Hagar

[brigdh]

I meant to include this in yesterday's Reading Wednesday, but then I forgot, oops. And since I don't want to wait until next Wednesday (and possibly forget again...), let's just do this now!

Has anyone read Hagar, the new Benjamin January short story? And by short story, I don't mean fic, I mean a real canonical story, by Barbara Hambly! If you have not yet read it, it's up for sale on her webpage here. Hagar is set during Good Man Friday, but is set back on a plantation in Louisiana, where Rose, Hannibal, and Livia investigate a murder. IT IS SO GOOD YOU GUYS. SO GOOD.

I really love Rose's POV and hope we continue to get more written in it (I assume the books will probably stick to Ben's POV, but more short stories!). And maybe one in Hannibal's, someday? I don't know; he might not actually make a very good narrator. It's also a very good story if you ship Rose/Hannibal, and I totally do. But the best thing about this story is everything that happens with Livia, which is just amazing, and ahhhhh, it's so good.

So, has anyone else read it? I want to talk!

Comments

[sholio]

I fiiiiinally remembered to buy this and read it! And I really enjoyed it, of course. :D It's really kind of amazing what a different view of the world and the other characters we get from Rose's point of view (even her word choices are different, I think; she tends to throw in words like "lacuna" that really don't sound like Ben-voice at all to me). But yeah, this is a really different look at Livia than anything we get from Ben's view (or probably could get from Ben's view). Even though I suspect Livia would be an absolute nightmare of a mother-in-law, I definitely get the feeling that Rose's feelings are warmer towards her than Ben's -- that painful history of betrayal/rejection isn't there for them, and Rose, I think, kind of gets Livia in a way that Ben doesn't. Ben is an idealist, but both Livia and Rose are more practical; Livia is a much more ruthless in her practicality than Rose could ever be, but there's still a certain amount of ... not camaraderie really, but fellow-feeling. It's also fascinating in light of our past discussion about Livia to find out how much warmth she still feels for Ben's father, even after all the intervening years and the relationships she's had since then.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's really kind of amazing what a different view of the world and the other characters we get from Rose's point of view (even her word choices are different, I think; she tends to throw in words like "lacuna" that really don't sound like Ben-voice at all to me)
Yes, I agree! I mean, the climax of this story centers around the piece of knowledge that Livia has (and Ben presumably would also) but Rose doesn't, and I do find that interesting, but it's also great that their differences aren't just about their life-histories. (Though I mean, that in and of itself is pretty fascinating, and I really liked Ben's speculation in Crimson Angel on how Rose having never been a slave makes some things about themselves forever alien to each other.) They also have such different personalities; Rose is much less emotional and just generally more detached and analytical than Ben ever is. She also seems to have very different expectations than he does; Ben is generally surprised when someone does something terrible, but Rose isn't. I don't know if "take it in stride" is quite the right phrase, but she certainly doesn't seem startled by bad situations.

And yeah, I can totally see the parallels between Rose and Livia. Practical is a great word for it. I think Livia also approves of Rose, as much as she complained about the marriage at first. I don't think she would have given her the ledger or told her about Ben's father otherwise. I wonder if Livia's intention in telling her was for Rose to pass the information on to Ben (which I suppose she will, though it seems like a difficult thing to talk about) or Baby John, or if it was a way to sort of confirm Rose as a member of the family, by telling her about their history.