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Reading Wednesday
Jan. 28th, 2015 04:18 pmWhat did you just finish?
Finding Emilie by Laurel Corona. Émilie du Châtelet was a French noblewoman in the early 1700s, most remembered for her translation and commentary on Newton's works, and for being Voltaire's longtime lover and supporter. In real life, she had a daughter who died in infancy not long after Émilie's own death. This novel explores what might have happened if the daughter had lived. Lili – the daughter – is raised by a family friend, shares her mother's interests in activities outside of what is socially approved for women, and struggles to uncover the secrets of her mother's life.
Or at least that's what the cover promises. In terms of what Corona actually wrote, Lili occasionally mentions having other interests, but the last third of the book is entirely given up to her very standard romantic drama, complete with an epilogue that assures us she has lots of beautiful children and a happy family life (though apparently she's stopped writing, her one 'socially unapproved' interest, because who cares about that, right?). No one really attempts to hide her mother's life from her so much as they don't frequently mention advanced physics to a seven-year-old because... why would you? Occasionally the narrative stops for a brief flashback to Émilie's life, none of which are long enough to be engaging and tell you only as much as you already knew from Lili's plotline. These bits apparently exist just so you can get the sense that Corona would much rather have written a book about Émilie, but for some reason felt obliged to make a fictional character instead. Also, there seem to have been absolutely no social, political, or cultural changes in the forty years between Émilie's life and Lili's. And speaking of social changes, I'm sadly impressed by how little the French Revolution is alluded to, for a book about French aristocracy in the 1760s. I think there might be two sentences of "oh, yeah, poverty! I guess it exists!" in the whole thing.
I was irritated by Lili's attitude to Delphine, who is supposedly her best friend and adopted sister, because Delphine is into fashion and boys, and of course Lili is much better than all of that. When your main character is disdainful and patronizing even to her 'best friend', I am not sympathetic. Overall, the writing style is simplistic and doesn't really engage with the issues that it wants to. Which is too bad, because it has a lovely cover and I really wanted to enjoy it.
Psmith in the City by P.G. Wodehouse. More of the Mike and Psmith series! This time they have both (for different reasons) dropped out of college and gotten jobs at a bank. There is still lots of cricket (unfortunately), overly elaborate snarkiness (better), and people rescuing one another (the best).
What are you currently reading?
The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century by Claire Prentice, which I am almost finished with and which unfortunately was very disappointing.
Finding Emilie by Laurel Corona. Émilie du Châtelet was a French noblewoman in the early 1700s, most remembered for her translation and commentary on Newton's works, and for being Voltaire's longtime lover and supporter. In real life, she had a daughter who died in infancy not long after Émilie's own death. This novel explores what might have happened if the daughter had lived. Lili – the daughter – is raised by a family friend, shares her mother's interests in activities outside of what is socially approved for women, and struggles to uncover the secrets of her mother's life.
Or at least that's what the cover promises. In terms of what Corona actually wrote, Lili occasionally mentions having other interests, but the last third of the book is entirely given up to her very standard romantic drama, complete with an epilogue that assures us she has lots of beautiful children and a happy family life (though apparently she's stopped writing, her one 'socially unapproved' interest, because who cares about that, right?). No one really attempts to hide her mother's life from her so much as they don't frequently mention advanced physics to a seven-year-old because... why would you? Occasionally the narrative stops for a brief flashback to Émilie's life, none of which are long enough to be engaging and tell you only as much as you already knew from Lili's plotline. These bits apparently exist just so you can get the sense that Corona would much rather have written a book about Émilie, but for some reason felt obliged to make a fictional character instead. Also, there seem to have been absolutely no social, political, or cultural changes in the forty years between Émilie's life and Lili's. And speaking of social changes, I'm sadly impressed by how little the French Revolution is alluded to, for a book about French aristocracy in the 1760s. I think there might be two sentences of "oh, yeah, poverty! I guess it exists!" in the whole thing.
I was irritated by Lili's attitude to Delphine, who is supposedly her best friend and adopted sister, because Delphine is into fashion and boys, and of course Lili is much better than all of that. When your main character is disdainful and patronizing even to her 'best friend', I am not sympathetic. Overall, the writing style is simplistic and doesn't really engage with the issues that it wants to. Which is too bad, because it has a lovely cover and I really wanted to enjoy it.
Psmith in the City by P.G. Wodehouse. More of the Mike and Psmith series! This time they have both (for different reasons) dropped out of college and gotten jobs at a bank. There is still lots of cricket (unfortunately), overly elaborate snarkiness (better), and people rescuing one another (the best).
What are you currently reading?
The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century by Claire Prentice, which I am almost finished with and which unfortunately was very disappointing.
