Reading Wednesday... ON WEDNESDAY!
Nov. 22nd, 2017 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
Unforgivable Love by Sophfronia Scott. A retelling of Les Liaisons Dangereuses set in 1940s Harlem. There are some immediate differences from the original: it's not an epistolary novel, which I have mixed feelings about; on the one hand, I LOVE epistolary novels, but on the other hand the third-person limited POVs certainly allow Scott to dig deeper into characters' motivations and feelings. In addition, the Marquise de Merteuil (here Mae Malveaux, wealthy heir to a cosmetics fortune, the products all emblazoned with her baby photos) is less of a main character, replaced in her central role by Vicomte de Valmont (Valiant Jackson, equally wealthy club owner and number runner, though stymied in his life-long dream of owning a baseball team; as another character puts it, no one whose money comes from gambling is ever going to be allowed to buy a sports team) and Cécile de Volanges (Cecily, still an innocent young girl, though in this case her inexperience comes from being sent to live on the family farm in North Carolina rather than a convent). The relationship between Val and Madame de Tourvel (Elizabeth Townsend, a deeply religious woman married to an important civil rights lawyer who is currently away working on a case down South) probably takes up the largest page-count of any of this story's many subplots, with Scott working hard to show how two such different people could find a genuine connection, one deep and true enough to change both of their self-images.
The biggest difference, though, is one of tone; Les Liaisons Dangereuses revels in its characters' remorseless evil, and isn't particularly interested in giving them tragic backstories to account for their actions. The Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont are terrible, terrible people, but by God they're fun to watch. Unforgivable Love not only gives them those explanatory childhoods, but by making Elizabeth and Cecily equal narrators, shifts the focus from badass villains to normal people struggling with ethical choices. There's a general tone of redemption, of hopefulness, of the possibility of making good out of this tragedy. Which I can't really argue with as a philosophical standpoint, but it's not what I come to Les Liaisons Dangereuses for. It also contrasts harshly with some of the actions required by the plot; Cecily and Val's first sexual encounter in particular is incredibly uncomfortable to read, given that it's described in no uncertain terms as rape, yet Cecily gets over it immediately and happily returns to sleeping with Val.
I also think the book's page-count of 500-plus was probably unnecessary; certainly there's a lot of twists and turns in this story, not to mention a fairly large cast of characters, but Unforgivable Love felt like it dragged in parts, particularly compared to the slim swift-moving original novel.
But I feel like I'm complaining a lot here, and I didn't actually dislike Unforgivable Love. I love a good modern-AU fanfic (which is essentially what this is), and the analogies Scott has found for the characters' roles are clever and well-suited. Many of the descriptions of settings are absolutely lovely, from Harlem's jazz clubs to a rural farm to the lush grounds of an upstate mansion where much of the book takes place. Cecily's character arc of slowly coming to understand and accept her own sexuality is brilliant and well-written.
I love Les Liaisons Dangereuses and will always be interested in retellings of it. Part of my disappointment with Unforgivable Love might simply be that my expectations were far too high. But even if it's not everything I wanted, it's well worth reading, and I hope it does well.
What are you currently reading?
Still working on Everfair by Nisi Shawl. I've got some critiques, but it's a good book overall.
Unforgivable Love by Sophfronia Scott. A retelling of Les Liaisons Dangereuses set in 1940s Harlem. There are some immediate differences from the original: it's not an epistolary novel, which I have mixed feelings about; on the one hand, I LOVE epistolary novels, but on the other hand the third-person limited POVs certainly allow Scott to dig deeper into characters' motivations and feelings. In addition, the Marquise de Merteuil (here Mae Malveaux, wealthy heir to a cosmetics fortune, the products all emblazoned with her baby photos) is less of a main character, replaced in her central role by Vicomte de Valmont (Valiant Jackson, equally wealthy club owner and number runner, though stymied in his life-long dream of owning a baseball team; as another character puts it, no one whose money comes from gambling is ever going to be allowed to buy a sports team) and Cécile de Volanges (Cecily, still an innocent young girl, though in this case her inexperience comes from being sent to live on the family farm in North Carolina rather than a convent). The relationship between Val and Madame de Tourvel (Elizabeth Townsend, a deeply religious woman married to an important civil rights lawyer who is currently away working on a case down South) probably takes up the largest page-count of any of this story's many subplots, with Scott working hard to show how two such different people could find a genuine connection, one deep and true enough to change both of their self-images.
The biggest difference, though, is one of tone; Les Liaisons Dangereuses revels in its characters' remorseless evil, and isn't particularly interested in giving them tragic backstories to account for their actions. The Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont are terrible, terrible people, but by God they're fun to watch. Unforgivable Love not only gives them those explanatory childhoods, but by making Elizabeth and Cecily equal narrators, shifts the focus from badass villains to normal people struggling with ethical choices. There's a general tone of redemption, of hopefulness, of the possibility of making good out of this tragedy. Which I can't really argue with as a philosophical standpoint, but it's not what I come to Les Liaisons Dangereuses for. It also contrasts harshly with some of the actions required by the plot; Cecily and Val's first sexual encounter in particular is incredibly uncomfortable to read, given that it's described in no uncertain terms as rape, yet Cecily gets over it immediately and happily returns to sleeping with Val.
I also think the book's page-count of 500-plus was probably unnecessary; certainly there's a lot of twists and turns in this story, not to mention a fairly large cast of characters, but Unforgivable Love felt like it dragged in parts, particularly compared to the slim swift-moving original novel.
But I feel like I'm complaining a lot here, and I didn't actually dislike Unforgivable Love. I love a good modern-AU fanfic (which is essentially what this is), and the analogies Scott has found for the characters' roles are clever and well-suited. Many of the descriptions of settings are absolutely lovely, from Harlem's jazz clubs to a rural farm to the lush grounds of an upstate mansion where much of the book takes place. Cecily's character arc of slowly coming to understand and accept her own sexuality is brilliant and well-written.
I love Les Liaisons Dangereuses and will always be interested in retellings of it. Part of my disappointment with Unforgivable Love might simply be that my expectations were far too high. But even if it's not everything I wanted, it's well worth reading, and I hope it does well.
What are you currently reading?
Still working on Everfair by Nisi Shawl. I've got some critiques, but it's a good book overall.
