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Book Reviews: Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
Jul. 8th, 2021 08:22 pmTitle: Tamsin
Author: Peter S. Beagle
Published: ROC, 1999
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 310
Total Page Count: 370,105
Text Number: 1359
Read Because: fan of the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: When her mother remarries, a 13-year-old girl moves from Manhattan to a derelict English farm haunted by a young woman from the Bloody Assizes. This is a hidden gem from Beagle and it reminds me a lot of Dianna Wynne Jones. The protagonist writes as a young adult reflecting back on her adolescence, cringing at herself but so honest about the fundamental unfairness of being a teenage girl; it's a ridiculously immersive and authentic PoV. The setting is rich in domestic detail, and the depiction of a cultural Jew in a mixed-faith family gave me such fellow-feeling.* And then it grows exuberant with British history and folklore, the protagonist madly in love with her flickering, striking young ghost, the Wild Hunt screaming through the sky.
It's not a perfect book, and there are moments when the craft is too transparent, particularly in the tension-building but more unfortunately in the emotional resolution; occasionally it tries to force a lucent emotional resonance more suited for The Last Unicorn rather than being content with the humble, sympathetic emotions of its native scope. But it's incredible fun, likeable and magical and gleefully open to queer readings. This book has been on my TBR for an age, and I love how it feels to finally get to a book and find it totally worth the wait.
* Here's the bit that made me cry twice, first when reading it late at night, again when reading it aloud to my partner.
( Julian wanted to know how the menorah worked... )
Author: Peter S. Beagle
Published: ROC, 1999
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 310
Total Page Count: 370,105
Text Number: 1359
Read Because: fan of the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: When her mother remarries, a 13-year-old girl moves from Manhattan to a derelict English farm haunted by a young woman from the Bloody Assizes. This is a hidden gem from Beagle and it reminds me a lot of Dianna Wynne Jones. The protagonist writes as a young adult reflecting back on her adolescence, cringing at herself but so honest about the fundamental unfairness of being a teenage girl; it's a ridiculously immersive and authentic PoV. The setting is rich in domestic detail, and the depiction of a cultural Jew in a mixed-faith family gave me such fellow-feeling.* And then it grows exuberant with British history and folklore, the protagonist madly in love with her flickering, striking young ghost, the Wild Hunt screaming through the sky.
It's not a perfect book, and there are moments when the craft is too transparent, particularly in the tension-building but more unfortunately in the emotional resolution; occasionally it tries to force a lucent emotional resonance more suited for The Last Unicorn rather than being content with the humble, sympathetic emotions of its native scope. But it's incredible fun, likeable and magical and gleefully open to queer readings. This book has been on my TBR for an age, and I love how it feels to finally get to a book and find it totally worth the wait.
* Here's the bit that made me cry twice, first when reading it late at night, again when reading it aloud to my partner.
( Julian wanted to know how the menorah worked... )
