second wasn't as good as the first. But it's still magnificent hard SF that asks important questions, as all good genre fiction does, about what it means to be human.
Alexandra Robbins - Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power
Firstly, this book about Yale’s secretest of secret societies, Skull and Bones, made me miss the Trin I loved in my first year, where everything was new and exciting and felt special and important. It made me miss the secret-ish society experiences I had and the ultimately pointless scandals. It made me wonder, as Robbins does in her final chapter, what is it about mystique and prestige that is alluring, what is it about the illusion of power that compels us either to want to participate in it or to want to strip it down, but to believe in it either way? An interesting walk into the archives, an interesting meditation on the nature of America’s elite institutions, and, for me, an opportunity for some nostalgic critical reflection.
Firstly, this book about Yale’s secretest of secret societies, Skull and Bones, made me miss the Trin I loved in my first year, where everything was new and exciting and felt special and important. It made me miss the secret-ish society experiences I had and the ultimately pointless scandals. It made me wonder, as Robbins does in her final chapter, what is it about mystique and prestige that is alluring, what is it about the illusion of power that compels us either to want to participate in it or to want to strip it down, but to believe in it either way? An interesting walk into the archives, an interesting meditation on the nature of America’s elite institutions, and, for me, an opportunity for some nostalgic critical reflection.
Sophocles - The Theban Plays
I had never read Oedipus at Colonus before, so it was interesting to see how that play coloured my understanding of Antigone’s character – and Oedipus Rex gave me a much greater appreciation for Creon. I love reading plays and imagining how I would stage them, and I kind of expected my reading of Antigone in the wake of the two Oedipus plays to be different than my memories of being in it? But it wasn’t, not really (kudos, Rachel, for staging a memorable and relevant play), and in fact I spent my time reading the other plays imagining how they might be staged to form a stylistic triptych. Anyway, reading them together gave me so much appreciation for Sophocles as a playwright – these are three very different plays in nearly every aspect of their construction, but they do speak to each other, and they do hang together, and each of them is less without the others. And while I will always love Medea best, Antigone is a good close second.
I had never read Oedipus at Colonus before, so it was interesting to see how that play coloured my understanding of Antigone’s character – and Oedipus Rex gave me a much greater appreciation for Creon. I love reading plays and imagining how I would stage them, and I kind of expected my reading of Antigone in the wake of the two Oedipus plays to be different than my memories of being in it? But it wasn’t, not really (kudos, Rachel, for staging a memorable and relevant play), and in fact I spent my time reading the other plays imagining how they might be staged to form a stylistic triptych. Anyway, reading them together gave me so much appreciation for Sophocles as a playwright – these are three very different plays in nearly every aspect of their construction, but they do speak to each other, and they do hang together, and each of them is less without the others. And while I will always love Medea best, Antigone is a good close second.