Incredibly Late Reading Wednesday
Oct. 12th, 2015 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin. The second book in a fantasy trilogy, though it's only connected to the first book by being set in the same world; many of the characters and specific locations are new. Oree is a blind painter and craftswoman living in the city of Shadow, where gods are almost as common as mortals. Even her ex-boyfriend is a god! She also has a weird, silent homeless man living in her house, whom she'd assume is a human, except for the fact that any time he dies (which he does frequently), he immediately resurrects. When another god is murdered, Oree comes to the attention of the forces of the local police state, than a mysterious and powerful cult, and finally the rulers of her world.
It took me a long, long time to get into this book; for something like the first 200 pages, I simply wasn't grabbed by it, even though a lot of the tropes are personal favorites (street urchins! artists! established relationship! interesting magic! angsty secret backstories!). But once I liked it, I really liked it. Much more than the first book, in fact. I don't know exactly what changed, but at some point I couldn't put it down, and got really emotional invested in the characters.
The ending did make me suspect one of Jemisin's personal favorite tropes is "insanely power imbalanced god/mortal woman relationship", which uh, is not my cup of tea, to put it mildly. But good for her! Embrace that id.
I also didn't like Jemisin's portrayal of the main character's blindness. I was really intrigued by having a blind character (full disclosure: I'm blind in one eye), but it never felt very believable; she still thought in a very visual way, and it just didn't seem to have had any affect on her. The blindness was depicted in such a vague, unspecific way that it took me until very end of the book to even figure out how blind she was (since "blindness" is a rather large category from 'legally blind' at one end to 'complete darkness' at the very other). I also feel like it's sort of cheating to decide to have a blind POV character, and then let her "see" magic and have magic in something like 95% of the scenes, so you can treat them exactly the same as if you had a sighted POV character.
But despite these qualms, I did end up highly enjoying the book, and recommend it.
Eat Him If You Like by Jean Teule. Translated from French by Emily Phillips. In a small town in rural France in 1870, a drunken mob accused an innocent man of being a Prussian spy, and attacked and killed him, then (according to legend) ate him. This novella is a fictional retelling of the event. I figured it would be gory, but hey, Halloween is coming up! I wanted a scary book to read.
Oh, friends. What a terrible choice. First of all, there's the writing, which is incredibly stilted, to the point of being laughable. I'm not sure whether to blame the translator or if the problem was already there in the original, but someone really should have fixed it. For example:
‘What a lot of people have come for the Saint-Roch fair this year! Don’t you agree, Antoine Léchelle?’
‘Oh, good day, Monsieur de Monéys. Yes, I’ve never seen such a crowd. Twice as many people as usual. Six or seven hundred, they say, which is surprising in a village of just forty-five souls. The crowds stretch right to the other side of the village and the fair goes down to the dried-up lake.’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if all the inhabitants of all the surrounding hamlets had decided to gather here today. Probably everyone within a fifteen-mile radius has turned up.'
YEP THAT IS DEFINITELY HOW ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS SPEAK. A huge amount of the first chapters are this sort of info-dumping, in between sickly-sweet emphasizing of what a good person our main character is, such that it would be over the top if it was describing a Disney princess. The middle and end of the book are entirely devoted to endless descriptions of torture, to the point where it becomes almost ridiculous. Although there is sex scene to interrupt the violence:
Her soft pubic hair rippled gently, clear as day, with an inviting innocence. She sat
on the trough with her legs apart, her labia laughing like a clown’s grin. The paleness of her belly could only have been stolen from the moon. It drove the boy wild. Desire swelled in his breeches like a mushroom in a field.
...yeah. To be fair, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything other than "endless descriptions of torture" from a book with this plot, but I guess I thought there would be a plot, suspense, explanations. Anything other than a badly done written version of grimdark torture porn.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Mort by Terry Pratchett. The first Death book! And like Granny Weatherwax in Equal Rites, Death here doesn't quite feel like Death later, but overall this book is much more of a "Discworld" book, if that makes sense. There's the mix of comedy with deep insights (this book is both funnier, and takes on vastly more serious topics, than the first three), some long-running themes (like stories having their own shape which resists change; what people see being determined by what they expect to see; that "justice" and "fairness" are concepts just as imaginary and human-invented as the Tooth Fairy) are introduced, the worldbuilding is more recognizable and deeper. And, on a petty level, there are footnotes! The Death books have always been my favorites, though I had somehow managed to entirely forget Albert's backstory, so that was a nice surprise in a book that otherwise felt like a well-known friend.
It occurs to me that I haven't actually been summarizing the Discworld books, mainly because I kind of assumed everyone reading this had already read them. But that's not true, and I should do so! Mort: Death (as in, the Grim Reaper, the skeleton with a scythe, the literal anthropomorphic personification of mortality) takes an apprentice, who happens to be an ordinary farm boy named Mort. Why did Death do this? Possibly with the intention of finding a friend/husband for his adopted daughter. Or maybe because Death is having an existential crisis, and was hoping to actually, somehow, retire. But the reasons don't matter once Mort, due to a teenage crush, does not kill the Princess who's due to die, altering the course of history and possibly tearing the fabric of space and time. Together, theyfix things almost destroy the universe!
What are you currently reading?
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Another book I decided to read mainly because it's October. I'm not sure the horror genre usually includes realistic Nazis, but hey, they're scary to me.
The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin. The second book in a fantasy trilogy, though it's only connected to the first book by being set in the same world; many of the characters and specific locations are new. Oree is a blind painter and craftswoman living in the city of Shadow, where gods are almost as common as mortals. Even her ex-boyfriend is a god! She also has a weird, silent homeless man living in her house, whom she'd assume is a human, except for the fact that any time he dies (which he does frequently), he immediately resurrects. When another god is murdered, Oree comes to the attention of the forces of the local police state, than a mysterious and powerful cult, and finally the rulers of her world.
It took me a long, long time to get into this book; for something like the first 200 pages, I simply wasn't grabbed by it, even though a lot of the tropes are personal favorites (street urchins! artists! established relationship! interesting magic! angsty secret backstories!). But once I liked it, I really liked it. Much more than the first book, in fact. I don't know exactly what changed, but at some point I couldn't put it down, and got really emotional invested in the characters.
The ending did make me suspect one of Jemisin's personal favorite tropes is "insanely power imbalanced god/mortal woman relationship", which uh, is not my cup of tea, to put it mildly. But good for her! Embrace that id.
I also didn't like Jemisin's portrayal of the main character's blindness. I was really intrigued by having a blind character (full disclosure: I'm blind in one eye), but it never felt very believable; she still thought in a very visual way, and it just didn't seem to have had any affect on her. The blindness was depicted in such a vague, unspecific way that it took me until very end of the book to even figure out how blind she was (since "blindness" is a rather large category from 'legally blind' at one end to 'complete darkness' at the very other). I also feel like it's sort of cheating to decide to have a blind POV character, and then let her "see" magic and have magic in something like 95% of the scenes, so you can treat them exactly the same as if you had a sighted POV character.
But despite these qualms, I did end up highly enjoying the book, and recommend it.
Eat Him If You Like by Jean Teule. Translated from French by Emily Phillips. In a small town in rural France in 1870, a drunken mob accused an innocent man of being a Prussian spy, and attacked and killed him, then (according to legend) ate him. This novella is a fictional retelling of the event. I figured it would be gory, but hey, Halloween is coming up! I wanted a scary book to read.
Oh, friends. What a terrible choice. First of all, there's the writing, which is incredibly stilted, to the point of being laughable. I'm not sure whether to blame the translator or if the problem was already there in the original, but someone really should have fixed it. For example:
‘What a lot of people have come for the Saint-Roch fair this year! Don’t you agree, Antoine Léchelle?’
‘Oh, good day, Monsieur de Monéys. Yes, I’ve never seen such a crowd. Twice as many people as usual. Six or seven hundred, they say, which is surprising in a village of just forty-five souls. The crowds stretch right to the other side of the village and the fair goes down to the dried-up lake.’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if all the inhabitants of all the surrounding hamlets had decided to gather here today. Probably everyone within a fifteen-mile radius has turned up.'
YEP THAT IS DEFINITELY HOW ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS SPEAK. A huge amount of the first chapters are this sort of info-dumping, in between sickly-sweet emphasizing of what a good person our main character is, such that it would be over the top if it was describing a Disney princess. The middle and end of the book are entirely devoted to endless descriptions of torture, to the point where it becomes almost ridiculous. Although there is sex scene to interrupt the violence:
Her soft pubic hair rippled gently, clear as day, with an inviting innocence. She sat
on the trough with her legs apart, her labia laughing like a clown’s grin. The paleness of her belly could only have been stolen from the moon. It drove the boy wild. Desire swelled in his breeches like a mushroom in a field.
...yeah. To be fair, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything other than "endless descriptions of torture" from a book with this plot, but I guess I thought there would be a plot, suspense, explanations. Anything other than a badly done written version of grimdark torture porn.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Mort by Terry Pratchett. The first Death book! And like Granny Weatherwax in Equal Rites, Death here doesn't quite feel like Death later, but overall this book is much more of a "Discworld" book, if that makes sense. There's the mix of comedy with deep insights (this book is both funnier, and takes on vastly more serious topics, than the first three), some long-running themes (like stories having their own shape which resists change; what people see being determined by what they expect to see; that "justice" and "fairness" are concepts just as imaginary and human-invented as the Tooth Fairy) are introduced, the worldbuilding is more recognizable and deeper. And, on a petty level, there are footnotes! The Death books have always been my favorites, though I had somehow managed to entirely forget Albert's backstory, so that was a nice surprise in a book that otherwise felt like a well-known friend.
It occurs to me that I haven't actually been summarizing the Discworld books, mainly because I kind of assumed everyone reading this had already read them. But that's not true, and I should do so! Mort: Death (as in, the Grim Reaper, the skeleton with a scythe, the literal anthropomorphic personification of mortality) takes an apprentice, who happens to be an ordinary farm boy named Mort. Why did Death do this? Possibly with the intention of finding a friend/husband for his adopted daughter. Or maybe because Death is having an existential crisis, and was hoping to actually, somehow, retire. But the reasons don't matter once Mort, due to a teenage crush, does not kill the Princess who's due to die, altering the course of history and possibly tearing the fabric of space and time. Together, they
What are you currently reading?
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Another book I decided to read mainly because it's October. I'm not sure the horror genre usually includes realistic Nazis, but hey, they're scary to me.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 04:44 am (UTC)CLOWN LABIA. TERRIFYING.
Also, how the hell does pubic hair ripple? I mean, is it in little pig-tails, like a warped Swiss Miss gone mad?! Is it weirdly long, like Rapunzle pubic hair? Is someone going to make it into rope?!
I know, back away from the metaphor before someone gets hurt, but I can't seem to stop.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 04:49 am (UTC)And this scene was set indoors, so I presume there wasn't a strong wind or anything.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 04:51 am (UTC)The ending did make me suspect one of Jemisin's personal favorite tropes is "insanely power imbalanced god/mortal woman relationship", which uh, is not my cup of tea, to put it mildly
Saaame. And I think that's part of the not-clicking above.
Oh god, that sex scene quote. Those similes... XD
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 07:46 am (UTC)The only Terry Pratchett book I've read is Hogfather, and "I like Death" is about the only thing I can say about Discworld. One day I'll remedy that. Mort sounds like something I would like.
I also feel like it's sort of cheating to decide to have a blind POV character, and then let her "see" magic and have magic in something like 95% of the scenes, so you can treat them exactly the same as if you had a sighted POV character.
I would feel disappointed by that, too. Have you used your experience with blindness at all in writing fiction?
I vaguely remember really liking The Plot Against America right up until the very end (though if I read it again I might be more sympathetic to the ending). It left me with permanent residual warm feelings for Walter Winchell.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 10:40 am (UTC)I've been considering the Jemisin books, but I'm not always a fan of the vaguely medieval-city-remix-with-magic-thing that is popular (unless it comes from KJ Parker). So maybe...
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 02:19 pm (UTC)And--
But--
CLOWN LABIA.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 02:31 pm (UTC)Yup.
I feel ashamed on behalf of my language, because WHAT IS THAT.
Mort! I love your Discworld reread.
Realistic Nazis are scary to me too.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 04:03 pm (UTC)SWELLING LIKE MUSHROOMS.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 04:06 pm (UTC)Same. I did like this one enough that I'm planning to seek out the third in the trilogy, though. Have you read it?
Oh god, that sex scene quote. Those similes...
I KNOW. I figured if I had to suffer through it, so do all of you! :D
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 04:48 pm (UTC)Well, I do feel richer for having encountered the clown labia image, so, uh, thank you? XP
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 06:15 pm (UTC)I think maybe the author means how some ppl have more wavy-than-curly pubic hair, it looks a little ripply?
"Clear as day" confused me - is her hair translucent? Is she albino or otherwise very lightly pigmented? Or did he mean he could see bw her legs very readily, what with the clown mouth she had going on in there?
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 08:03 pm (UTC)Jemisin is more urban fantasy than vaguely-medieval fantasy, if that helps. I mean, it's certainly not set in the real world, but the feel is definitely more similar to True Blood or Anita Blake than Tolkien or G.R.R. Martin.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 08:07 pm (UTC)Hogfather is one of my very favorite Discworld books! (In fact, I might have to skip it when I reach that spot in this reread project, since I suspect I've reread it too often, and now need to wait a few years to let the magic seep back into it.)
Have you used your experience with blindness at all in writing fiction?
I never have before, but reading The Broken Kingdoms has made me really curious to experiment with it, now. I think I might end up writing a story soon where I try to a POV that doesn't use visual metaphors and language (in Jemisin's defense, I suspect it's much harder than it looks).
I vaguely remember really liking The Plot Against America right up until the very end (though if I read it again I might be more sympathetic to the ending).
Good to know! I'm curious to see how I'll react.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 08:09 pm (UTC)We could blame the translator instead!
I love your Discworld reread.
Aww, thank you. :)
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 08:11 pm (UTC)I have no idea! She's certainly not blonde or albino. I keep trying to read "clear as day" as meaning "obviously" (like, metaphorically clear), but that doesn't really make sense in context either.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 09:33 pm (UTC)We made fun of that Eat Him... book when it came into the shop I worked at. Feel so justified now.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 10:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-12 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-13 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-14 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-14 04:09 pm (UTC)