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Mar. 5th, 2009 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsPamela Dean is one of those authors who has some very specific quirks-verging-on-flaws, and whether or not you like her depends a lot on whether or not you like those quirks. Her characters are all unnaturally well-read and often talk in quotes, there are long passages that serve no plot purpose talking about people's reactions to books and plays, and the plot tends to kind of whoomch in at you at the very end after a long period of slow daily-life buildup getting to know the characters. Anyone who has read Tam Lin knows all this, and anyone who likes Tam Lin probably likes all this! I mean, speaking for myself, I love reading about what characters are thinking about Shakespeare, so if Pamela Dean wants to have a full chapter of people talking about how annoyed they are with Brutus, I am certainly not going to complain - though I can totally understand how people would!
Anyways, my point here is that Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary has all of those same quirks/flaws, except even moreso. Instead of just bandying quotes around one character talks entirely in quotes, there is internal poetry and chapters dedicated entirely to Shakespeare and, oh yes, most of the actual plot takes place in aroun thirty pages at the end, which last I will admit I found sort of frustrating here even though I was cool with it in Tam Lin.
Honestly I kind of found the whole book a little frustrating - but at the same time, I was enjoying it tremendously and really enjoyed reading it! It's a great book for the Bechdel Test, for a start. Although the titular Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary are sisters, the real focus of the book is on Gentian and her close-knit group of friends, the Giant Ants - the dynamics between them and the realistic friend-group politics, the dorky traditions that tie them together and the things that are pushing them apart as they get older. I loved what of the sister-dynamic we got, and I loved the Giant Ants and I would happily have read a book just about them even without bringing in the Lurking Possible Supernaturalness of Creepy Dominic Next Door (Who Only Speaks In Quotes.)
In fact, the Dominic thing - and the plot that came in at the end - is what I found most frustrating. Gentian defeating Dominic all by herself - and almost by accident - felt like such an anticlimax to me. What I really, really wanted was for the sisters to defeat him together and get some kind of development in their relationship that way; what probably would have made most sense for the themes of the story was if Gentian had defeated him with the help of the Giant Ants, and that would have been cool too! As it was, the ending didn't satisfy me at all. I don't even care about the SURPRIES MAGICAL FAMILY BACKGROUND at the end, I just wanted Gentian to have to actually work with someone!
In short - I really enjoyed reading it, it catered to a lot of my fun-reading kinks, but I'm not sure it actually came together as a book.
Anyways, my point here is that Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary has all of those same quirks/flaws, except even moreso. Instead of just bandying quotes around one character talks entirely in quotes, there is internal poetry and chapters dedicated entirely to Shakespeare and, oh yes, most of the actual plot takes place in aroun thirty pages at the end, which last I will admit I found sort of frustrating here even though I was cool with it in Tam Lin.
Honestly I kind of found the whole book a little frustrating - but at the same time, I was enjoying it tremendously and really enjoyed reading it! It's a great book for the Bechdel Test, for a start. Although the titular Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary are sisters, the real focus of the book is on Gentian and her close-knit group of friends, the Giant Ants - the dynamics between them and the realistic friend-group politics, the dorky traditions that tie them together and the things that are pushing them apart as they get older. I loved what of the sister-dynamic we got, and I loved the Giant Ants and I would happily have read a book just about them even without bringing in the Lurking Possible Supernaturalness of Creepy Dominic Next Door (Who Only Speaks In Quotes.)
In fact, the Dominic thing - and the plot that came in at the end - is what I found most frustrating. Gentian defeating Dominic all by herself - and almost by accident - felt like such an anticlimax to me. What I really, really wanted was for the sisters to defeat him together and get some kind of development in their relationship that way; what probably would have made most sense for the themes of the story was if Gentian had defeated him with the help of the Giant Ants, and that would have been cool too! As it was, the ending didn't satisfy me at all. I don't even care about the SURPRIES MAGICAL FAMILY BACKGROUND at the end, I just wanted Gentian to have to actually work with someone!
In short - I really enjoyed reading it, it catered to a lot of my fun-reading kinks, but I'm not sure it actually came together as a book.
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Date: 2009-03-05 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-05 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-05 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-05 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-05 08:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-05 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-05 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-05 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-05 08:47 pm (UTC)But if you can find Dreams Underfoot, it introduces you to the world pretty well, as it gives an introduction to most of the main characters, though you won't need to know them for Memory and Dream.
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Date: 2009-03-05 11:27 pm (UTC)Also Charles De Lint is amazing, I started with his anthologies and now I devour all the novels as they come out.
I wish I could somehow manage to actually play one of his characters since for me, he gets what I love about worlds like Changeling and all.
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Date: 2009-03-06 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 02:21 am (UTC)I rarely say this, but I think it might have been better as not-a-fantasy-novel.
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Date: 2009-03-06 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-07 06:50 am (UTC)