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juushikaTitle: Charmed Life (Chrestomanci Book 1)
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrator: Gerard Doyle
Published: Recorded Books, 2011 (1977)
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 260
Total Page Count: 258,615
Text Number: 836
Read Because: reading more by the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A pair of orphans are adopted by the prestigious wizard Chrestomanci. At the risk of redundancy, this is charming. Diana Wynne Jones's plot structures have a remarkable capacity to be leisurely paced domestic adventures that culminate in unexpectedly clever and large denouements; sometimes in unequal balance, but this is the best I've read so far. I agree with Janet that vast swathes of the plot could have—and reasonably should have!—been resolved by simple communication; to lampshade that doesn't actually excuse it. But Cat is an accessible, sympathetic protagonist, and the humor of his predicaments and the architecture thereof—particularly the routine but inconvenient impact of magic on daily life—is hilarious, despite the dated ableism and body shaming that taints the humor. There's a tremendous amount of payoff, in the plot twist and scale of the climax, but also in the reoccurring jokes; I imagine it's a joy to reread. I adored this and will definitely read the sequels.
Title: The Fire's Stone
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, 2015 (1995)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 300
Total Page Count: 258,915
Text Number: 837
Read Because: found this on a polyamory reading list somewhere; it's not strictly speaking poly, but it's a nearby neighbor; ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review:A thief in mourning, a drunkard prince, and a wizard facing an arranged marriage are drawn together in an unlikely quest. This is transparent, tropey hurt/comfort concerned with self-actualization and found family, set in a relatively forgettable second world fantasy. I wish it didn't offer quite so much resolution—it's too neat, too complete, which undermines the troubles faced by the cast, although I imagine it's rewarding catharsis for some readers. It also feels bizarrely unedited (I read the Jabberwocky ebook), with clunky sentences and many missing commas; it feels vaguely like fanfic, vaguely self-published. But that's not really a complaint. This is a comfort read more than high art, and the general thrust of it—of these distinct, accessible, prickly characters coming together, healing, loving; the balance of hurt to comfort, of fantasy action to domestic moments—is a quiet pleasure.
Title: The Brothers Bishop
Author: Bart Yates
Published: Kensington, 2006 (2005)
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 290
Total Page Count: 259,205
Text Number: 838
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Over the summer, a visit from his brother and a teenage student bring to a head a man's complicated family history and sexual orientation. I love books which are about insular, codependent relationships with result from shared trauma, and which usually fall apart when confronted with reality and consequences. But successful examples of that narrative rely on a certain degree of idealization and sympathy—many are guilty pleasures, some not, but the idealization is required to balance and justify the unlikable and problematic aspects. There is no such balance here. Every character is awful; the narrative voice is—intentionally, but relentlessly—grating; most of the plot consists of adults being irresponsible and inappropriate in the presence of a teenager. And while all of this is confronted by the text, I'm not on board with the conclusions drawn, especially as regards "justifications" for child abuse. The reader is invited to be in argument with the characters and these conclusions—but with no appeal, with literally nothing likable, it's hard to be invested enough to bother. I found this roundly distasteful, more for stylistic reasons than because of the content; it's the first book in its vein I've straight-up hated.
The Brothers Bishop has been on my to-read list for an approximate one thousand years so I feel sort of honor-bound to get through it; it got there for its tropes and boy howdy it is very much and intentionally set on exploring that line between id/fantasy/idealization and real life/reality/consequences, which I dig! very much!, so the rampant homosexuality/consensual incest/ephebophilia is point and purpose—not always, like, graceful. in its handling. not often remotely graceful, to be fair. but intentional!
this is a balance that could work, but would probably work better if:
a) there were not a lot of fat shaming and ableism not just from the (explicitly unreliable) narrator, and (explicitly ~problematic~) larger cast, but also from the author, it is in the introduction, what the hell; and
b) this but-why-the-hell-would-you ableism/fat shaming/general tastelessness didn't highlight every unsuccessful aspect of the intentional dissonance between idealization and consequences
the tone is just ... it's not great. it reminds me that the events are. awful. full of grown-ass adults making inappropriate decisions around a teenage boy.
and I never know where I'm supposed to suspend disbelief, where the work is trying to culture a (however problematic; albeit less successful) Call Me By Your Name hazy-aroused-intense summer aesthetic; or where it's Gritty and Discomforting and About Child Abuse so I'm supposed to read everyone's awkwardness and the protagonist's discomfort as signs that yes this shit is fucked up; or when the author is just being clueless.
mostly it just reads as clueless.
#did no one ever edit this? did they not ask the key question: why???
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrator: Gerard Doyle
Published: Recorded Books, 2011 (1977)
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 260
Total Page Count: 258,615
Text Number: 836
Read Because: reading more by the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A pair of orphans are adopted by the prestigious wizard Chrestomanci. At the risk of redundancy, this is charming. Diana Wynne Jones's plot structures have a remarkable capacity to be leisurely paced domestic adventures that culminate in unexpectedly clever and large denouements; sometimes in unequal balance, but this is the best I've read so far. I agree with Janet that vast swathes of the plot could have—and reasonably should have!—been resolved by simple communication; to lampshade that doesn't actually excuse it. But Cat is an accessible, sympathetic protagonist, and the humor of his predicaments and the architecture thereof—particularly the routine but inconvenient impact of magic on daily life—is hilarious, despite the dated ableism and body shaming that taints the humor. There's a tremendous amount of payoff, in the plot twist and scale of the climax, but also in the reoccurring jokes; I imagine it's a joy to reread. I adored this and will definitely read the sequels.
Title: The Fire's Stone
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, 2015 (1995)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 300
Total Page Count: 258,915
Text Number: 837
Read Because: found this on a polyamory reading list somewhere; it's not strictly speaking poly, but it's a nearby neighbor; ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review:A thief in mourning, a drunkard prince, and a wizard facing an arranged marriage are drawn together in an unlikely quest. This is transparent, tropey hurt/comfort concerned with self-actualization and found family, set in a relatively forgettable second world fantasy. I wish it didn't offer quite so much resolution—it's too neat, too complete, which undermines the troubles faced by the cast, although I imagine it's rewarding catharsis for some readers. It also feels bizarrely unedited (I read the Jabberwocky ebook), with clunky sentences and many missing commas; it feels vaguely like fanfic, vaguely self-published. But that's not really a complaint. This is a comfort read more than high art, and the general thrust of it—of these distinct, accessible, prickly characters coming together, healing, loving; the balance of hurt to comfort, of fantasy action to domestic moments—is a quiet pleasure.
Title: The Brothers Bishop
Author: Bart Yates
Published: Kensington, 2006 (2005)
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 290
Total Page Count: 259,205
Text Number: 838
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Over the summer, a visit from his brother and a teenage student bring to a head a man's complicated family history and sexual orientation. I love books which are about insular, codependent relationships with result from shared trauma, and which usually fall apart when confronted with reality and consequences. But successful examples of that narrative rely on a certain degree of idealization and sympathy—many are guilty pleasures, some not, but the idealization is required to balance and justify the unlikable and problematic aspects. There is no such balance here. Every character is awful; the narrative voice is—intentionally, but relentlessly—grating; most of the plot consists of adults being irresponsible and inappropriate in the presence of a teenager. And while all of this is confronted by the text, I'm not on board with the conclusions drawn, especially as regards "justifications" for child abuse. The reader is invited to be in argument with the characters and these conclusions—but with no appeal, with literally nothing likable, it's hard to be invested enough to bother. I found this roundly distasteful, more for stylistic reasons than because of the content; it's the first book in its vein I've straight-up hated.
The Brothers Bishop has been on my to-read list for an approximate one thousand years so I feel sort of honor-bound to get through it; it got there for its tropes and boy howdy it is very much and intentionally set on exploring that line between id/fantasy/idealization and real life/reality/consequences, which I dig! very much!, so the rampant homosexuality/consensual incest/ephebophilia is point and purpose—not always, like, graceful. in its handling. not often remotely graceful, to be fair. but intentional!
this is a balance that could work, but would probably work better if:
a) there were not a lot of fat shaming and ableism not just from the (explicitly unreliable) narrator, and (explicitly ~problematic~) larger cast, but also from the author, it is in the introduction, what the hell; and
b) this but-why-the-hell-would-you ableism/fat shaming/general tastelessness didn't highlight every unsuccessful aspect of the intentional dissonance between idealization and consequences
the tone is just ... it's not great. it reminds me that the events are. awful. full of grown-ass adults making inappropriate decisions around a teenage boy.
and I never know where I'm supposed to suspend disbelief, where the work is trying to culture a (however problematic; albeit less successful) Call Me By Your Name hazy-aroused-intense summer aesthetic; or where it's Gritty and Discomforting and About Child Abuse so I'm supposed to read everyone's awkwardness and the protagonist's discomfort as signs that yes this shit is fucked up; or when the author is just being clueless.
mostly it just reads as clueless.
#did no one ever edit this? did they not ask the key question: why???
no subject
Date: 2018-05-29 07:43 am (UTC)Also, The Fire's Stone sure was an iddy trip when I was a teenager. I haven't read it since and have no idea how it would hold up.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-31 12:10 am (UTC)