Saturday, January 30, 2010
Mini-Rant
Is it just me, or is the whole voice-automated menu stuff incredibly annoying? I've had to call American Airlines a few times the last few days now, and honestly, I would much rather have a menu that says things like "Press 1 for this." Instead I keep having it tell me "say this for this" and then tell me "I'm sorry I didn't understand" so I'm getting annoyed and yelling at the phone before I even talk to the actual representatives. Also, at one point it told me to say my last name - seriously, unless your name is something like Smith or Johnson, what are the chances that machine is ever going to understand your pronunciation?
Book 40: Blood Rites
Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
It's getting a little difficult to talk about these books too much without giving away spoilers for the rest of the series. In this one, Harry is getting sick and tired of various vampires trying to kill him so he decides to take the offensive and plans an assault on Mavra, the supervillain of the Black Court. Additionally, he is working a specific case that he found through White Court vampire Thomas that keeps showing up. A porn director has noticed that women are dying around him in freak accidents, and hires Harry to protect them and determine who is using such a powerful curse to come after him.
Butcher finally introduces a few more characters from the White Court in this novel since before this, the focus has really been on the Red and Black Courts. He also reveals quite a bit more about Harry's family - it was about time to give us a bit of a bone. Also, Harry gets a puppy.
Butcher definitely has been doing a good job of keeping this series fresh, and adding backstory as he goes. Six books in and the series isn't getting repetitive or boring, so I can appreciate that. As I said, I am not going to go too much into these since it ruins things in earlier novels if I do.
It's getting a little difficult to talk about these books too much without giving away spoilers for the rest of the series. In this one, Harry is getting sick and tired of various vampires trying to kill him so he decides to take the offensive and plans an assault on Mavra, the supervillain of the Black Court. Additionally, he is working a specific case that he found through White Court vampire Thomas that keeps showing up. A porn director has noticed that women are dying around him in freak accidents, and hires Harry to protect them and determine who is using such a powerful curse to come after him.
Butcher finally introduces a few more characters from the White Court in this novel since before this, the focus has really been on the Red and Black Courts. He also reveals quite a bit more about Harry's family - it was about time to give us a bit of a bone. Also, Harry gets a puppy.
Butcher definitely has been doing a good job of keeping this series fresh, and adding backstory as he goes. Six books in and the series isn't getting repetitive or boring, so I can appreciate that. As I said, I am not going to go too much into these since it ruins things in earlier novels if I do.
Book 39: The Help
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I've been wanting to read this for a while but I was waiting for it to be released in paperback or for the hardcover to go on sale. Once I started it, I was a little unsure to begin with since Aibileen is the first character to narrate, and I wasn't sure how to react to her dialect.
However, I ended up really, really liking the novel. The three narrators are Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Skeeter is a young white woman that has just graduated college and has now returned home while the rest of her friends have all found husbands. Aibileen is a black maid that works for one of Skeeter's two best friends, and Minny once worked for her other best friend Hilly's mom.
Skeeter definitely does not fit into the mold at her hometown Jackson, Mississippi, and she doesn't want to get married and have kids - she wants to be a writer but really has no clue how to go about it. However, she was very close to her maid Constance as a child, and there is a bit of a mystery about Constance's departure. This inspires her to want to speak to other maids and interview them about the dynamics involved in being the black help that basically raises the children but is looked down upon as inferior. Given the climate of the time (the novel takes place over a span of two years, beginning in 1962), this is a much more complicated task than Skeeter originally thought in her naivete.
Aibileen is the first to agree to help her, and later is also very important in getting others to assist. As the maid, Aibileen witnesses many conversations about race by the women of Jackson as if she weren't in the room. Many of these comments are naturally rather insulting. In addition to seeing the racial dynamics, the maids also see the different class issues at play, and the power struggles within the women's world. Hilly is the social dictator of Jackson, and Minny's new employer who is originally from a poor part of Mississippi and married to Hilly's former boyfriend does not understand that she will never be accepted by society due to her background.
While the novel focuses mainly on race, it is easy to see how everyone is constricted by the society and rules of the time. Elizabeth is clearly not interested in children or cut out to be a mother but since this was 1962, that was what was expected of her. Now, she is clearly miserable and makes those around her miserable. Skeeter also does not fit in and her mother is constantly picking on her to find a man. Hilly is trying to help her husband for a political seat but given her skill at intrigue, she probably would have been the better candidate. Maybe if she could have found a real challenge, she wouldn't be as intolerant and controlling as she ends up being.
I definitely enjoyed the novel but part of me also wonders what a black author might have written - after all, two of the main characters are black but the author is still a white woman. How different would the novel or the perspective have been if it had been written by a black woman? The mammy figure has been glorified for a long time now, but while this novel tries to give the mammy's side of the story, it's still a white woman's idea of the mammy's side of things.
In college I read a good non-fiction book about gender and race dynamics in the South called Making Whiteness in which the author explored the importance of black women in maintaining the myth and the idea of Southern white womanhood. Some of those ideas can also be seen at play in this novel - the white women can only be perfect wives because they have black women at home helping with the childrearing and housekeeping.
I've been wanting to read this for a while but I was waiting for it to be released in paperback or for the hardcover to go on sale. Once I started it, I was a little unsure to begin with since Aibileen is the first character to narrate, and I wasn't sure how to react to her dialect.
However, I ended up really, really liking the novel. The three narrators are Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Skeeter is a young white woman that has just graduated college and has now returned home while the rest of her friends have all found husbands. Aibileen is a black maid that works for one of Skeeter's two best friends, and Minny once worked for her other best friend Hilly's mom.
Skeeter definitely does not fit into the mold at her hometown Jackson, Mississippi, and she doesn't want to get married and have kids - she wants to be a writer but really has no clue how to go about it. However, she was very close to her maid Constance as a child, and there is a bit of a mystery about Constance's departure. This inspires her to want to speak to other maids and interview them about the dynamics involved in being the black help that basically raises the children but is looked down upon as inferior. Given the climate of the time (the novel takes place over a span of two years, beginning in 1962), this is a much more complicated task than Skeeter originally thought in her naivete.
Aibileen is the first to agree to help her, and later is also very important in getting others to assist. As the maid, Aibileen witnesses many conversations about race by the women of Jackson as if she weren't in the room. Many of these comments are naturally rather insulting. In addition to seeing the racial dynamics, the maids also see the different class issues at play, and the power struggles within the women's world. Hilly is the social dictator of Jackson, and Minny's new employer who is originally from a poor part of Mississippi and married to Hilly's former boyfriend does not understand that she will never be accepted by society due to her background.
While the novel focuses mainly on race, it is easy to see how everyone is constricted by the society and rules of the time. Elizabeth is clearly not interested in children or cut out to be a mother but since this was 1962, that was what was expected of her. Now, she is clearly miserable and makes those around her miserable. Skeeter also does not fit in and her mother is constantly picking on her to find a man. Hilly is trying to help her husband for a political seat but given her skill at intrigue, she probably would have been the better candidate. Maybe if she could have found a real challenge, she wouldn't be as intolerant and controlling as she ends up being.
I definitely enjoyed the novel but part of me also wonders what a black author might have written - after all, two of the main characters are black but the author is still a white woman. How different would the novel or the perspective have been if it had been written by a black woman? The mammy figure has been glorified for a long time now, but while this novel tries to give the mammy's side of the story, it's still a white woman's idea of the mammy's side of things.
In college I read a good non-fiction book about gender and race dynamics in the South called Making Whiteness in which the author explored the importance of black women in maintaining the myth and the idea of Southern white womanhood. Some of those ideas can also be seen at play in this novel - the white women can only be perfect wives because they have black women at home helping with the childrearing and housekeeping.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Book 38: Bonk
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach
I really enjoyed Stiff so it didn't take me long to pick up her other two books, Bonk and Spook. Since I've heard a lot more about Bonk, I read that one first. Like Stiff, Bonk is meticulously researched, and the information is presented with a nice amount of humor. Her research took her all over the world, including a penis surgeon in Asia and the pig inseminators in North Europe.
I had a few moments of epiphany while reading the book as well, where after reading a certain comment or section, I would just think, "oh, that explains . . ." (I'm not going to get too specific here since my dad reads this and really doesn't need to know). I also think it's very impressive that Roach was willing to participate in research as a subject if this would help her gain access to information.
Still, I think I preferred Stiff to Bonk. I think there are two reasons for this: it's much more fun to read about sex when you're actually having it on occasion. Instead, it was just a bitter reminder of what I'm not doing. Also, while Roach uncovered many things I didn't know about sex and sex research in the book, there were a few things I already was familiar with. I think part of the reason I liked Stiff so much is that I really had no clue about the topic (except for what I'd seen on Six Feet Under) - in comparison, I've already read The Technology of Orgasm, one book which she cited, and I've also read a biography of Kinsey. While these are only two of her sources, it still meant I already knew a little bit coming in so it wasn't quite as revealing and enlightening for me as Stiff.
However, it is still an incredibly entertaining and informative book, and I would definitely recommend it. I really think I was just bitter about all the fun everyone else was having with the research that I'm missing out on.
I really enjoyed Stiff so it didn't take me long to pick up her other two books, Bonk and Spook. Since I've heard a lot more about Bonk, I read that one first. Like Stiff, Bonk is meticulously researched, and the information is presented with a nice amount of humor. Her research took her all over the world, including a penis surgeon in Asia and the pig inseminators in North Europe.
I had a few moments of epiphany while reading the book as well, where after reading a certain comment or section, I would just think, "oh, that explains . . ." (I'm not going to get too specific here since my dad reads this and really doesn't need to know). I also think it's very impressive that Roach was willing to participate in research as a subject if this would help her gain access to information.
Still, I think I preferred Stiff to Bonk. I think there are two reasons for this: it's much more fun to read about sex when you're actually having it on occasion. Instead, it was just a bitter reminder of what I'm not doing. Also, while Roach uncovered many things I didn't know about sex and sex research in the book, there were a few things I already was familiar with. I think part of the reason I liked Stiff so much is that I really had no clue about the topic (except for what I'd seen on Six Feet Under) - in comparison, I've already read The Technology of Orgasm, one book which she cited, and I've also read a biography of Kinsey. While these are only two of her sources, it still meant I already knew a little bit coming in so it wasn't quite as revealing and enlightening for me as Stiff.
However, it is still an incredibly entertaining and informative book, and I would definitely recommend it. I really think I was just bitter about all the fun everyone else was having with the research that I'm missing out on.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
I Don't Know What to Say
I know I have spent a post or two on this blog bitching about my German grandfather and his lack of interest. I haven't, however, mentioned my non-grandparents on here before.
When we moved back to the States originally back in '97, we ended up living in Kirkland, WA for two years. There was an older couple across the street from us, and we quickly developed a relationship with them. After we moved to Illinois, we stayed in close contact with them, and since I still had other friends in Washington, I usually would spend my spring breaks there, and there was always a spare bedroom for me at their place.
Evelyn has had myriad of health problems over the years but she has always been very tough, and kept right on going. She already had a muscle deterioration disease when we met her, but she would still be outside gardening all the time, with whatever contraption necessary to help her stand up. It was amazing how much she would still continue to do despite real health problems when my grandmother (my dad's mom) who was younger would take naps all the time and talk about how sick she was when there was really nothing wrong with her.
Despite all these health problems, Dick and Evelyn drove down to Illinois when I graduated college and commissioned. Dick and my mom pinned my rank on me, and then my dad gave me my first salute. I have long been referred to as the grandkid (compare this to the biological grandfather that couldn't even drive an hour and a half to see me). They sent me a few packages when I was downrange, and sent me cards for all the holidays.
Last March, Evelyn was diagnosed with cancer, and given a six month life expectancy. I had just taken leave back to the States right before so I couldn't go back to see her at that time. It is now January, and while she has had good and bad days, she was still hanging on. I figured I would go see her once my class started and I got the schedule. Given everything else Evelyn has ever had, I really thought she would just keep on going. She took a turn for the worse yesterday, so I'm flying out to Seattle this weekend to see her. At the moment, she can't speak but understands what people are saying to her. While her husband told my mom she might only have a week, for me it is hard to believe that she won't pull through somehow since she has been surprising doctors for a very long time now.
My maternal grandmother died very suddenly, so none of us had a chance to say goodbye to her, and I wasn't close to my paternal grandfather (I didn't even attend the funeral). While I want to go, of course, there's also a part of me that doesn't want to see the feisty old lady I knew in a weakened state. I've never had to deal with this kind of stuff before, which makes me rather fortunate.
When we moved back to the States originally back in '97, we ended up living in Kirkland, WA for two years. There was an older couple across the street from us, and we quickly developed a relationship with them. After we moved to Illinois, we stayed in close contact with them, and since I still had other friends in Washington, I usually would spend my spring breaks there, and there was always a spare bedroom for me at their place.
Evelyn has had myriad of health problems over the years but she has always been very tough, and kept right on going. She already had a muscle deterioration disease when we met her, but she would still be outside gardening all the time, with whatever contraption necessary to help her stand up. It was amazing how much she would still continue to do despite real health problems when my grandmother (my dad's mom) who was younger would take naps all the time and talk about how sick she was when there was really nothing wrong with her.
Despite all these health problems, Dick and Evelyn drove down to Illinois when I graduated college and commissioned. Dick and my mom pinned my rank on me, and then my dad gave me my first salute. I have long been referred to as the grandkid (compare this to the biological grandfather that couldn't even drive an hour and a half to see me). They sent me a few packages when I was downrange, and sent me cards for all the holidays.
Last March, Evelyn was diagnosed with cancer, and given a six month life expectancy. I had just taken leave back to the States right before so I couldn't go back to see her at that time. It is now January, and while she has had good and bad days, she was still hanging on. I figured I would go see her once my class started and I got the schedule. Given everything else Evelyn has ever had, I really thought she would just keep on going. She took a turn for the worse yesterday, so I'm flying out to Seattle this weekend to see her. At the moment, she can't speak but understands what people are saying to her. While her husband told my mom she might only have a week, for me it is hard to believe that she won't pull through somehow since she has been surprising doctors for a very long time now.
My maternal grandmother died very suddenly, so none of us had a chance to say goodbye to her, and I wasn't close to my paternal grandfather (I didn't even attend the funeral). While I want to go, of course, there's also a part of me that doesn't want to see the feisty old lady I knew in a weakened state. I've never had to deal with this kind of stuff before, which makes me rather fortunate.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Book 37: The Death of Vishnu
The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri
I've noticed that whenever I start to fall behind on reviews, it tends to be because there will be that one book that I don't know how to react to or what to say about it. The Death of Vishnu is one of those for me. I picked it up based on the recommendation of my friend Jak, and I enjoyed reading it but I've noticed I always have a hard time articulating my thoughts when I read literature about other cultures (I enjoy reading post-colonial lit, but as I said, sometimes it can be hard for me to critique).
A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that I'm really not that familiar with the culture, and while I read these novels to learn about the culture, it isn't the same as growing up in it. So a lot of it is due to familiarity or lack thereof. For example, while reading about the bickering housewives in this novel, it reminded me of Thirty Umrigar's Bombay Times (I really enjoy this author). However, I'm not sure if I were reading an American or English novel with bickering housewives, I would immediately think, "hey, that reminds me of all these other American authors." When I read Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngochi Adichie, I noticed the back cover and Amazon displayed several quotes comparing her to Chinua Achebe and I couldn't help but wonder if this comparison was being drawn simply because they were both from Nigeria. I've also seen comments online about how it is hard to get books translated or published in English about other cultures, along the lines of "oh, you wrote a novel about a disillusioned Indian? We already have one of those" even if there might be a hundred written and published about a disillusioned American (I'm paraphrasing and staying rather general here since I don't remember where I read this).
Anyway, since there are of course fewer novels available to English-speaking readers about India than there are about America or England, it might be harder not to start comparing them subconsciously or drawing connections. Also, instead of reading the novel, and drawing comparisons to real-life people one knows, it is easier to compare them to other characters. If that makes any sense at all.
Anyway, I've been avoiding this review for about two weeks for above stated reasons, so some things are already becoming a little fuzzy. The novel is about the dynamics of an apartment complex in Bombay. One of the characters, Vishnu, the "errand man" who lives on the stairs is dying, and the novel deals with the few days during which he lay dying. For the most part, his dying is seen as an annoyance and an embarrassment even, since now company has to pass a dying man on the way to visit. While Vishnu adds some more reasons for arguments into the mix, for the most part, life goes on as normal. On one floor, two families have apartments and they share a kitchen. This has led to a type of warfare between the two housewives. One of the families has an eighteen year old daughter who is seeing the Muslim boy from upstairs against her parents' wishes. The last resident is a widower, whose wife died several years ago after only a short but loving marriage (I liked him the most), and then of course there are various servants and workers that make appearances throughout the novel.
The Muslim husband has always been more of an intellectual but in the last few months he has been acting very odd, worrying his wife. It turns out he is on a quest to find religion and God, and he is the one that has the idea that the dying Vishnu is actually the God Vishnu. Vishnu hears this, and starts believing it as well as he lies on the stair threshold, reflecting upon his life.
In addition to class divisions, religion continues to play a large role, and the only time the two bickering housewives bond is when they bitch about the Muslim housewife upstairs. The teenagers in the novel are rather ridiculous and have completely unrealistic ideas of life. As I said, I enjoyed the widower's reflections on his life as well as Vishnu's memories the most. I also felt very sympathetic towards the Muslim wife who loves her husband but probably ended up with someone she was rather incompatible with. In comparison, the other two housewives seemed much less developed as characters.
The ending is rather dark. It was hard to really relate to any of the characters too much because while they definitely have things that are relatable they also act oddly on occasion - it was easier to maintain a certain amount of distance from everyone. I think Umrigar's characters in Bombay Times, which is also about an apartment building, are easier to relate to even with all their flaws. And there I go comparing again.
I've noticed that whenever I start to fall behind on reviews, it tends to be because there will be that one book that I don't know how to react to or what to say about it. The Death of Vishnu is one of those for me. I picked it up based on the recommendation of my friend Jak, and I enjoyed reading it but I've noticed I always have a hard time articulating my thoughts when I read literature about other cultures (I enjoy reading post-colonial lit, but as I said, sometimes it can be hard for me to critique).
A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that I'm really not that familiar with the culture, and while I read these novels to learn about the culture, it isn't the same as growing up in it. So a lot of it is due to familiarity or lack thereof. For example, while reading about the bickering housewives in this novel, it reminded me of Thirty Umrigar's Bombay Times (I really enjoy this author). However, I'm not sure if I were reading an American or English novel with bickering housewives, I would immediately think, "hey, that reminds me of all these other American authors." When I read Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngochi Adichie, I noticed the back cover and Amazon displayed several quotes comparing her to Chinua Achebe and I couldn't help but wonder if this comparison was being drawn simply because they were both from Nigeria. I've also seen comments online about how it is hard to get books translated or published in English about other cultures, along the lines of "oh, you wrote a novel about a disillusioned Indian? We already have one of those" even if there might be a hundred written and published about a disillusioned American (I'm paraphrasing and staying rather general here since I don't remember where I read this).
Anyway, since there are of course fewer novels available to English-speaking readers about India than there are about America or England, it might be harder not to start comparing them subconsciously or drawing connections. Also, instead of reading the novel, and drawing comparisons to real-life people one knows, it is easier to compare them to other characters. If that makes any sense at all.
Anyway, I've been avoiding this review for about two weeks for above stated reasons, so some things are already becoming a little fuzzy. The novel is about the dynamics of an apartment complex in Bombay. One of the characters, Vishnu, the "errand man" who lives on the stairs is dying, and the novel deals with the few days during which he lay dying. For the most part, his dying is seen as an annoyance and an embarrassment even, since now company has to pass a dying man on the way to visit. While Vishnu adds some more reasons for arguments into the mix, for the most part, life goes on as normal. On one floor, two families have apartments and they share a kitchen. This has led to a type of warfare between the two housewives. One of the families has an eighteen year old daughter who is seeing the Muslim boy from upstairs against her parents' wishes. The last resident is a widower, whose wife died several years ago after only a short but loving marriage (I liked him the most), and then of course there are various servants and workers that make appearances throughout the novel.
The Muslim husband has always been more of an intellectual but in the last few months he has been acting very odd, worrying his wife. It turns out he is on a quest to find religion and God, and he is the one that has the idea that the dying Vishnu is actually the God Vishnu. Vishnu hears this, and starts believing it as well as he lies on the stair threshold, reflecting upon his life.
In addition to class divisions, religion continues to play a large role, and the only time the two bickering housewives bond is when they bitch about the Muslim housewife upstairs. The teenagers in the novel are rather ridiculous and have completely unrealistic ideas of life. As I said, I enjoyed the widower's reflections on his life as well as Vishnu's memories the most. I also felt very sympathetic towards the Muslim wife who loves her husband but probably ended up with someone she was rather incompatible with. In comparison, the other two housewives seemed much less developed as characters.
The ending is rather dark. It was hard to really relate to any of the characters too much because while they definitely have things that are relatable they also act oddly on occasion - it was easier to maintain a certain amount of distance from everyone. I think Umrigar's characters in Bombay Times, which is also about an apartment building, are easier to relate to even with all their flaws. And there I go comparing again.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Book 36: Year of Wonders
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
I’ve never read Brooks’s novel March, which is probably her most well-known work. The main reason is that I never read Little Women as a child, and feel like I should probably get around to that classic before reading her vision of a character that plays an important role in the novel without ever appearing in it.
I have read her novel People of the Book, however, and really enjoyed it, and as a result was more than willing to pick up her first novel Year of Wonders when I saw it Barnes and Noble (since this was my first trip to Barnes and Noble in almost a year, I was very willing to pick up many books for very little reason . . .). I think I liked this one even more than her other novel. Also, being set in England in 1665/66, it actually had similarities to The Heretic’s Daughter, since both explore small communities reacting to circumstances that could make or break them and both deal with matters of faith and superstition.
Of course, for the most part, while Year of Wonders has moments that portray the evils of human nature, it also shows them at their best. After the plague comes to a remote mining village in England, the community decides to quarantine itself following the lead of their minister. Rather than attempt to escape or flee to other communities, the villagers all make an oath to remain there, thus containing the disease and preventing its spread throughout the area. A local earl agrees to provide them food for the entire time as they wait for the disease to run its course.
The novel begins after the plague has raged through the village, and killed many. The minister has lost his wife, and shut himself off from the rest of society, refusing to see anyone, including Elizabeth Bradford, daughter of the nobility and the one family in the area that chose to flee, and then never turned back or sent any aide to the village though they had the means to do so. Anna Frith, his servant, is the narrator, and after the opening, she takes the reader on a journey of the previous year.
Struggling for money after her husband’s death, Anna takes in a lodger, the tailor’s new assistant, a man that is both kind and generous but unfortunately, it is through him or a cloth he ordered that the plague comes to the village. While Anna herself survives (obviously), her home becomes ground zero for the disease and she loses both her children. After a few more deaths occur in the village, the inhabitants make their pact to remain together rather than flee.
For the most part, the community holds strong together and help each other, but they also turn on each other in their desire to find a cure and an explanation. As can be expected, the local healers are the first victims of this fear. Others quickly take advantage of their neighbors, charging them exorbitant amounts for services or using deaths and illnesses in families as a means of taking over their land and mines. Despite all this, the villagers stand by their pact. They may turn on each other and blame each other but they do not attempt to leave. Anna is especially impressed by the efforts and kindness of Elinor, the minister's wife and as the disease rages on, Elinor and Anna become close friends in their efforts to help their community.
The events in this novel were actually inspired by a true story, though Brooks said that there was not much documentation of the daily life within the plague village of Eyam. The characters are all fictional with the occasional "inspired by." As I said, it was rather simple story and many of the plotlines are rather predictable or at least recognizable, but I really, really liked this book. I think Brooks has a way of taking the old and cliched and making it seem real and new. And as I said, it might not be a bad follow up to The Heretic's Daughter if anyone liked that and wants to read more about small communities in the 17th century (even if this is takes place in England rather than the colonies).
I’ve never read Brooks’s novel March, which is probably her most well-known work. The main reason is that I never read Little Women as a child, and feel like I should probably get around to that classic before reading her vision of a character that plays an important role in the novel without ever appearing in it.
I have read her novel People of the Book, however, and really enjoyed it, and as a result was more than willing to pick up her first novel Year of Wonders when I saw it Barnes and Noble (since this was my first trip to Barnes and Noble in almost a year, I was very willing to pick up many books for very little reason . . .). I think I liked this one even more than her other novel. Also, being set in England in 1665/66, it actually had similarities to The Heretic’s Daughter, since both explore small communities reacting to circumstances that could make or break them and both deal with matters of faith and superstition.
Of course, for the most part, while Year of Wonders has moments that portray the evils of human nature, it also shows them at their best. After the plague comes to a remote mining village in England, the community decides to quarantine itself following the lead of their minister. Rather than attempt to escape or flee to other communities, the villagers all make an oath to remain there, thus containing the disease and preventing its spread throughout the area. A local earl agrees to provide them food for the entire time as they wait for the disease to run its course.
The novel begins after the plague has raged through the village, and killed many. The minister has lost his wife, and shut himself off from the rest of society, refusing to see anyone, including Elizabeth Bradford, daughter of the nobility and the one family in the area that chose to flee, and then never turned back or sent any aide to the village though they had the means to do so. Anna Frith, his servant, is the narrator, and after the opening, she takes the reader on a journey of the previous year.
Struggling for money after her husband’s death, Anna takes in a lodger, the tailor’s new assistant, a man that is both kind and generous but unfortunately, it is through him or a cloth he ordered that the plague comes to the village. While Anna herself survives (obviously), her home becomes ground zero for the disease and she loses both her children. After a few more deaths occur in the village, the inhabitants make their pact to remain together rather than flee.
For the most part, the community holds strong together and help each other, but they also turn on each other in their desire to find a cure and an explanation. As can be expected, the local healers are the first victims of this fear. Others quickly take advantage of their neighbors, charging them exorbitant amounts for services or using deaths and illnesses in families as a means of taking over their land and mines. Despite all this, the villagers stand by their pact. They may turn on each other and blame each other but they do not attempt to leave. Anna is especially impressed by the efforts and kindness of Elinor, the minister's wife and as the disease rages on, Elinor and Anna become close friends in their efforts to help their community.
The events in this novel were actually inspired by a true story, though Brooks said that there was not much documentation of the daily life within the plague village of Eyam. The characters are all fictional with the occasional "inspired by." As I said, it was rather simple story and many of the plotlines are rather predictable or at least recognizable, but I really, really liked this book. I think Brooks has a way of taking the old and cliched and making it seem real and new. And as I said, it might not be a bad follow up to The Heretic's Daughter if anyone liked that and wants to read more about small communities in the 17th century (even if this is takes place in England rather than the colonies).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)